The Misunderstanding of Destiny’s Child
How the group’s lyrics (and dynamic) are often misinterpreted
Since the rise of YouTube, streaming platforms, and now TikTok, young people have, essentially, unlimited access to decades and decades of music, spanning any genre. People are rediscovering the empowering, beautiful music of Destiny’s Child — the R&B girl group featuring Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, Kelly Rowland, Michelle Williams, and original members LaTavia Roberson, LeToya Luckett, and briefly Farrah Franklin.
The group sang about going out with your girl friends, lost love, current love, female empowerment and solidarity. A few years ago, one of their most famous songs, “Bills, Bills, Bills” was made into a Tik Tok trend which horrifically misinterpreted the lyrics of the song.
The song is about a woman whose boyfriend is leeching off of her: he borrows her car without filling up the gas tank, makes her phone bill expensive, and uses her credit card to buy her gifts. The first part of the chorus of the song, “Can you pay my bills?/Can you pay my telephone bills?/Do you pay my automo’ bills?” was interpreted by Tik Tokers to find an attractive guy that matches your relationship goals and have him pay your bills, which completely misses the point of the song.
This hypothetical man is not relationship goals. As Kelly Rowland sings he’s a “triflin’, good for nothing, type of brother!” In the words of TLC, as referenced by Destiny’s Child, he’s really a scrub. If he’s willing to spend your money freely, without offering to pay you back, then we must turn to the second half of the chorus: “If you did [pay the bills] then maybe we could chill/I don’t think you do/So, you and me are through.” The song is really a message to women that if a man is taking advantage of them, then they should demand he change his behavior and be more responsible. If he doesn’t, then women should end the relationship.
However, the misinterpretation of these lyrics did not begin with Tik Tok, though the trend revitalized it. In a skit from Donald Glover’s comedy special “Weirdo” he jokes that the women in the group don’t know what they want, claiming the lyrics in both “Bills, Bills, Bills” and “Soldier” contradict each other. It seems since the song’s release, people have felt that the women in Destiny’s Child were gold diggers, looking for a man to pay their bills. In a resurfaced interview, a teenaged Beyoncé explains this is not at all the case:
“So basically the girl is asking the guy to pay back the bills that he ran up. We do not think that guys need to pay girls’ bills, we are not gold diggers, we are not male bashing, we are only having this one guy telling him to be responsible for the bills he ran up.”
From this constant misunderstanding, Beyoncé was inspired to write “Independent Women” as an ode to women who take care of themselves and do not need to rely on anyone for success or happiness. This theme of female empowerment continues throughout their discography, with songs like “Survivor,” “Free,” and “Bootylicious” which was a celebration of body positivity.
In particular, Tik Tokers embrace female solidarity from the song “Girl.” The song is about two friends, Beyoncé and Michelle, having an honest conversation with their other friend, Kelly, about concerns they have about her current boyfriend. They believe she is being mistreated and disrespected. They want her to know she deserves better. By the end, we learn that Kelly’s boyfriend was in fact cheating on her, but she has her friends to comfort and uplift her.
Tik Tokers add humor, some poke fun at the idea of having your business yelled out by Beyoncé (this is my favorite one), some play all three roles of Beyoncé, Michelle and Kelly, some use it show love towards their girl friends, and others use it as aspiration for a group of girl friends as supportive as Destiny’s Child.
Despite the fact that it’s clear many Tik Tokers are huge fans of the all girl group, I can’t help but notice the hateful comments on some of the videos, often directed towards Beyoncé. And, anyone who knows me, knows that I do not tolerate any Beyoncé slander. People accuse Beyoncé of stealing the limelight from Kelly and Michelle, as well as the former members. I strongly disagree with this perspective. Beyoncé, herself, often shut down comments that dismissed Kelly and Michelle, while they always defended Beyoncé.
What people seem to forget is that many, many, many bands have a lead singer; why people get upset that Beyoncé was the lead is beyond me.
The Beatles primarily featured John Lennon and Paul McCartney as the lead singers, but also gave George Harrison and Ringo Starr opportunities to sing every now and then. By the time The Rolling Stones came around, Mick Jagger was the lead singer and the face of the band. This tradition of having a front person and lead singer, continued for decades afterwards — Maroon 5 has Adam Levine, Coldplay has Chris Martin, The Miracles had Smokey Robinson, The Supremes had Diana Ross, the Pussycat Dolls had Nicole Scherzinger, and the Machine has Florence, The E Street Band has Bruce Springsteen. One could even argue that even though The Jackson 5 were all well known, Michael Jackson often sang lead. There is a huge difference between these groups and Destiny’s Child though.
When Destiny’s Child became a trio, each singer in the group had the opportunity to sing a solo, which shows that the women had more equal roles. Kelly Rowland usually took the first verse, Beyoncé the second, and there is a reason Michelle “The Bridge” Williams has that nickname! Beyoncé was still the lead, but she was not the sole singer of the group. And yes, it’s easy to say that hard core fans of any band or group can name every single member, but with Destiny’s Child people knew it was Beyoncé, Michelle, and Kelly, whereas with bands with lead singers, the other members do not usually have the same level of fame. I dare you to name one other member of Maroon 5 besides Adam Levine.
Now, was there drama in Destiny’s Child? Sure. Was switching out two of the group’s original members without them knowing a great idea? Probably not. Was Destiny’s Child the first group to switch out group members? Absolutely not. Foo Fighters consistently switched out members of their band for over 20 years, Blink-182 replaced their original drummer with Travis Barker, and later replaced the lead singer Tom DeLonge, with Matt Skiba, Panic! at the Disco originally had four members, then two, then just Brendon Urie. It seems that Destiny’s Child was far more scrutinized than other musicians for replacing and removing members. Perhaps because the group was made up of three young, Black women who were incredibly talented and made others feel insecure because they could never harmonize like them and be as fashionable or successful? Who’s to say.
Watching older videos of Destiny’s Child, it often seems that Kelly and Michelle loved Beyoncé’s vocal abilities and even teased her about her stage persona. From this performance of “Free” to this performance of “Cater 2 U” (I aspire to someday have the energy of Beyonce performing at 8 a.m.). There was genuine respect for one another, not envy, which may not have been the case when there were more members in the group.
Even after Destiny’s Child disbanded, each of these women still supported one another’s solo careers and endeavors, proving that they are feminists, friends, and advocates for women. When Beyoncé reunited the group, both at Coachella in 2018, AKA Beychella, and at the 2013 Super Bowl Halftime Show, she only included Kelly and Michelle. Most recently though, all of the former members of Destiny’s Child reunited for the premiere of Beyoncé’s Renaissance: World Tour concert movie, ending any rumors of lingering bad blood.
