Kelly Rowland Had Her Own Main-Stage Moment — and Then Some
Today’s Woman Crush Wednesday is a super-charged girlie moment: Kelly Rowland stepping fully into her solo wing at the 2007 BET Awards with “Like This,” bringing Eve along for the ride and turning the whole sequence into one unforgettable late-2000s R&B moment.
And this was not some random awards-show cameo. “Like This” was the lead single from Rowland’s sophomore album, Ms. Kelly, and BET later noted that the Eve-assisted track became her first No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart and her highest-charting single in five years.
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Kelly Rowland at the 2007 BET Awards
Kelly Rowland’s “Like This” performance with Eve landed in the middle of one of the night’s most memorable sequences, alongside Beyoncé, Michelle Williams and Solange.
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Beyoncé Opened the Door — Kelly Rowland Kicked It Wider
The sequence began with Beyoncé performing “Get Me Bodied”, with Michelle Williams and Solange appearing during the number before Beyoncé introduced Kelly for “Like This” with Eve. BET’s own retrospective remembers Beyoncé moving from “Get Me Bodied” into “Like This” with Kelly and Eve, while contemporary coverage also noted Michelle and Solange as part of the same extended performance sequence.
That is exactly why the clip still hits. It plays less like a neatly divided medley and more like one long handoff between women who were all operating at full pop-and-R&B force in 2007. Beyoncé had just blown open the stage, then Kelly came through with her own record and her own energy instead of disappearing into the reunion of it all.
A Solo Era That Refused to Stay in Anyone’s Shadow
By 2007, Rowland was firmly into the Ms. Kelly era, and BET has since looked back on that period as the point where her solo image became more polished, fashion-forward and fully her own.
“Like This” fit that evolution perfectly. The record did not ask Kelly to recreate Destiny’s Child or compete with Beyoncé’s lane. It was tougher, more rhythmic and built for movement, with Eve’s verse sharpening the track’s confidence. Onstage, Kelly saluted the audience with exactly the kind of solo presence the song called for.
And then came the extra thrill: Beyoncé and Michelle reappearing around Kelly at the end, turning the performance into a mini Destiny’s Child reunion without taking the spotlight away from the woman whose single was actually being performed. Contemporary reports from the night singled out that transition as one of the show’s biggest moments.
Let’s transport back to thee unforgettable late-2000s R&B experience.
Images: BET Awards footage / YouTube.
Watch Kelly Rowland Perform “Like This” With Eve at the 2007 BET Awards
The performance arrives inside the larger Beyoncé-led BET Awards sequence, with Michelle Williams and Solange also appearing as the stage shifts into Kelly Rowland’s “Like This.”
Sources: BET; Los Angeles Sentinel; archived 2007 performance coverage. Images: BET Awards footage / YouTube.
