Nivea is opening up about her history with embroiled R&B star R. Kelly. When the world was first introduced to the songstress, she had a string of collaborations with well-known acts that helped her get established. Jagged Edge, Mystikal, and R. Kelly all helped her build her initial buzz and become a star. In the years since the decades full of accusations surrounding Kelly finally landed him in jail. Nivea recently sat down with TS Madison to discuss her work with Kelly and if she believes the allegations.
Nivea and R. Kelly were label mates on Jive Records. At the time he was the biggest R&B star in the world and she was a bright new star. They would go on to collaborate on her song “Laundromat,” a sultry duet that would become a signature for Nivea.
While her star did not ascend much further following this, in recent years, her relationships with The Dream and Lil Wayne and the children they had together have reignited public interest in the singer. Despite having all the humor, drama and potential to thrive in a Love & Hip-Hop style show, Nivea opted instead to try her hand at girl groups. She joined women from defunct groups Total, Blaque, 3LW, Danity, and 702 to attempt to form a supergroup on BET’s Encore. While she was an instant standout, she eventually stormed off set after a fight with Kiely Williams and vowed to never do reality television again.
While catching up with TS Madison, Nivea opened up about her time working with R. Kelly. According to Nivea, she was never a fan of Kelly’s directly, but was a super fan of Aaliyah and her work with him which made her a fan indirectly. “I’ll just go and be honest, I wasn’t an R. Kelly fan. I was indirectly.” She also said working with Kelly was the labels idea. She was flattered because, initially, Kelly had requested to work with her after hearing a record that she had written for herself. Impressed by her writing, he asked if he could do a record with Nivea.
Acknowledging his status as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Nivea said she was deeply flattered by this. ” I was honored because he’s a great songwriter, and he liked something I worked. I was honored in that way.” He did eventually contribute a verse to the song she wrote but Nivea claims didn’t like what he did on her song. “It was a really bad rap”
Nivea says she also loved Aaron Hall and the group GUY, who were heavy influences on Kelly and his vocal style. The duo went on to record another record of R. Kelly’s TP-3 Reloaded album, ‘Touchin.’ Despite not being a fan of R. Kelly’s music, Nivea does admit the singer gave her a brilliant song, when discussing laundry mat.
The R&B singer went on to explain that just because you connect with someone and their art does not mean they are the person you hear on the record or see on TV. “The artist you met is nothing like the music you fell in love with. You will be sadly disappointed when you meet them,” she told the studio audience.
