Speaker 1: R and B Money.
Speaker 2: We are.
Speaker 3: Than take Valanti. We are the authority and ladies and gentlemen,
Speaker 3: my name is Tank, I'm Valentine and this it's the
Speaker 3: Army Money Podcast, the a thort on all things R
Speaker 3: and B. Stays of this ship.
Speaker 4: Because it's probably for It's probably sh if you stay
Speaker 4: up too.
Speaker 3: Ladies. Came right up at the strip club. You're damn right,
Speaker 3: and I know it kills you. Ladies and gentlemen. Nothing
Speaker 3: but talent, beauty and grace on the pot today. Give
Speaker 3: it up, melody.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Last we've been saying we're gonna do this.
Speaker 1: Listen, I've been at your house.
Speaker 6: I just randomly walk up to her, like, how.
Speaker 1: Come you have been on the podcast? I was like,
Speaker 1: we're coming.
Speaker 3: You have the nigga house man chilling, drinking, kids playing.
Speaker 4: I'm like, I agree, it's harder to get like our
Speaker 4: personal friends on the podcast.
Speaker 3: What is that about? I don't I don't know, I
Speaker 3: don't know you know what I think, But I think
Speaker 3: I know you were waiting.
Speaker 1: It was I was waiting.
Speaker 3: You wanted to connect it to to some cool ship.
Speaker 3: You know what. Let me, let me, let me, let
Speaker 3: me roll out. Come on, because because I give out
Speaker 3: because I want to. I want to roll.
Speaker 6: We don't usually follow no rules, but he gonna go
Speaker 6: ahead and get it.
Speaker 3: No, no, no, because because because this is this is the
Speaker 3: beginning of the pod. They're tuned in right now, right now,
Speaker 3: right now, right now. You know what I'm saying. If
Speaker 3: they don't stay on for the next hour and a half,
Speaker 3: two hours, we got them right now. Okay, singles Say
Speaker 3: Yes and I Choose.
Speaker 1: You Yes new singles.
Speaker 3: Just give me a little bit about those two records.
Speaker 1: Oh Say Yes is like my artful offering. It is
Speaker 1: a completely live song produced by Dre Harris ThunderCats playing bass,
Speaker 1: Charlie Barrell guitar, Chris Dave on drums. Sir Co wrote
Speaker 1: this song singing backgrounds. I mean this is like I
Speaker 1: feel music lovers like gonna be their favorite song, Like
Speaker 1: they just can appreciate what it is. And the truth
Speaker 1: is the song is a seven minute song, but what
Speaker 1: we released is only four minutes. Oh yeah, we want.
Speaker 1: I wanted to give. First of all, the song is
Speaker 1: about saying yes to love. It's about stepping over fear.
Speaker 1: It's about being really vulnerable, hard in hand. But the
Speaker 1: mood and the energy of the vibe because it was
Speaker 1: a live session. It's just so sexy that it was like,
Speaker 1: you want to you want to do something in seven minutes,
Speaker 1: keep going going, So whatever anybody wants to do in
Speaker 1: seven minutes when they listen to say yes, get it done.
Speaker 1: I love that you count listen, you can Okay, you
Speaker 1: got to say yes in seven minutes, So I really
Speaker 1: love say yes. It's such a vibe. It's such a
Speaker 1: just a beautiful, I think, vulnerable story. And I wrote
Speaker 1: it about, you know, being in the space of when
Speaker 1: I first started dating my husband and we were we
Speaker 1: were doing this dance of we love each other, but
Speaker 1: we're scared, we're both out of relationships and what do
Speaker 1: we want to do and so we have to say yes.
Speaker 1: And so I also feel like it's a manifestation song
Speaker 1: because we had to get to our life by saying
Speaker 1: yes that we are now and then I choose you
Speaker 1: is just fun. It's just that it's for the lovers. Again.
Speaker 1: I wanted to make a song that people could play
Speaker 1: at their weddings. But it's like Lover's Rock Waiting in
Speaker 1: Vain by Bob Marley vibe and it's about the empowerment
Speaker 1: of choice and what it is and what it means
Speaker 1: to choose someone you know, to make the choice, to
Speaker 1: choose love, to choose yourself, to choose to show up
Speaker 1: how you need to in that relationship through all the
Speaker 1: whatever it is. So you know, it's like, I choose
Speaker 1: you to me is just such a powerful statement every
Speaker 1: time I've ever heard that. When I think about it.
Speaker 1: Ryan Leslie wrote a song called I Choose You, and
Speaker 1: it was always one of my favorite things, and I
Speaker 1: actually said it in my wedding vows. So I turned
Speaker 1: it into a song and it's something that people could
Speaker 1: dance to and rock to and smoke to or whatever.
Speaker 1: It's just a vibe.
Speaker 6: Just look at you out here making real life music memory. Yes,
Speaker 6: that's what it should be.
Speaker 1: But that's what it should be. But you know what
Speaker 1: the thing is is that I think that it would
Speaker 1: be a travesty if I just came out after all
Speaker 1: this time, not putting on music and was singing about
Speaker 1: some shit that people were like, that's not her life.
Speaker 1: People know my life, you know, people have seen, they've asked,
Speaker 1: they've wondered, they've supported me through different these different iterations
Speaker 1: of myself from podcasting to motherhood, to being a woman,
Speaker 1: to transitioning into motherhood, all the things, like people have
Speaker 1: been with me on that I'm now a wife, I'm
Speaker 1: a business woman, I'm an entrepreneur and still an artist
Speaker 1: and a musician. So I think it's only honest for
Speaker 1: people to get insight, true authentic insight into the feelings
Speaker 1: and the experiences that have been happening all this time.
Speaker 3: And I think there's a there is an entertainment part
Speaker 3: of what this is, but I think the movie of
Speaker 3: it all is your life, you know what I mean,
Speaker 3: the sitcom of it all, it is your life, which, ultimately,
Speaker 3: if we think about the things that have entertained us
Speaker 3: the most, it it's always been family based for us.
Speaker 3: It always been the Huxables, It's always been Fresh Prince
Speaker 3: of bel Air, It's always been Martin, It's always where
Speaker 3: It's like, it's life.
Speaker 1: It's life, you know what I mean. See Like, I'm
Speaker 1: also just in a very positive space in my life,
Speaker 1: and love is to me just the ultimate connector. It
Speaker 1: is the ultimate energy, It's the ultimate feeling, and so
Speaker 1: I just want to inject more of that into the
Speaker 1: world right now, you know, Like that's that I feel.
Speaker 1: I have a responsibility to do and I feel like
Speaker 1: I've done that in different ways with other songs. They've
Speaker 1: been heartbreak songs or you know, like really like pleading ballads,
Speaker 1: and that helps people understand love in a different way.
Speaker 1: But this project and these songs particularly, I really wanted
Speaker 1: to inject love and high vibration and have people smile
Speaker 1: when they hear it and send it to people when
Speaker 1: they hear it. So that's sound bath Oh yeah, okay,
Speaker 1: we be sound bathing.
Speaker 6: One time they invited me to the sound Bad.
Speaker 1: That's actually good. You know you know what people say
Speaker 1: that like no, because I'm telling you, when I first started.
Speaker 6: They left me though everybody left.
Speaker 1: They're respecting, they're respecting the grounding.
Speaker 6: They said, you know what cooked, because you know what.
Speaker 1: The thing is is that that's how you wake up
Speaker 1: on a place. But you know what, there is something
Speaker 1: really beautiful about that because your body is just telling
Speaker 1: you like you've actually released and relaxed.
Speaker 6: I don't.
