Kelly Rowland will never forget using... Microsoft Excel in the "Dilemma" music video Text Nelly. During a recent episode of Myth Kitchen's Last Meal series, the singer and actress reacted to the now-hot moment and made it clear that she doesn't get it either.
Host Josh Scherer introduced Rowland as "the only person in history to successfully send a text message via Microsoft Excel," which made her giggle. "Do you know how much criticism I got for this?" she asked. "I'm used to it now."
In the 2002 video, Rowland types "Where are you? When you get this message, you say "HOLLA WHEN YOU GET IS" on an Excel spreadsheet as if it were a text message, and then when Nelly doesn't She would get frustrated when she responded. Somehow, no one questioned this at the time. But in the years since it was posted, the moment has become a viral meme.
Scherer then asked Rowland if anyone at the video shoot had noticed this unusual form of communication. "No, I'm really mad at them because they didn't do it because they made me look crazy," she said. But now, she understands why she never got a response. "What did you expect? Because this is just a draft, honey," she added.
However, the host then pointed out that messages can actually be sent via Excel if hyperlinked to an email address, meaning Rowland can actually claim to be a technology pioneer. She just looked at the camera expressionlessly and joked: "He said that."
Nelly previously defended Rowland's decision to use Excel for texting in a 2016 interview with The Project . "That's what it was, and that's the new technology back then," he said, ignoring that no one was using the technology to send text messages. “It’s looking a little dated now, I can tell.”
Regardless, the technical missteps didn't stop "The Dilemma" from becoming a career-defining hit. The song topped the Billboard Hot 100, marking Rowland's first number one as a solo artist. It won a Grammy Award for Best Rap/Song Collaboration and was also nominated for Record of the Year.
Correction: A previous version of this story misstated the name of Mythical Kitchen. It has been updated with the correct name.
