Fresh off the heels of “Hot in Herre,” Nelly blessed the general public with one more hit: “Dilemma.” The R&B music was launched in June 2002 and options Kelly Rowland as a girl smitten with Nelly regardless of being in a relationship with another person. The music is a staple in Y2K music tradition, and right this moment is definitely a particular anniversary—20 years in the past, the music reached number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the primary of ten weeks.

“But Kevin,” I hear you say, “What does this have to do with tech?” This is a sound query, since Gizmodo is a tech-focused web site in any case. Well, might I please direct your consideration to the music video for Dilemma?

It’s a typical will-they-wont-they plot, till Kelly Rowland does the unimaginable. In a bid to generate an open and wholesome line of communication with Nelly, Rowland opts to ship a easy textual content. “WHERE YOU AT? HOLLA WHEN YOU GET THIS” Rowland sorts into her cellular phone’s spreadsheet app. Rowland is then visibly distraught that Nelly is ghosting her, although he 1) couldn’t really obtain her spreadsheet textual content message and a couple of) is standing proper outdoors her window.

Rowland is utilizing a Nokia 9210 Communicator, which was an early smartphone that would flip open lengthwise to disclose a full keyboard and a coloration display screen. Other, related cell telephones launched round that point embody the LG enV and the T-Mobile Sidekick. It’s not supremely clear if Rowland is utilizing Microsoft Excel, or the Communicator’s built-in spreadsheet app, however Nelly defined in a 2016 interview with Australia’s The Project that texting by way of spreadsheet “was the thing at the time.” I merely don’t consider him, and a short ballot of these in our newsroom with cell telephones in 2002 lends credibility that this doesn’t seem to have been “the thing at the time.”

The music video for the music is a testomony to the kitschy manufacturing selections made in early 2000’s music movies, however this explicit second will reside in our hearts perpetually as a reminder of open and sincere communication—possibly on Google Sheets this time?