Speaker 3: Canepa listen if we stop talking right now for five minutes.
Speaker 4: You know, I'm not narcalyptic, but I get comfortable, like
Speaker 4: I'm I'm I live in comfort.
Speaker 6: Don't go to the movies, movies.
Speaker 1: Do you dream Gone? Do you dream?
Speaker 3: Yeah? Okay, he goes straight to R E. M Fast.
Speaker 3: I love He's gone. You don't got to worry about
Speaker 3: it about melon.
Speaker 4: I'm from the hood. I think everybody that do sh
Speaker 4: is a dophie. I don't funk with nothing.
Speaker 3: I'm like, you do what?
Speaker 6: Oh nigga? You?
Speaker 1: Oh my god? No, I mean I love that for you.
Speaker 3: Sleeping is It's really tough for a lot of people. Yes, yeah,
Speaker 3: so now it is absolutely again. Today is is today?
Speaker 3: The release date of No.
Speaker 1: The two songs are already out. Okay, two songs are out, Yes,
Speaker 1: but there are two songs ahead of a six song
Speaker 1: EP that's coming out at the top of the year,
Speaker 1: Beautiful Yes. And the AP is also called say Yes.
Speaker 3: I think like I mean, and we've had this conversation before.
Speaker 3: I think, like what you do, how you articulate it,
Speaker 3: like the energy of it all is is so needed.
Speaker 3: And I say this a lot because I got this
Speaker 3: from from one of one of my friends, Jason. He
Speaker 3: was just like, when when the really talented people, when
Speaker 3: the really great and amazing people take breaks, that's that's
Speaker 3: when the imbalance happens. And for the people for the
Speaker 3: young people who are growing up with these gifts and
Speaker 3: these talents and need something or someone to hang on to,
Speaker 3: someone to help inspire and guide their way. When we're
Speaker 3: not present, they fall victim to the other side. And
Speaker 3: nothing wrong with whatever that is over there. I respect it.
Speaker 3: You know, whatever you gotta do to get off the
Speaker 3: shelf and get out the good or live whatever dream
Speaker 3: you're trying to live, I respect it. But there's something
Speaker 3: about our calling that is different to people who are
Speaker 3: like us. And just hearing you talk knowing your talent,
Speaker 3: you know what I mean, Like, there's a there's a
Speaker 3: fucking difference like your your your vibration and your energy
Speaker 3: is connected to something so amazing that we just we
Speaker 3: just don't need no Melanie Fiona breaks.
Speaker 1: Melanie Fiona needed some breaks.
Speaker 3: And I respect it and I respect it on you know.
Speaker 1: What it is is that I think and I appreciate
Speaker 1: you for those kind words, Thank you so much, because
Speaker 1: I feel that in order for me to truly live
Speaker 1: in my greatest purpose, I needed to protect myself and
Speaker 1: I needed to refocus, and I needed to ask myself
Speaker 1: what do I want my life to look like? And
Speaker 1: I think that that's something that as artists we don't
Speaker 1: sometimes give ourselves permission to do because we're so focused
Speaker 1: on making a living, so we forget that like our
Speaker 1: life is actually the thing. Our life's purpose and our
Speaker 1: life's work is to take our whole life. So sometimes
Speaker 1: we take time. And I've been saying this a lot
Speaker 1: of people because like i've been now that I'm back
Speaker 1: in like the promo run circle, a lot of artists
Speaker 1: are coming to me, like new artists, younger artists, and
Speaker 1: they're like, so happy you're back putting out music and
Speaker 1: you know, and I'll be like, how are things going
Speaker 1: for you? And they're like, yeah, you know, I just
Speaker 1: I'm trying to find I got to work on this
Speaker 1: next project. And I'll say, you know, I was like,
Speaker 1: take you time. It's yours to take, you know, it's
Speaker 1: yours to take. And too often we just feel like
Speaker 1: we're on this demand of time and if we're not
Speaker 1: in it, then we're out of it. And it's like
Speaker 1: there's a I think for me, and I'll speak for myself,
Speaker 1: it's that I've always felt timeless. I've never felt trendy
Speaker 1: or current or like you know, too old or too young.
Speaker 1: My spirit has always felt like I've always just been
Speaker 1: in my right time, and just as long as I'm
Speaker 1: being true to who I am and what I want
Speaker 1: to do, then there'll always be a place for it,
Speaker 1: you know. And I think the expectations of starting and
Speaker 1: having a really strong foundation, you know, having a success
Speaker 1: as far as what it is, numbers wise or accolades,
Speaker 1: and I've experienced that and I recognized that that's a
Speaker 1: blessing as well, Like it's also afforded me the choice
Speaker 1: to decide how I want to shape my life.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 1: So maybe if I didn't achieve some of the things
Speaker 1: that I had, I might still be like I gotta,
Speaker 1: I gotta. But when I got there and I realized
Speaker 1: there was more to my well being and more that
Speaker 1: I had to offer than I had to really ask myself,
Speaker 1: like what do I want my life to look like?
Speaker 7: You know?
Speaker 1: So I won't be taking any more breaks as.
Speaker 3: Far as take your time just the tickets. I just
Speaker 3: know the people are watching it, you know what.
Speaker 1: And that's why I wanted to put out two singles
Speaker 1: out the gate, because it had been a while and
Speaker 1: I wanted to give you know, just not just And
Speaker 1: that's the beautiful thing about music and just the landscape
Speaker 1: of music right now, like there's no rules and I'm
Speaker 1: independent and I can and I can do that. You know,
Speaker 1: so so of your company love Link Link, Love Link Music.
Speaker 1: It's my my children's middle names, Hi Love and Cameron Lincoln.
Speaker 1: So love Link music.
Speaker 3: That sounds like that sounds like a piece of jewelry
Speaker 3: for sure. That is it.
Speaker 6: Do you know what?
Speaker 1: You better manifest it because because jewelry is in my
Speaker 1: creative wheelhouse, love Link it is. It is. Oh my gosh,
Speaker 1: listen you guys. This is just I love it. I'm
Speaker 1: so happy. And by the way, like I've just been
Speaker 1: in a very powerful, energetic season of my life. So
Speaker 1: I receive everything as affirmations. I receive everything is confirmation
Speaker 1: and divine. So the fact that you're saying that when
Speaker 1: I'm in this season of already in creation and ideation
Speaker 1: of that is just like yeah, yeah, here we are.
Speaker 3: We are Yeah, so.
Speaker 1: Oh we get comfortable, Hannah, let me adjust.
Speaker 3: Okay, when did when did someone say or when did
Speaker 3: you realize that you had something different?
Speaker 1: Mm hmmm. I think I realized it when I was
Speaker 1: four years old.
Speaker 3: You realized it when you were for explain that.
Speaker 1: So when I said, they asked me what I wanted
Speaker 1: to be when I grew up, I said I wanted
Speaker 1: to be a singing nurse. And I have carried that
Speaker 1: very cute title for the majority of my life, thinking
Speaker 1: what a cute idea. And it was only until I
Speaker 1: really started to recognize how I was impacting people through
Speaker 1: healing when I was putting out music, that I realized, Oh,
Speaker 1: my four year old self, she already knew what I
Speaker 1: was supposed to be. She already knew that I was
Speaker 1: supposed to be this blend of music and healing in
Speaker 1: this person. She said it, and I've written it in
Speaker 1: books as a child, my parents told me, family members
Speaker 1: and every time I used to say that growing up,
Speaker 1: like what did you want to be? Did you always
Speaker 1: know you want to be a singer? And I was like, yeah,
Speaker 1: when I was little, I used to say I want
Speaker 1: to be a singing nurse. But then I realized it
Speaker 1: when I first started putting out music, and it kills
Speaker 1: me came out, and that to me was like, oh,
Speaker 1: this has already been written for you, and your four
Speaker 1: year old self knew this about you.
