Kelly Rowland clears up 23-year-old question: Why was she texting with Excel in the ‘Dilemma’ video with Nelly?

Rowland featured in Nelly’s 2002 hit “Dilemma,” “received” a text message in the video that has become part of pop culture history. 

Kelly Rowland is a superstar known for a lot of things. She’s one of the original members of Destiny’s Child. She’s an actress whose “Merry Liddle Christmas” series is required viewing in my house during the holiday season. 

And perhaps most importantly, she’s also known as the only person to ever use Microsoft Excel as her texting platform, a feat that, for the record, she knows isn’t a thing. In a recent sitdown conversation between her, Mariah Carey and Ravyn Lenae, Rowland for Elle about the impact and legacy of R&B, Rowland shared briefly about the pop culture phenomenon that just won’t go away from her 2002 video for hit single “Dilemma” with Nelly. 

“I don’t know whose brilliant idea it was to text on Microsoft Excel, but it chases me everywhere that I go,” she shared. 

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“Everybody’s always asking me. I say, ‘I don’t know! I was given the device, it had this on it, and here we are in the video.’ They were like, ‘Oh, we need a shot of it.’ I was like, ‘Okay, I guess this is right.’”

It was not right.

In a famous scene from the video for the song about secret lovers and such, Rowland is standing in a window and opens up a Nokia device to read a message—the Internets allege that it’s a 9210 or 9290 Communicator, but research on the phones leaves a little doubt—from her boo Larry Hughes, who at the time was an NBA player for the Washington Wizards. Nelly (the secret lover) is standing outside across the street, giving her the “come hither” eyes.

Well, when Rowland opens up the device we are all treated to an Excel spreadsheet with the words, “WHERE YOU AT? HOLLA WHEN YOU GET THIS” which is supposed to be a text message but as anybody who has ever used the Microsoft Office Suite can tell you, you do NOT send messages from Except spreadsheets, and you definitely didn’t in 2002. 

That clip has been memed to death. We all got a kick out of it back in the day, but the fact that people are still getting a kick out of it just shows how much the community enjoys moments that make no sense, which we all know make no sense. Mostly, I think we just love Kelly Rowland and this sooo 2002 video that it’s pretty much a time capsule. There are jerseys and super baggy clothes everywhere and durags, and it really is how everybody dressed in 2002. And while we all love to joke on the impossible text, we all really love to point out that Kelly Rowland looks like she hasn’t aged a day in 23 years. 

For her part, Rowland seems to take it in stride that folks just won’t—probably never will—let it go. Rowland is officially part of Black history for this moment and always will be. We’re all better for it. 

In case you want to know how often she gets asked about it? Well, she let us know.

“Here we are 25 years later. I am literally asked every week.”

A dilemma indeed.