By Marcus Scott
At this point in the series, it seems like the show should be renamed “SWV: Estranged” because these ladies are more divided on what they each want to get out of their reunion and less concerned about actually collaborating as a group.
“Look, I’m a private person, I don’t like sharing my business. It’s just something I like to do. And, I don’t even trust them,” Coko admits frankly to her flabbergasted sisters.
Back in New York, the ladies are in town on business affairs—a far cry from their previous efforts. Their first stop: the iconic Ebony magazine, the trio’s first grand scale interview in fifteen years. Editorial Director Kierna Mayo, one of the prolific voices behind Honey magazine, sat down with the ladies to discuss life, love, and maturing from their household name heyday into the grown, buxom women they are today. But things get dicey when Mayo asks the trio about their roles as showbiz mothers, which shoved a skeleton out of the bone yard of a closet that is plaguing the threesome: Coko, a mother of two boys—Jazz, 17, and Jalen, 10, with husband-musician Mike Clemons—hasn’t seen or spoken to her eldest son in months, to the disbelief of her ‘sisters’ and Mayo. Lelee and Taj, Jazz’s Godmother, have no idea that he’s gone. Surprise?
“It’s hard to birth someone that hates you,” Coko says tearfully. But Mayo, like a cave miner, digs deeper. What happened to these women who were once best friends? Why can’t Coko trust the women who know her best?
“The industry happened,” Leelee accounts. “We were young at that time. We didn’t have guidance. We listened to people and we listened to a lot of people and we listened to the wrong people and we allowed it to destroy us.”
“So what is the tie that binds?” Mayo inquires. “The music. The stage is like a second home. We are better together than we are apart,” Taj answers. Are they? Not even a breath of air escapes either of the women before it’s revealed that Coko is planning a gospel album in conjunction with the album SWV intends to record. Concerns about lack of focus on Coko’s part drive the lead singer to walk off and bail, just moments before a major meeting with Sony Records. Coko finally shows up… fashionably late… and then shows off her gum-snapping diva ego to new manager Jeff Robinson. To make matters worse, after the meeting, the Grammy-nominated lead singer sneaks off to a gospel-recording studio to meet with up-and-coming producer-writer R’Celious in hopes of creating material for a solo project. But her philosophy is off: “I can do what I want, because I’m Coko!”
Later that day, Jeff hired a therapist Terrie Williams as a means of conflict resolution, to speak with the women about the negative energy that is affecting the group, and each has baggage: Lelee feels jammed in the midst of tension between Coko and Taj; Taj has lost her will to want to communicate with Coko; and Coko, who admits to having a wall up, feels betrayed because she was receiving secondhand gossip from management in ‘92 at the chagrin of her sisters and has held onto that. But, should this excuse other secrets like the fact that Coko once had cancer that, after surgery, left her sterile—when she knew both of Taj’s parents had passed because of the disease by the time she was 14? Or, that she left the group without much as a post-it note?
“I’m the only one that’s not married. This group was my marriage,” Lelee poured out. “All I remember is that I was staying at the Marriott hotel, I was up to my last $200, and when I got that invoice that means ‘this was your last night,’ I was going to end it.” (It’s okay, you can cry now.)
The meeting was a breakthrough for the ladies who are, at least for the moment, on their way to being the power trio they’ve always wanted. This left Coko with one more task, to smooth things over with Cory who was demoted to road manager, before Cory and the trio met with Jeff Robinson to discuss working as a team. After a shaky start, the meeting was a success and the women were off to Gig It to perform alongside rising stars Elle Varner, 2 Chainz, French Montana, and rap legend Nas with special guests Flo Rida, Jamie Foxx and Ne-Yo in attendance.
The show was explosive, and the ladies were giddy with excitement, Taj more so, because her husband Eddie came to town to spend time with his wife for her birthday, and even surprised her with an intimate party on a cruise ship. Cake was eaten, and the ladies danced the night away. But in typical after-show fashion, drama ensued: Eddie was offered a new position that may or may not uproot Taj’s family from her southern home to New York City.
“SWV: Reunited” airs Thursdays at 10PM ET/PT on We TV.