Speaker 3: Had you already been singing like in church or just so.
Speaker 1: So I grew up immigrant parents, Guyanese household. My parents
Speaker 1: are from the Caribbean. My dad played guitar. He used
Speaker 1: to sing in a band on the weekends and evenings
Speaker 1: like this was a thing. So I grew up with
Speaker 1: music in the house. But my dad also worked the
Speaker 1: day job. My dad and my mom worked full time jobs.
Speaker 1: And I didn't grow up in the industry or even
Speaker 1: grow up singing in church like I didn't.
Speaker 6: But the music was in that.
Speaker 1: But the music was in the house, you know. But
Speaker 1: the idea of becoming a professional singer, especially coming from Toronto,
Speaker 1: like that wasn't a thing that we saw, you know,
Speaker 1: we knew about it, but we didn't see it from
Speaker 1: where we were. We knew America and we knew the world.
Speaker 1: But in Canada, like as a kid growing up, like
Speaker 1: we knew Celine Dion and then eventually we would go
Speaker 1: on and then in R and B you would see
Speaker 1: Glenn Lewis and you'd see Deborah Cox and Tamia and
Speaker 1: then you're like, oh, wait a second. But growing up
Speaker 1: as a little girl, like I knew I wanted to sing,
Speaker 1: but I didn't know how I was going to get there,
Speaker 1: you know. I didn't know how I was going to
Speaker 1: get there. But I was also really active in a
Speaker 1: lot of things. I played sports. I loved school. Oh
Speaker 1: I played basketball, I played volleyball, track and field, cross
Speaker 1: county free. I kept myself busy. My mom and dad
Speaker 1: called me Dion Diannis. I would just come home and
Speaker 1: don't ask for permission. I just be like I joined
Speaker 1: the volleyball team, and mom would be like, well, how
Speaker 1: are you gonna like who's going to take you?
Speaker 7: Like who?
Speaker 1: I joined every team I could. I was a very
Speaker 1: very active child as far as like wanting to try things,
Speaker 1: very precocious, very outgoing, you know. But when it came
Speaker 1: to singing, I was so shy. Like I knew I
Speaker 1: could sing, and everybody knew I could sing. But when
Speaker 1: you have the family function, melody come sick. I would
Speaker 1: make everyone turn around.
Speaker 3: That that direct something about that direct contest just not cool?
Speaker 3: Look away, yeah, look.
Speaker 1: Don't look at me. Don't look at me, and I
Speaker 1: would look up and I didn't want to be looked at.
Speaker 1: It was really interesting to think about that because now
Speaker 1: performing is like my favorite thing, like give put me
Speaker 1: on stage, please, But I didn't want to be looked at,
Speaker 1: which is really interesting. So you know, going through the
Speaker 1: process of like teenage years. And then even when I
Speaker 1: was a teenager, I'd gone through some like really hard things.
Speaker 1: Around twelve thirteen, I'd lost like my best friend to
Speaker 1: a car accident, we moved, my grandmother passed away, like
Speaker 1: there was a lot of life changes, and I felt
Speaker 1: like at that time, my light went like this, and
Speaker 1: I kind of became a different shell of myself. And
Speaker 1: so when I started high school and you had the
Speaker 1: opportunity to choose music or art, I chose art, and
Speaker 1: I didn't do music. And it's almost like this thing
Speaker 1: that I didn't I wasn't sharing anymore. I wasn't singing.
Speaker 1: No one really knew when I first started high school
Speaker 1: that I could sing like I did the play, and
Speaker 1: it was kind of like, eh, like maybe maybe. And
Speaker 1: then it was only until like my senior year when
Speaker 1: I started to ask myself what do I want to
Speaker 1: do with my life? And then I was like, you're
Speaker 1: a singer, Melanie, Like you're good at sports, you're smart,
Speaker 1: you could do all the but you're a singer, Like
Speaker 1: that's the thing you do better than anything, So why
Speaker 1: not why hide that? Like, why not bring that into
Speaker 1: actually who you are? And why not that be the
Speaker 1: thing that everybody really knows about you, because that's who
Speaker 1: you are, like the singing nurse. You know, you've known
Speaker 1: this about yourself. Why hide this part of yourself? So
Speaker 1: then I started to sing that I was in the
Speaker 1: talent show, and then I started showing more publicly that
Speaker 1: I can sing, and then that led me to kind
Speaker 1: of getting into the music industry.
Speaker 6: But and then in Toronto, are not just Toronto, but in.
Speaker 4: Canada, isn't there something set up for the arts as
Speaker 4: far as like the.
Speaker 1: Government, so there is, there's funding that you can get.
Speaker 1: There's grants, like but you have to apply and you
Speaker 1: have to get chosen, and you have to you know,
Speaker 1: you have to do that. And like I was at
Speaker 1: that time as a teenager, like I wasn't even thinking
Speaker 1: about pursuing a career. Okay, you know, I really wasn't.
Speaker 1: Like I was just like, okay, like I'm gonna I'm
Speaker 1: gonna own that I that I can sing. So when
Speaker 1: I say that, like I kind of stepped away from it.
Speaker 1: I it wasn't my whole identity where you know, some
Speaker 1: people are like Oh she was singing her whole life,
Speaker 1: church and in all things. You know. So so when
Speaker 1: I actually got into the music industry, I was just
Speaker 1: out of high school and I had joined the Gold
Speaker 1: Group in Toronto, and.
Speaker 6: You got to get in a group started.
Speaker 1: Did it really happened if hit us with the name us,
Speaker 1: with the name Exquisite? Yeah, yeah, just xx come on,
Speaker 1: come on dash to you.
Speaker 3: Yeah, quiz quiz like that.
Speaker 1: So that's how we got started. And it's fun.
Speaker 6: Did it come along with a bankhead bounce?
Speaker 1: You know? Did it kind of came along with like
Speaker 1: a little bogel. We were like a little pop army group.
Speaker 1: But it was funny because that introduction for me too
Speaker 1: was like I never saw myself being in a group,
Speaker 1: but I had the opportunity to get into a studio
Speaker 1: and I was I was like, I've never been in
Speaker 1: a studio, like eighteen years old. Yeah, let's go.
Speaker 6: I want to go into this point.
Speaker 4: You had never sang never in the never never And
Speaker 4: Okay for the people that don't understand what that is, yeah,
Speaker 4: give them the difference from like you know, you singing
Speaker 4: at school, you singing around the house, this, this, that
Speaker 4: and the other to the moment you're getting that studio,
Speaker 4: you get that playback and you get to hear yourself.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, you get to hear yourself. And then also
Speaker 1: you sing it over and over and over and over
Speaker 1: again because you didn't.
Speaker 6: I mean in the old days.
Speaker 1: Yeah, no, I don't know.
Speaker 4: Now they just be yeah, whatever whatever come out, we
Speaker 4: keep it.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 1: It's so funny.
Speaker 3: I can fix that, you know what.
