Dirty Laundry

Kelly Rowland's third single off her fourth studio album, Talk a Good Game, finds her speaking openly on her relationship with Beyoncé Knowles, as she admits to resentment about her former bandmate's post-Destiny's Child success. "Went our separate ways, but I was happy she was killin' it. Bittersweet, she was up, I was down," Rowland sings. After tossing Beyoncé into her dirty laundry, the songstress then proceeds to detail a relationship with a verbally and physically abusive boyfriend. who drove a wedge between her and Bey. "I was battered, he hit in a window like it was me until it shattered," Rowland croons. "He pulled me out, he said, 'Don't nobody love you but me, not your mama, not your daddy, and especially not B.'"

The track was penned by The-Dream, who compiled the lyrics from different personal stories that Rowland shared. The hitmaker told Billboard magazine that he had to "push" Rowland to go outside her comfort zone. "What unfolds on TV or on the Internet, it's never really that. You think it is but it's just not," he said. "When you have a stage like Kelly has, you should talk about that part of your life. I think Kelly's way deeper than that." Rowland also teamed up with The-Dream on "Where Have You Been?" a track off the latter's IV Play album.

The recording of the song was so emotional for Rowland that it took her around ten takes to lay down her vocals without crying. "It was very emotional. It took me days to record," she told Billboard magazine. "I had to get past being so upset and actually sing the song, not sob through it. I always hope that my music can inspire someone, the same way other artists inspire me. Dream said, 'I want to write you a record so that people will know exactly who you are, underneath it all.'"