Nearly two decades after its release, Kelly Rowland’s choice of communication in the “Dilemma” music video, where she infamously texts via a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, continues to stir conversations and amusement among fans and viewers.
The scene, intended to depict a message sent to her collaborator Nelly, has become an iconic moment of early-2000s pop culture quirks, often receiving a mix of bewilderment and nostalgia.
During a recent appearance on the cooking web series “Mystical Kitchen’s Last Meal,” Kelly Rowland humorously addressed the longstanding joke.
“Do you know how much flak I get from that?” she expressed to host Josh Scherer, who had brought up the scene for discussion.
Scherer’s attempt to apologize was met with Rowland’s lighthearted dismissal, indicating she has grown accustomed to the teasing over the years.
Kelly Rowland reflected on the oversight during the video’s production, jokingly criticizing the crew for not catching the apparent technological misstep.
“No, and I’m actually mad at them that they didn’t because they made me look nuts,” she quipped.
In the video, Rowland’s frustration mounts as her message to Nelly, “WHERE YOU AT? HOLLA WHEN YOU GET THIS,” goes unanswered, a comedic outcome she later attributed to the nature of the “text.”
“What did you expect?” she laughed during the interview. “Because it’s just a draft, my dear.”
Nelly himself has come to the video’s defense in the past, remarking during a 2016 appearance on Australia’s “The Project” on the technological context of the time.
“That was the thing at the time,” he explained. “That was the new technology at the time. It looks a little dated now, I can see it.”
The conversation around this memorable video snippet underscores the evolution of technology and communication in pop culture, as well as the endearing moments of nostalgia that continue to connect artists with their audience years after the fact.