Speaker 1: God bless technology. But I really I'm still one of
Speaker 1: those people that's like, no, I feel like I could
Speaker 1: get it better. I still do. I don't want to
Speaker 1: rely on it too hard, but that but that's the
Speaker 1: truth is like getting into the studio, that was the
Speaker 1: first time I got to hear myself on radio, like
Speaker 1: on record, so so you know, and then also to
Speaker 1: being in a girl group dynamic. Now I'm hearing myself
Speaker 1: compared to other voices. How does my voice blend, how
Speaker 1: do we blend together? What does my voice bring to
Speaker 1: a song when it comes on a record. So it
Speaker 1: really started to teach me a lot about my particular
Speaker 1: voice as opposed to just being a singer. You're a
Speaker 1: good singer, you can sing really well, you love what
Speaker 1: you used, didn't me too, but you sing really well harmonies,
Speaker 1: you gotta jail. And then also you know, just learning
Speaker 1: about the business with sisters or like who became sisters.
Speaker 1: I mean one of the girls I'm still very very
Speaker 1: close friends with, And it was like it was like
Speaker 1: training camp. It was like you know, boot camp basically,
Speaker 1: and I quickly learned that I just wasn't going to
Speaker 1: be in the group. The business around that whole situation
Speaker 1: was just terrible and it just fell apart quickly, and
Speaker 1: you know, we never went on to do anything. We had,
Speaker 1: Like the one song that came out, we did local
Speaker 1: success in Toronto, did a little television show up there.
Speaker 3: It was cool.
Speaker 1: But that really gave me the the introduction to I
Speaker 1: think people then in the industry paying attention to me
Speaker 1: as a singer. And then that's what led me to
Speaker 1: then meet my at the time would become my manager,
Speaker 1: who was from the States, who knew somebody in the
Speaker 1: music industry in Toronto. And then that's how I crossed
Speaker 1: the border. After that, that's how I left home, and
Speaker 1: that's how I started to establish my career. And then
Speaker 1: I came out here and then I started working.
Speaker 3: So how did you mean you had across the border.
Speaker 1: Oh, I had to cross the border. Yes, so I'm
Speaker 1: from Toronto.
Speaker 3: Were you saying I need to I need to go there, Yes,
Speaker 3: in order to really figure this out.
Speaker 6: O coming to America.
Speaker 1: It's coming to America. Yeah, I mean this is a
Speaker 1: story that if you talk to most Canadian artists that
Speaker 1: are successful outside of Canada, this is that was always
Speaker 1: the goal back then, you know, like to leave to
Speaker 1: get noticed and achieve success and establishment in the United States.
Speaker 1: Like this was the mecca of that, you know, all
Speaker 1: R and B, all hip hop. We didn't have b
Speaker 1: et growing up, Like we didn't have MTV. We had
Speaker 1: much music, you know, so it's very much music. I'd music,
Speaker 1: much music, which I don't even think exists anymore. It's
Speaker 1: like it's you know, it's interesting. And then especially for
Speaker 1: R and B, what are we talking about. I remember
Speaker 1: being a kid and we used to get WBLK for Buffalo,
Speaker 1: which was the R and B station, and you could
Speaker 1: only get it in the car, so we would listen
Speaker 1: to That's how we got R and B. And then
Speaker 1: there was like the college stations that were starting to
Speaker 1: you know, the DJs would come and run their own
Speaker 1: sets and then That's how we got And I had
Speaker 1: a brother who was seven years older than me, so
Speaker 1: he gave me a lot of music education because he
Speaker 1: was in the clubs when I was listening to Disney,
Speaker 1: you know, So it was it was different. But going
Speaker 1: to the States, that was that was it like you
Speaker 1: gotta flight, you gotta go, you gotta take a meeting,
Speaker 1: you know. I got to meet people that I dreamed
Speaker 1: of hearing. But like just getting into the studio that
Speaker 1: was crazy. But again, the boot camp of the girls
Speaker 1: group really helped me not be completely lost and it
Speaker 1: helped me. It was the stepping stone to prepare for
Speaker 1: the American music industry. So yeah, so it was and
Speaker 1: I know, we got away from.
Speaker 3: The you know, you were coming across.
Speaker 1: The border, yees. So I came across the border and
Speaker 1: then I came across and then it was like, all right,
Speaker 1: what's your sound? And I was like, a sound, I'm
Speaker 1: a voice, there's a sound we have to do. So
Speaker 1: the first producer that I ended up getting in with
Speaker 1: was Super Dupes, and Dupes at the time was a
Speaker 1: part of a sound called Black Chinese, which was a
Speaker 1: reggae collect just completely reggae collective and I started there
Speaker 1: because being Caribbean, of Caribbean background, coming from Toronto, that's
Speaker 1: my juice. That's what I know. R and B, like
Speaker 1: this fusion of R and B and reggae, and so
Speaker 1: that's where I started. And I started as an artist
Speaker 1: named Siren. Huh yes, and that was my first artist name, Siren. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but it's like a it's like a play on symphony.
Speaker 1: Siren is my homeboy that was in Toronto at the time.
Speaker 1: He was a rapper and he gave me that and
Speaker 1: he used to call me Symphony. And then Siren came
Speaker 1: along with the Sirens and they're the vocalists, and so
Speaker 1: that's how that you like that. Then I found out
Speaker 1: it was a porn star and I had to change
Speaker 1: that name.
Speaker 6: So then that's probably why he liked it. I wasn't
Speaker 6: gonna say nothing.
Speaker 3: I didn't know it spoke to you though, would you
Speaker 3: say about like the cards? And then did you say
Speaker 3: something that just in the.
Speaker 1: Very young brand? But yeah, So so I started making
Speaker 1: music with with in like his house, and again it
Speaker 1: was very intimate and I learned a lot again about
Speaker 1: singing and we were creating music. And then I got
Speaker 1: in with Mike City and that early early, and then
Speaker 1: I got in with Mike City and Mike's City was
Speaker 1: it was like studying under a master. Then I realized
Speaker 1: I didn't know shit. Like then I was like, oh,
Speaker 1: I got to learn a lot. I have to learn
Speaker 1: a lot, and Mike taught me a lot and we
Speaker 1: created some amazing records and Mike's City when I first
Speaker 1: got brought to him, Mike City said to me he
Speaker 1: was listening to me singing because we were like chopping
Speaker 1: it up at first, and then you know, you have
Speaker 1: that meeting and then they're like, all right, let me
Speaker 1: hear you say something, right, So then I sang something
Speaker 1: and Mike City just stopped and he goes, damn, you
Speaker 1: could sing. I don't know what I was expected to
Speaker 1: hear you sing. And he's like, but you know what's
Speaker 1: really special about you mail? He says your tone. And
Speaker 1: that was the first time I understood why I loved
Speaker 1: artists like India Ari and Sam Cook, Gladys Knight.
Speaker 6: Tone.
Speaker 1: There's a tone, and so Whitney, I mean, Whitney Houston
Speaker 1: to me is the sweetest tone. So so when Mike
Speaker 1: City said that, then again I came back to the
Speaker 1: singing nurse. Who are you? What are you going to be?
Speaker 1: What is your voice? What do you? What do you represent?
Speaker 1: And then I was like, you got you got a tone,
Speaker 1: so don't worry about anything else. Your tone is your identity.
Speaker 1: Stay that.
Speaker 4: So that's but you don't have a you don't have
Speaker 4: a deal or anything.
Speaker 6: You just you're going to make am.
Speaker 1: I'm going to make demos, going to make demos. And
Speaker 1: in that time too, and in that time too, like
Speaker 1: I can't even forget. I'm there's so much I went
Speaker 1: through in that time, like started working with the underdogs,
Speaker 1: even in that time too, being that the underdog is
Speaker 1: a Harvey Harvey over there taking me in and singing
Speaker 1: backgrounds on like movie scores and using my voice in
Speaker 1: that way, and meeting James Fontler Roy for the first time,
Speaker 1: you know, and being like, you're incredible. You're an incredible person.
