It's easy to see why R&B singer/songwriter Kandi Burruss is one of the most likeable cast members on the drama-fueled reality show "The Real Housewives Of Atlanta."
She is always focused on the positive. Her good-natured disposition is also reflected in the title of her new solo album, "Kandi Koated."
For a moment, she considered calling her album "Blog" in response to some of the negative online feedback she received after joining the "RHOA" cast last season.
But she changed her mind after her ex-fiancé Ashley "AJ" Jewell was murdered outside an Atlanta nightclub.
"I was going to call my album 'Blog' because of everything that was going on on the blogs about me and my relationship," she said in an exclusive interview with Yahoo! Music. "But after AJ passed ... I did not want to feed into the negativity. So I said, ‘I'm going to start all over.'"Taking the higher road has been an important part of her career.
During the '90s, she was a member of the platinum female R&B group Xscape, who were discovered by Jermaine Dupri. Dupri later produced hits for Mariah Carey, Janet Jackson, and Usher.
Xscape released three platinum albums, but disbanded after their third record, 1998's "Traces Of My Lipstick."
Burruss said a former group member's desire to go solo is what prompted the breakup. Though she was initially upset about the split, she quickly realized it was a blessing in disguise.
When Xscape ended, Burruss and another group member, Tamkea "Tiny" Cottle, now married to rap superstar T.I., embarked on a songwriting career, penning TLC's Grammy award-winning hit "No Scrubs." Burruss also co-wrote Destiny's Child's "Bills Bills Bills" and dropped "Hey Kandi," her Columbia Records solo debut in 2000.
"At the time when my group was falling apart, honestly, I thought it was the end of the world," she said. "I didn't know what I was going to do.
"I never would have gone on to start writing songs for other people and doing everything else that I've done," she continued. "I had to make a way for myself. I wasn't going to just sit there and let my whole career fall apart just because one person wanted to do something else."Burruss has always had an optimistic outlook on life. When she was in high school she predicted her aspirations in a diary entry.
"I wrote in my diary, 'God, wouldn't it be amazing if you let us get a record deal and have a hit record before I graduate from high school?'" she said. "And I was in the eleventh grade when we got signed. Twelfth grade when we came out, and our first single went No. 1 for weeks on both the pop and R&B charts.
"It's so true that if you believe something and write it down and pray about it it's definitely going to come to together," said.
"Kandi Koated" is an old school R&B-styled album about relationships. It also features collaborations with Ne-Yo and Tiny.
[LISTEN: Kandi and Tiny's duet "Superwoman"]
In the three-part video interview with Yahoo! Music below, Kandi discusses "Kandi Koated" (Part I), what it is like being a "The Real Housewives Of Atlanta" cast member (Part II), and offers updates on the whereabouts of her former Xscape group members (Part III).