Kelly Rowland is done playing games.
The Destiny’s Child singer is out that door in her latest single, the mid-tempto break-up anthem “Gone” featuring rapper Wiz Khalifa as (surprise) a stoner boyfriend who could care less that his lady is leaving.
“There’s a million ways that I could tell you/But I think I’d reather show you/It’s over/And I won’t be back no more,” sings Rowland to her ungrateful lover, leading to a mid-song interruption by Khalifa, who raps: “Man I know you like the back of my hand/You like to break up, to make up/Roll me up a joint soon as I wake up.” We’re guessing not this time, Wiz – Kelly’s got Joni Mitchell on her mind, only this time she’s turning the tables.
“Don’t it always seem to go/That you don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone,” intones Rowland, spouting off the chorus from Mitchell’s classic environmental lament/break-up song “Big Yellow Taxi.” Cue Wiz’s stoner laugh as he brushes her off (to cover up for his own insecurities, methinks).
So the song? It’s…okay. As compared with Rowland’s soul-baring “Dirty Laundry,” the second single from her forthcoming album “Talk a Good Game,” “Gone” is a far more standard affair thematically, and musically and lyrically it makes but the slightest of impressions. Worse, Wiz’s uninspired stoner raps sound almost lethargic here, adding very little to an already mediocre track. Rowland’s voice sounds fantastic as usual, but unfortunately the tune itself never quite takes off.
My grade for “Gone”: C+. After listening to it below, rate it for yourself at top left.
“Talk a Good Game” is slated for release on June 18.