Speaker 1: And I want to share this story too because I
Speaker 1: always I always want to say this because James font
Speaker 1: Lore to me is just the goat. According to this podcast,
Speaker 1: I'm the coldest motherfuckers ever live. There will be what
Speaker 1: did he say? There will be a chill in the
Speaker 1: air after I'm gone. One of the hardest lines that's
Speaker 1: ever been said. But truly I met James in that
Speaker 1: time too, and you know, you know what James said
Speaker 1: to me, and it never never left me. He said,
Speaker 1: he said, I don't want to write like one of
Speaker 1: the biggest songs in history. And this is before he
Speaker 1: had any like big cuts, this is before no air,
Speaker 1: this is before all of that. And he was like,
Speaker 1: I want to write one of the biggest songs ever. Now.
Speaker 1: We were right across the street from that studio, that
Speaker 1: wing Spot, you know that wing Spot used to be
Speaker 1: across from that, and we were eating and he was like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I want to write one of the biggest songs. And
Speaker 1: I was like, He's like, I want to write a
Speaker 1: song like his biggest happen be birthday. I want people
Speaker 1: everywhere in the world to sing my song. And I
Speaker 1: just remember being like they will, Like I just saw
Speaker 1: the greatness in James Fauntleroy just at Knubie coming into
Speaker 1: the game, being like what and he was just so
Speaker 1: kind and so sweet, and I was like, oh my God,
Speaker 1: like your your greatness. So like I was around a
Speaker 1: lot of amazing people from from the Underdog's Dupes and
Speaker 1: and Mike's city and theot these times when I didn't
Speaker 1: have a deal, and this is how I'm being introduced
Speaker 1: to the music industry. Like I was just so happy
Speaker 1: to be there. Yeah, so happy to be there. You know,
Speaker 1: all of this is happening in La. All this is
Speaker 1: happening in LA. And then and then I and then
Speaker 1: I pivoted to New York.
Speaker 6: First.
Speaker 4: I came to LA first, Okay, because it would seem
Speaker 4: like it would make more sense to go to New
Speaker 4: York first.
Speaker 1: Yeah, because my team at the time was based in LA.
Speaker 1: And so actually when I first, very very very first
Speaker 1: left La Toronto, I went to Oakland. I went to
Speaker 1: the Bay Area because my manager at the time she
Speaker 1: was from Oakland and so she kind of dropped me
Speaker 1: off there and was like, Hey, you're going to go
Speaker 1: into like artists development, and so I was taking dance classes.
Speaker 1: I was really working on like body movement and performance.
Speaker 1: Like I was learning about all the things that goes
Speaker 1: in which is a dying art these days.
Speaker 6: Yeah, but it's the reason why you're still here.
Speaker 1: Yeah, shout out, shout out to the real ones. So
Speaker 1: that's what I'm saying. Like there was a lot of
Speaker 1: development in finding where I was going to, Where was
Speaker 1: my creative team, Where did my voice live? What songs
Speaker 1: that I want to sing? And I remember I remember
Speaker 1: sitting on the floor in a hotel room with my
Speaker 1: manager at the time, and we were sitting there and
Speaker 1: we were taking these meetings, and there was like this
Speaker 1: disconnect from people not really knowing what to do with
Speaker 1: me vocally or production wise or whatever, like labels, like
Speaker 1: what do we do? What do we do? And then
Speaker 1: it was when I went to New York and then
Speaker 1: I linked up with Andrea Markin and that's where the
Speaker 1: sonic that became the amazing, amazing legendary. May she rest
Speaker 1: in Paradise forever?
Speaker 3: Am?
Speaker 1: I mean that I get very emotional thinking about her
Speaker 1: because I finally found someone who understood me and knew
Speaker 1: what to do with my voice. And again I was
Speaker 1: just so grateful to be under someone so gifted and talented.
Speaker 1: And she was also Guyanese and she was in New York,
Speaker 1: and we understood each other. She had a big voice
Speaker 1: like me, She could sing and write anything, so she
Speaker 1: really took me under her wing. And then I felt
Speaker 1: like I had found my musical collaborator. And that's the
Speaker 1: birth of it kills me. And that's the birth of
Speaker 1: the whole first album, The Bridge, And you know, she
Speaker 1: understood what it was, that what I wanted to be.
Speaker 1: I wanted to be a big voice, but I was
Speaker 1: a young girl and I wanted to not be labeled
Speaker 1: into one box and I wanted to bridge genres. And
Speaker 1: I grew up listening to Sam Cook and Lauren Hill
Speaker 1: and so I wanted to wrap and do throwback retro
Speaker 1: mixed with R and B and hit like I Want.
Speaker 1: And she just got it and she understood it, and
Speaker 1: that's really what the first album was about. It was
Speaker 1: called The Bridge because there were so many different sonics
Speaker 1: on there, bridging genres, bridging time, eras, bridging you know, conversations,
Speaker 1: and it was just it was a really important time.
Speaker 1: So that was a lot of late nights in the studio.
Speaker 6: Are you living in New York at this point?
Speaker 1: No, I'm still living in Toronto. I'm still living in Toronto,
Speaker 1: and I'm just going back in and living sleeping on
Speaker 1: my uncle's couch and hotels when there's a budget for it,
Speaker 1: or like at.
Speaker 4: The point you signed, Wait, so you you did it
Speaker 4: kills me before you signed?
Speaker 1: So I did it kills me. Before I signed Oh wow, yes, yeah,
Speaker 1: I was signed to a production company.
Speaker 6: Yeah, the production company, the managers, they knew a lot of.
Speaker 1: People, they really, they really did. And you know, and
Speaker 1: shout out to Jay Brown too, he was a part
Speaker 1: of that, because he was a part of that. He's
Speaker 1: the one who brought me to Mike Mike City, you know.
Speaker 1: So there was there was a lot of people who
Speaker 1: and and that's one of the reasons why my mom was,
Speaker 1: like my Guyanese mother who never let me do anything,
Speaker 1: was like, I guess I'm gonna let you go explore
Speaker 1: what this looks like, you know. And I think about
Speaker 1: that even too, Like my parents only knew anything about education,
Speaker 1: you know, Like, what do you mean you're going to
Speaker 1: pursue music. I mean, my dad artist hard artist at
Speaker 1: heart for sure, but you know, the idea of pursuing
Speaker 1: a career in music, Like for my family, I'm the
Speaker 1: first to even think about that, right. It's my parents
Speaker 1: didn't have a television growing up, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: So like that's that's that's a crazy thing. So you know,
Speaker 1: even now, going back to my parents giving me the
Speaker 1: permission and the grace to go knowing that they were
Speaker 1: probably terrified to let me do that, you know, and
Speaker 1: put all your eggs in this basket of music and
Speaker 1: what does that mean?
Speaker 6: You know?
Speaker 1: And by the way, this is the craziest part. I
Speaker 1: was doing college at the same time.
Speaker 6: You actually did go to school.
Speaker 1: I did go to school. I was doing college at
Speaker 1: the Saint So after the Girl Group, I said to
Speaker 1: my parents, if it didn't work out, I was going
Speaker 1: to go to college. So I started college. And then
Speaker 1: during college is when I met my production management company.
Speaker 1: And then I left And so then I was going
Speaker 1: back and forth and doing all these things during breaks
Speaker 1: or like summers or like whatever. I had some time.
Speaker 4: And how long is that process from leaving Toronto still
Speaker 4: in school, but then getting your deal.
Speaker 1: It was about four years? About four years? Yeah, four years.
Speaker 6: This whole time you're still living and I'm still living
Speaker 6: at home.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm still living at home.
