The Writing's on the Wall is the second studio album by American girl group Destiny's Child, released on July 27, 1999, by Columbia Records. The album was produced by Missy Elliott, Kevin "She'kspere" Briggs, Rodney Jerkins, and Beyoncé Knowles among others and included guest appearances from rapper Missy Elliott and R&B trioNext. The Writing's on The Wall spawned four singles, including the US number one-hits "Bills, Bills, Bills" and "Say My Name" as well as "Bug a Boo" and "Jumpin', Jumpin'". This is the last album with the group's original line-up. The album saw the group taking creative control from writing and producing their own tracks working closely with producer and singer-songwriter Xscape member Kandi Burruss. "Bills, Bills, Bills" and "Bug a Boo" were among the first songs written and produced by the group.
The album debuted at number six on the US Billboard 200 chart on August 14, 1999, with first-week sales of 132,000 units, and later peaked at number five on May 6, 2000. It earned Destiny's Child six Grammy nominations for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals (twice), Best R&B Song (twice), Record of the Year, and Song of the Year. The Writing's on the Wall was certified 8× Platinum by the RIAA on November 6, 2001, and has sold over 6 million copies in the United States alone.[3]Billboard magazine ranked The Writing's on the Wall at number 39 on the magazine's Top 200 Albums of the Decade.[4]The Writing's on the Wall has sold 13 million copies worldwide.[5]
The Writing's on the Wall received generally favorable reviews from music critics. Stephen Thomas Erlewine from AllMusic gave the album four out of five stars.[7] Rob Brunner from Entertainment Weekly gave the album the grade of B.[1]Robert Christgau gave the album the grade of B+.[15] Rob Sheffield from Rolling Stone, however, gave the album negative review, giving it the grade of two out of five stars.[14] However, Nathan Brackett and Christian David Hoard from The New Rolling Stone Album Guide gave a more positive review and the grade of four out of five stars in 2004, five years after The Writing's on the Wall was released.[16]
In the United States the album debuted at number six on the US Billboard 200 on August 14, 1999, selling over 132,000 copies in its first week and slipped to number ten the following week with 100,000 copies. It remained in the top forty for most of 1999 and had sold over 1.6 million copies by the end of the year according to Nielsen SoundScan and was certified 2× platinum in January 2000. Nine months after its release The Writing's on the Wall, following the huge success of third single "Say My Name", returned to the top ten, peaking at number five on May 6, 2000. During its first year on the chart it spent forty-seven out of fifty-two weeks in the top forty (including eleven weeks in the top ten) or better and was the tenth best-selling album of 2000, selling 3.8 million copies during the year. The Writing's on the Wall enjoyed its best week of sales more than one year after its release when it sold over 163,000 units during the Christmas week of 2000, and by the release of the group's third album Survivor it had scanned 5.8 million in the United States and shipped over seven million copies. The Writing's on the Wall spent ninety-nine consecutive weeks on the Billboard 200 (from the summer of 1999 until the spring of 2001) and was certified 8× platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America on November 8, 2001. It has sold 6,347,000 copies to date in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan,[3] and over 700,000 at BMG Music Club.
Worldwide The Writing's on the Wall was a similarly huge hit and became one of the best-selling R&B albums of all-time. It achieved gold, platinum and multi-platinum status across Europe and was certified 2× platinum by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) in early 2001 in recognition of two million albums sold in Europe. In Canada, the album peaked within the top on Canadian Albums Chart and was certified 5× platinum by Music Canada for selling over 500,000 copies. It was certified 3× platinum in the United Kingdom by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), in New Zealand by the Recorded Music NZ (RMNZ) and in Australia by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA).
Controversy[]
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In December 1999, Luckett and Roberson attempted to split with their manager, claiming that he kept a disproportionate share of the group's profits and unfairly favored Knowles and Rowland.[28] While they never intended to leave the group, when the video for "Say My Name" surfaced in February 2000, Roberson and Luckett found out that two new members were joining Knowles and Rowland.[28] Prior to the video premiere, Knowles announced on TRL that original members Luckett and Roberson had left the group.[29] They were replaced by Michelle Williams, a former backup singer to Monica, and Farrah Franklin, an aspiring singer-actress.[30] Shortly after her stint with Monica, Williams was introduced to Destiny's Child by choreographer Braden Larson aka "Peanut Orlando", and was flown to Houston where she stayed with the Knowles family.[30]
In March 2000, Roberson and Luckett filed a lawsuit against Mathew Knowles and their former bandmates for breach of partnership and fiduciary duties. Following the suit, both sides were disparaging towards each other in the media.[28] Five months after joining, Franklin left the group. The remaining members claimed that this was due to missed promotional appearances and concerts. According to Williams, Franklin could not handle stress.[30] Franklin, however, disclosed that she left because of the negativity surrounding the strife and her inability to assert any control in the decision making.[28] Her departure was seen as less controversial. Williams, on the other hand, disclosed that her inclusion in the group resulted in her "battling insecurity": "I was comparing myself to the other members, and the pressure was on me."[30]
Towards the end of 2000, Roberson and Luckett dropped the portion of their lawsuit aimed at Rowland and Knowles in exchange for a settlement, though they continued the action against their manager. As part of the agreement, both sides were prohibited from speaking about each other publicly.[28] Roberson and Luckett formed another girl group named Anjel but also left it due to issues with the record company. Although band members were affected by the turmoil, Destiny's Child's success continued. The following years of their career were seen as the group's most successful stretch,[28] becoming a pop culture phenomenon.[29]
There was also controversy surrounding the rights to use the "Columbia" name and trademark for the album's release in international markets. There were different rules for owning the rights to the "Columbia" brand name, depending on the market. For the album's release in Japan, where Columbia Records’ parent company Sony does not use the "Columbia" name or trademark, for example, the label was re-branded as SME Records (SME is an abbreviation for Sony Music Entertainment), which is a sublabel of Sony Music Entertainment Japan, itself a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Corporation and operates independently from the American Sony Music Entertainment, of which Columbia Records is a part of.[31] The "Columbia" name and trademark are actually controlled in Japan by Nippon Columbia, which is a direct competitor and neither has direct relations with the American Columbia Records, nor with Sony Music Japan. It should, however, be noted that Nippon Columbia was, in fact, the former licensee for the American Columbia Records up until 1968, when Sony Music Japan's predecessor, CBS/Sony Inc., was established.
^e signifies the song's lyrics being credited to "public domain"
Tracks 1–15 end with a short spoken interlude which relates to the following song, spoken by the band members. Each interlude is in the style of the Ten Commandments and are listed on the front of the disc.
^Vianna, Luciano (August 17, 2001). "Novo ícone pop do 'girl power'". Jornal do Brasil (in Portuguese): 6. Retrieved September 26, 2021. The album, which sold 20 thousand copies in Brazil, was seven times platinum in the United States (...)
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