page_title: Here I Am (Kelly Rowland album)
section_title: Writing and composition
hierarchical_section_title: Here I Am (Kelly Rowland album) / Writing and composition
caption_attribution_description: Jermaine Dupri in Blog World Expo 2009.
context_page_description: Here I Am is the third studio album by American singer Kelly Rowland, released through Universal Motown and Universal Music Group on July 22, 2011. The album is Rowland's first release since parting ways with her manager Mathew Knowles and longtime Sony Music record label Columbia Records. Here I Am is predominately a pop, R&B and dance album. It follows Rowland's assertion that "no one puts her in a box" with common themes around womanhood, sexual intimacy and love. Originally scheduled for release in 2010, the album was pushed back after the first round of singles were released to mixed critical and commercial reception.
  "Commander" produced by and featuring David Guetta topped the US Hot Dance Club Songs chart and became a top-ten hit in the United Kingdom and some other European territories. Three other singles: "Forever and a Day", "Rose Colored Glasses" and "Grown Woman", all had limited commercial success and are subsequently included on selected editions of the album or excluded altogether. The international version of the album features seventeen songs including ones excluded from the US editions and some remixes.
context_section_description: The earliest indication that Rowland had begun her third studio album came in 2008 following her performance at T4 on the Beach. During the interview she gave to The Daily Star, she had approached Irish indie band The Script for a duet whilst another indie band, The Guillemots, gave Rowland one of their songs to work with. Then following her leave from Columbia Records, she began work on her third album despite being without a record label for over one year. Sessions took place in Los Angeles, New York City and Miami with Rowland specifically wanting a wide range of songs to choose from.
  One of the first people she actually entered the studios with was David Guetta. He co-wrote and produced the song, "Commander", a song with themes of controlling destiny, taking control and being sexy. Rowland said of the song, "I hope to see women singing the song like they're in charge. It's important to know that we are commanders who have the power to shape our own destiny." Rico Love wrote the song and, according to Rowland, had credits on around half of the album. "Commander" features on the album as track number nine, while its urban remix featuring Nelly features on the deluxe edition as track fourteen. Guetta also had a hand in co-producing "Forever and a Day" with Danish producer Jonas Jeberg. The song was written by Sam Watters, Andre Merrit, Jeberg and Rowland. During the album's New York listening party in June 2010, "Forever and Day" was described by Honey Mag as a display of Rowland's "vocals" with "long-winded riffs and sky-high notes." It was released as a single in some international markets in September 2010. Aside from Guetta, Rowland was reunited with The Nervo Twins who previously helped Rowland to write "When Love Takes Over".
  American R&B singer-songwriter Ne-Yo was also involved in the album and wrote three songs which were produced by StarGate. When describing the process of working with him, Rowland said, "Ne-Yo asked me what I wanted to talk about, and I replied 'I'm in a different space. Change is very comfortable for me, and I'm happy where I am'." The first of these records, "Shake Them Haters Off", was originally intended to be a single in the US. It is an "up-tempo" and fun record with lyrics such as "Its like a job I that I never get a break from/because haters never take a vacation." Another collaboration titled "Grown Ass Woman" (later changed to "Grown Woman") was described by Rowland as her favorite song on the album. Ne-Yo conceptualized the song in a three-minute conversation with Rowland, where she told him she wanted a record where she could claim "I'm grown!". According to Janine Simon from Honey Mag, on "Grown [Ass] Woman" Rowland digs "through old pictures from the Destiny's Child days reflecting on how far she has come yet how 'Grown and silly' she still is." It would later be released as one of the album's two US lead singles. The pair collaborated on a third song, "Heaven n Earth", described by Simon as a ballad using imagery to demonstrate a "sonic portrait, painted with flecks of sentiment; a picture of what the singer believes is what 'we deserve as a people'." According to Rowland, one of these three records was also recorded as a duet featuring Ne-Yo's vocals. None of these songs made the album apart from "Heaven n Earth", which features as song number eleven on the deluxe edition.
  Ester Dean and Dr. Luke also worked on the album, respectively writing and producing the other US lead single "Rose Colored Glasses". The song's lyrics portray "the issues that arise when one plays the fool in a relationship." During Rowland's concert series for iheartradio, the singer took time out to reflect on the song. She recalled, "The first time I heard the song it made me think of all of the relationships where I had to wear rose-colored glasses." It was also revealed that, during the studio recording session with Dean, she began to cry at the thought of all the "toxic relationships" she had been in "where she needed to leave." Later in an interview with The Belfast Telegraph, Rowland said that the s
caption: Rowland pushed the album back to work with Jermaine Dupri (pictured) and his writing partner Bryan-Michael Cox.
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