Speaker 6: You know.
Speaker 1: When I came to the States, I would crash at
Speaker 1: my manager's house or like I had family in New York.
Speaker 1: I would crash with them. And then you know, when
Speaker 1: I started shopping, we got it kills me, recorded it
Speaker 1: kills me, and we were like, all right, it's time,
Speaker 1: it's time to go, time to go for the d
Speaker 1: and uh. And we took those songs and we went
Speaker 1: into these meetings, and I took a bunch of meetings
Speaker 1: and played it Kills Me for a bunch of labels,
Speaker 1: and a lot of them did not know.
Speaker 3: Next question, next question.
Speaker 1: They didn't know, they didn't see it, they didn't know.
Speaker 1: And then I was in there singing that song too,
Speaker 1: so it's not like, can you really do this? No,
Speaker 1: I'm singing it, so you know. It was I think
Speaker 1: a lot of the feedback and not even I think
Speaker 1: I know because they said it. They were like, you
Speaker 1: don't like you. These songs feel too grown for you,
Speaker 1: like too old for you, Like you're like R and
Speaker 1: B like big Ballad, Like why do you want to
Speaker 1: do that when you could be more of a pop art?
Speaker 1: And I was like, because I'm a singer, you're too talented.
Speaker 1: I'm a sing because I want to sing. I want
Speaker 1: to sing, Like why I don't want to not sing?
Speaker 1: I want to sing. I want to Like do you
Speaker 1: know who I used to fall asleep to?
Speaker 7: Is?
Speaker 1: I used to listen to Whitney Hugh. I used to
Speaker 1: dream about having a voice like that what Like, So
Speaker 1: now I get it kills me? And I'm like, I'm
Speaker 1: finally singing to the capacity in the range that I
Speaker 1: know I can, and you're telling me that I shouldn't.
Speaker 1: And it was just so disappointing. It was really heartbreaking
Speaker 1: until I met Steve Rifkin and I walked into SRC
Speaker 1: Records and we played it Kills Me, and he played
Speaker 1: it kills Me thirteen times in that meeting, thirteen times
Speaker 1: back to Beck to Beck. He was so excited. He
Speaker 1: was so excited, and he just said, oh no, you
Speaker 1: can't leave. I have a showcase tomorrow. You need to
Speaker 1: be in it. He was doing a showcase for his
Speaker 1: New Towns because SRC had just started and it was
Speaker 1: cra Acon was on the label. Tammy Chin who else
Speaker 1: Chantelle French Montana was like a part of that whole,
Speaker 1: Like it was like a hole. It was crazy. Asher
Speaker 1: Roth like this was like a you know, and Steve
Speaker 1: came from hip hop. So now I'm walking in as
Speaker 1: this R and B girl into this you know, hip
Speaker 1: hop label, and I'm like, what am I going to
Speaker 1: do here? But he got it. He had the passion,
Speaker 1: He had the the yes like yes, yes, yes, we're
Speaker 1: doing this, and he didn't let me leave and I
Speaker 1: stayed that weekend and he gave me a contract that weekend.
Speaker 1: He had the paperwork sent over and he was like,
Speaker 1: I want you to make the album that you want
Speaker 1: to make. He said, go make it. He said, go
Speaker 1: make it. And then we finished making the Bridge. And
Speaker 1: that's how we finished making the Bridge shout out, you know,
Speaker 1: still doing it too, like you know, and Steve just
Speaker 1: was so supportive, like everything that we wanted to do.
Speaker 1: Like Steve was like, yeah, let's go. You need to
Speaker 1: go on this tour. Okay, cool, you know, like all
Speaker 1: the things. But you know, one funny fact is after
Speaker 1: I got my record deal and I went back home,
Speaker 1: I got stuck in Canada and I couldn't come back
Speaker 1: to the state. Well not, I overstayed it because now,
Speaker 1: like I had been going back and forth, you know,
Speaker 1: I wasn't working technically, you know, so now look at this.
Speaker 1: So now I'm going to immigration to go back and
Speaker 1: they're like what are you going to do? And I'm like, oh,
Speaker 1: I'm going to finish my album and they're like your
Speaker 1: album and I'm like yeah, and they're like, you're a
Speaker 1: recording artist. And I was like, yeah, like I got
Speaker 1: a record deal. And they were like, where's your visa?
Speaker 8: I was like, what what do you mean, cat? I
Speaker 8: was like, I got a visa, I got a mastercre No.
Speaker 1: They they were like, you have a recording, you have
Speaker 1: a contract, like you you are, you're your your intention
Speaker 1: is to make money. We can't let you into this country.
Speaker 1: You have a contract. And I was like, but like
Speaker 1: I was traveling with my documents, Like I was like, no,
Speaker 1: I'm legitimate, like I.
Speaker 6: They were like, I just didn't.
Speaker 1: I didn't know. I didn't know, and no one really
Speaker 1: knew at the time. And so then I was stuck
Speaker 1: in Canada for eight months no, while my visa was
Speaker 1: getting cleared.
Speaker 6: Yeah it's eight months months.
Speaker 1: So all you had to do, though is just be
Speaker 1: like I'm just going yeah, but you know, I could
Speaker 1: have I could have said that, but if at that
Speaker 1: reason they had then like because if there was press
Speaker 1: or anything that had gotten released and they had found it,
Speaker 1: then I'd have been really really so they you know.
Speaker 1: So so that also then was like momental momental momentum,
Speaker 1: and it was like oh, slow down again, slow down,
Speaker 1: So you know, it was it was an interesting time,
Speaker 1: but we ended up getting the work visa. Then became
Speaker 1: an Alien of Extraordinary Ability on a O one. I
Speaker 1: love that title forever. Yeah, that's what A one is,
Speaker 1: an Alien of extraordinary ability. So back to what you
Speaker 1: were asking, that was another time somebody said you're extraordinary.
Speaker 1: The government told me alien of extraordinary ability. But you know,
Speaker 1: it was a whole bunch of petitioning and like people
Speaker 1: had to be like, yeah, we vouch for her, the label,
Speaker 1: all that's stuff. So no, it was a eight eight months,
Speaker 1: eight months.
Speaker 3: Eight months. I mean, somebody just needs to look on
Speaker 3: the desk and is harmless. So the goddamn paper it was.
Speaker 1: It was a lot of surprise.
Speaker 6: It was.
Speaker 1: It wasn't listen, it's immigration, as we know, a hot
Speaker 1: topic these days, it is, for sure. So so yeah,
Speaker 1: so you know, so then I got my visa and
Speaker 1: then I was down here and then it was just
Speaker 1: like all right, let's go, let's go finish the album,
Speaker 1: finish the bridge.
Speaker 6: And so for that eight months though you're not recording,
Speaker 6: you're not doing you just know home.
Speaker 1: I'm home, I'm recording in my closet.
Speaker 6: You got your little jail, b.
Speaker 1: I had my little jail bid. Yeah, have you got
Speaker 1: a little.
Speaker 3: Money in your pocket though too? Because you got your
Speaker 3: you got.
Speaker 1: A couple of dollars, a couple of dollars, a couple
Speaker 1: of dollars.
Speaker 6: You didn't move out, stayed stay in parents house.
Speaker 3: Now do people know, like you know, people know, like
Speaker 3: in your commune, your circle knowed, you know, you got
Speaker 3: to you kind of you kind of popping down and
Speaker 3: they did.
