Michelle Williams Talks ‘Unexpected’ Follow-Up at SESAC Pop Awards

Bradley Stern | May 14, 2013 12:06 pm

There are plenty of music events devoted to showering our favorite pop stars in awards — from the Grammys to the Billboard Music Awards. The SESAC Pop Awards, on the other hand, are an annual celebration of the talented players behind-the-scenes, including the industry’s finest songwriters, producers and executives.

This year’s ceremony, which was hosted last night at the New York Public Library, saw acts like Danja, Swizz Beatz and Omarion picking up awards for their contribution to pop music over the past year.

We got a chance to chat with Michelle Williams, who was on hand to present Rico Love with the Songwriter of the Year award, about her upcoming album.

“I’m very excited! It’s an urban inspirational record,” the singer gushed to Idolator about the new record, which was largely produced by Harmony Samuels, as well as Warryn Campbell and Adam Blackstone.

She also spoke of her upcoming don’t-call-it-a-comeback collaboration: A few weeks ago, we learned that Williams will be featured on a song off of fellow Destiny’s Child member and “Kisses Down Low” enthusiast Kelly Rowland‘s upcoming album, Talk A Good Game (oh, and Beyoncé too). “I met Harmony because he did some stuff for Kelly Rowland. She already told everybody that myself and Beyoncé are featured on a song,” she explained. “Well, he produced that song. And then, he ended up doing pretty much the bulk of my album.”

But how will the album compare to her last mainstream pop outing, 2008’s Unexpected? “It still has the depth and the edginess of Unexpected,” she explained, “so you will be able to dance.”

The singer also revealed that the album didn’t exactly come naturally: “I really dug deep with this record. There was a time where I went in the studio in Nashville, and I was like, ‘I’m not going to be able to do it,'” she confessed. “I didn’t know how I was going to do a whole album. I was going through some things.”

But the music eventually came through: “I went out to LA, met Harmony, and a breakthrough happened,” she explained. A breaking of the dawn, as one might say.

Are you excited for Michelle Williams’ upcoming album? Sound off in the comments below!