Speaker 1: But I'm still living at my mama's house, so like
Speaker 1: you know, it's like but also you have to remember
Speaker 1: I'm Canadian, so like it's very very humble, very like yeah,
Speaker 1: like at that time, it's nice, Oh my god, I
Speaker 1: got got money. I was paying off debts. That's what
Speaker 1: I did with my money because I was responsible. Okay
Speaker 1: I was. I'm not and that is why we were both.
Speaker 1: That is why you are you and you are great
Speaker 1: for being you.
Speaker 6: Debts the strip club.
Speaker 1: I am a young woman in my early twenties. Like
Speaker 1: in my parents' house, they are immigrants, remember, Like there
Speaker 1: was no flashing, Like there was nothing I was flashing,
Speaker 1: but I was recording in my closet and because I
Speaker 1: had actually put out, I had put out a reggae
Speaker 1: song called Somebody come get me first. It's like a
Speaker 1: single off of like a one off that was on
Speaker 1: like reggae gold and no I was, no I was.
Speaker 1: So they put it out under siren because because uh,
Speaker 1: that's how I recorded it, and it was so not
Speaker 1: not that sor sion Tank knows a different siren.
Speaker 3: Now, okay, I don't know who that is.
Speaker 1: I don't know who that is. Sorry to that woman,
Speaker 1: now you curious, don't do it.
Speaker 3: Don't do it.
Speaker 1: But yes, there was a song. And so what I
Speaker 1: was doing in that time was I was recording doub
Speaker 1: plates in my in my closet for all the reggae
Speaker 1: sounds and all the you were cooking. I was cooking
Speaker 1: with my clothes being the sound. It was wild. There's
Speaker 1: wild times. But yeah, then I got stuck and then
Speaker 1: I came out to the stage. Year this is two
Speaker 1: thousand and eight.
Speaker 3: Oh wow, okay, yeah, so.
Speaker 6: You are already out of the second group that we didn't
Speaker 6: mention the Oh.
Speaker 1: It wasn't really a group. Everybody loves this story, but
Speaker 1: it's not really replied. Go ahead, because everybody asked the
Speaker 1: love it. It's a good sound bite.
Speaker 6: Yeah, you're like a fake group.
Speaker 1: I was in a fake group. I was in a collective,
Speaker 1: a collective collective. I was in a collective with with Drake. Okay, guys,
Speaker 1: let's let's get it out there, because it's all over
Speaker 1: the good and anyways. But yeah, this was before he
Speaker 1: was rapping. This was before I had a deal. And
Speaker 1: my manager, my manager at the time, like we had
Speaker 1: all connected again, remember the people that I told you
Speaker 1: that and then my manager throw they had all connected
Speaker 1: us with a bunch of people. And then I had
Speaker 1: met Drake when he was just on television but was
Speaker 1: embarking into rap. And so we would do these little
Speaker 1: live performances at this like supper club in Toronto.
Speaker 6: And but never recording anything.
Speaker 1: Never recorded anything, just live. We'd cover songs, we'd perform
Speaker 1: our own records, like some of the songs that I
Speaker 1: was recording and demoing, and that's what I was doing
Speaker 1: in the States. I would practice some of those songs,
Speaker 1: singing them live. And there was another vocalist in there
Speaker 1: by the name of Voice, and then a keyboard player
Speaker 1: named d Ten who still plays it goes on tour
Speaker 1: with with Drake. But it was a really beautiful time
Speaker 1: because for me, I felt like I had known of
Speaker 1: the cardinal officials, you know what I mean, like those Yeah,
Speaker 1: Julie Black's like Socrates and Chocolate Air and these dudes
Speaker 1: in Toronto, and then of course Deborah Cox and to
Speaker 1: me and all the Canadians that had come before me.
Speaker 1: But I didn't have my own like crew, okay outside
Speaker 1: of the girl group when we first started. But that
Speaker 1: time was just really beautiful to meet other artists in
Speaker 1: the city that were just so talented and clearly talented
Speaker 1: because he's gone on to become who he is, So
Speaker 1: you know, again, that's a really another another story. It's crazy.
Speaker 1: I always forget there's so many really beautiful stories in
Speaker 1: the chapters until people ask, you know. And that was
Speaker 1: a part of that too. So you know, we never
Speaker 1: we we have always had visions of going to and
Speaker 1: that was before the Mike Citi era era. That was
Speaker 1: right going into the Mike City era. So that was
Speaker 1: that was a really like educational time, like a really
Speaker 1: fun time just to perform live in the city.
Speaker 4: And are you performing R and B stuff? Are you
Speaker 4: performing more dance?
Speaker 1: No, I'm performing R and B. I'm performing R and B.
Speaker 1: So when I worked with Dopps, that was just what
Speaker 1: we were creating the song, like had R and B
Speaker 1: had reggae vibes, but I was still singing R and
Speaker 1: B melodies, you know, but the music had reggae vites.
Speaker 1: But yeah, the R and B songs, I was covering songs.
Speaker 1: I used to sing fantasias and of the Geto truth
Speaker 1: is that one. I love that song. And we used
Speaker 1: to just cover cover songs. It was like it was
Speaker 1: like we were entertainment basically for the Yes, exactly, exactly
Speaker 1: exactly so that it was it was a good time.
Speaker 1: It was a good time, sacred time.
Speaker 3: So and it kills me.
Speaker 6: The first single, so give It.
Speaker 1: To Me Right, is actually the first give Yeah, that
Speaker 1: was the song. I did that with Andrew and Martin
Speaker 1: as well, and that one was sampled the Zombies Time
Speaker 1: of the season. It's the time. This seas doom, Doom, Doom,
Speaker 1: and there was like that baseline was really popular at
Speaker 1: that time because there was an artist out of the
Speaker 1: UK named Duffy that came out and she was also
Speaker 1: in the same thing, and Amy Winehouse was a huge
Speaker 1: inspiration and like this was that time of music. So
Speaker 1: give It to Me Right came out and that was
Speaker 1: the first single and then It Kills Me followed after
Speaker 1: and then It Kills Me came out and that was
Speaker 1: really like the the Rocket that was the hit. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that was the one.
Speaker 6: At this point, you in America? You living here now?
Speaker 3: Yes?
Speaker 1: No, No, I'm still back and forth, like I'm still
Speaker 1: back and forth like before. Okay, so yeah, like it
Speaker 1: was La. It was New York, Toronto, back and forth,
Speaker 1: back and forth, back and forth. So like I always
Speaker 1: was going back and forth for years. I was going
Speaker 1: back and forth even once the record took off. Even
Speaker 1: once the record took Once the record took off, then
Speaker 1: I was gone everywhere. Then I was just out of
Speaker 1: a suitcase. I was on the rock, but I would
Speaker 1: always go back home to Toronto. That was always home.
Speaker 6: Who's your first tour with?
Speaker 1: My first tour was Kanye West and Kanye Glow in
Speaker 1: the Dark yep. Oh, it was so fun was Dark Tours.
Speaker 1: I was on the European leg of the Glow in
Speaker 1: the Dark tour.
Speaker 6: Yeah.
Speaker 4: And that's your first time on any form of a
Speaker 4: tour at all?
Speaker 1: Arenas of course arenas. Yeah, it was. It was quite so.
Speaker 6: How was your stage setup?
Speaker 1: This is amazing?
Speaker 6: Okay.
Speaker 1: My stage setup was a three piece band and two
Speaker 1: background singers with an iPod run the ox play the
Speaker 1: tracks have the bad play on top. And that was
Speaker 1: our set. Yep, that was our set and we oh
Speaker 1: the iPod you remember I remember what time?
Speaker 6: Yeah?
Speaker 1: Yeah, box chord right like, and I'm the Oh, I'm
Speaker 1: the one of many openers. It was me. Kid Cutty
Speaker 1: was on their consequence, mister Hudson, the Roots. Yeah it was.
Speaker 1: It was good. The Roots were actually on tour, so
Speaker 1: they didn't do every every city, but yeah, me, Kid Cutty,
Speaker 1: mister Hudson, Yay, it was. And I was the only
Speaker 1: female artist. It was the only female artist. And then
Speaker 1: I'm R and B like this in this space, so
Speaker 1: I'm bringing a different energy. So I knew every night
Speaker 1: you gotta win.
Speaker 6: You gotta win, you gotta win the crowd over.
Speaker 1: You don't get an opportunity to lose. Like this, You're
Speaker 1: being introduced to Kanye's audience. First of all, Kanye was
Speaker 1: one of my favorite artists at the time, Like just
Speaker 1: I was in awe like a true fan. So I
Speaker 1: get on that stage every night and I just knew
Speaker 1: that that preparing for that tour taught me so much
Speaker 1: about the art of performance, because get out there and
Speaker 1: win them over every time. You don't get this might
Speaker 1: if this is your only time, get out there. And
Speaker 1: I don't care how long you got. You got fifteen minutes,
Speaker 1: you got twenty minutes. You better give it everything cook,
Speaker 1: and I mean back to back. You gotta have a
Speaker 1: cover in there. You got to let people know that,
Speaker 1: like you, you're here. And so it was good. I
Speaker 1: was doing well every single night. And then it was
Speaker 1: the last show of the tour and then in Versi
Speaker 1: Arena in Paris and we're playing and the iPod is
Speaker 1: rested on some sort of monitor or bass and it
Speaker 1: jumps and skips and the track cuts out in Versy Arena,
Speaker 1: thousands of people, it's like fifteen thousand people. I'm like, oh,
Speaker 1: you trained for it. So what do I start doing?
Speaker 1: I start singing a cappella? Oh yeah, I start singing
Speaker 1: killing me softly a cappella while they fix that shit
Speaker 1: behind me.
Speaker 3: What future more about you?
Speaker 1: Oh no, he's playing.
Speaker 3: We're here, Melanie. You've You've come all away from Canada
Speaker 3: to bless us with your gifts as a singing nurse.
Speaker 3: Sounded weird at first, but now I got it. My
Speaker 3: mind just plays tricks on me. Sister siren. Amen, we
Speaker 3: will not search yet, you will.
Speaker 1: Don't do it.
Speaker 3: But now that people want to know the music that
Speaker 3: has touched you, that have influenced you to become the
Speaker 3: artist and singer and entrepreneur that you are, called that shore.
Speaker 6: Where we gone?
Speaker 3: Top five? Your top five, Top five, your top five.
Speaker 2: O Pas singers, Burreathy songs. We got to know, Pa
Speaker 2: thought you go, you're on the shoe.
Speaker 7: Let everybody know your tap tip, Yes, your tap f.
Speaker 1: Oh such a chocolate. That more good? That that was incredible.
Speaker 1: That was I couldn't even have imagined it would have
Speaker 1: been that great in person.
Speaker 6: To see what happened when you start rapping.
Speaker 1: Wow, okay, okay, that was that was amazing.
Speaker 3: Your Top five R and B.
Speaker 1: Singers, Top five R and B singers, Stevie Wonder, I
Speaker 1: like that, Sam Cook.
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, music, so child, I love music, so music.
Speaker 1: So Whitney Houston, Whitney Houston and Lauren Hill.
Speaker 6: Yes, it's a great.
Speaker 3: List, Hilly.
Speaker 4: It's great, high level vocals, viby and singing with a purpose.
Speaker 6: Yeah, yeah, I found I'm following you.
Speaker 3: I'm following you.
Speaker 1: But wait, I really I really was my top c
Speaker 1: because I mean I said it was hard because Whitney.
Speaker 1: In my mind, you know, Whitney, She's kind of in
Speaker 1: a category of her own, right, Like it's like pop.
Speaker 1: You know when you say singers, now when you say
Speaker 1: like artists, it's a little different. Because truly, in my
Speaker 1: top five artists, I'm gonna put Brandy in there because
Speaker 1: brand is Brandy. Brandy, Brandy vocally is one of my
Speaker 1: favorite artist.
Speaker 6: What is the thing they put it when you got
Speaker 6: in America?
Speaker 1: What kind of an alien of extraordinary ability?
Speaker 3: That is?
Speaker 1: She is a resident? She is a citizen of extraordinary
Speaker 1: one hundred? Got it right there, Brandy?
Speaker 6: Got it?
Speaker 1: Brandy?
Speaker 6: Yet, that's fine?
Speaker 1: Okay?
Speaker 6: Top six?
Speaker 3: That your top five R and B songs.
Speaker 1: This one I wasn't prepared for Top five R and
Speaker 1: B songs. A Song for You by Donnie Hathaway.
Speaker 6: Yep, kick it off a head and kick it off.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go. I'm overjoyed by Stevie Wonder.
Speaker 3: My Castle of Love.
Speaker 1: Those the music and that could just make me cry
Speaker 1: every time every time.
Speaker 6: Hm hmm.
Speaker 1: Let me dig deep into my well of songs that
Speaker 1: I love to sing. This is this is tough songs
Speaker 1: are tough for me. Brandy, It's uh. I think now
Speaker 1: I'm drawing a blank, but I can hear it in
Speaker 1: my mind. Is uh is it when you touch me?
Speaker 3: Yes?
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, mm hmm, my Mama, I'm gonna go
Speaker 1: with killing me softly because it's Lauren. I'm going with
Speaker 1: my artists, you know what I'm saying. And then.
Speaker 6: Mm hmm, it's.
Speaker 1: Gonna be Anita, Baker, raptor.
Speaker 3: Waiting I was. It's like the brick however you were doing. Yeah,
Speaker 3: whatever you were doing, you were tapping into something. You know.
Speaker 1: I have to go into a place. It's emotional for me,
Speaker 1: So I think about the songs, how I like to
Speaker 1: sing them, or where they take me to, where's the
Speaker 1: place I am? And I just remember listening to Anita
Speaker 1: with my mom playing it in the house on Saturday
Speaker 1: mornings and just thinking like, oh.
Speaker 6: It is that a feeling?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 3: It is one hundred.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I like that list. Love it great. You approved,
Speaker 1: we're celebrating it's all champions and yeah, we like that list.
Speaker 3: Build your Vulturon, your super r and b artists. Who
Speaker 3: are you going to get the vocal from the performance
Speaker 3: style from the styling from and the passion of the
Speaker 3: artists to make your super R and B artist. What
Speaker 3: one vocal are you going to grab?
Speaker 1: The one vocal I'm going to grab is I'm gonna
Speaker 1: grab Mic.
Speaker 3: I knew when you started breathing you were going to
Speaker 3: because like that was a breath that said, I'm going
Speaker 3: to go, I'm going to the moon with this breath.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm going to grab mic. That's the voice the moon.
Speaker 6: I'm nice.
Speaker 3: Here we go.
Speaker 1: Performance style, oh, performance style on.
Speaker 3: Stage, how they do it?
Speaker 6: Mm hmm.
Speaker 1: This is very very tough Bruno mars Ha.
Speaker 6: Yeah, yeah, yeah, Bruno be cooking, tough on be cooking.
Speaker 3: He's tough on stage, you know what I mean.
Speaker 4: He's and he told you he ain't scared to get
Speaker 4: about here and do what he does.
Speaker 3: He's business pres underrated dancer. Yes he's it's not spoken about.
Speaker 3: They don't talk about it. That boy can dag.
Speaker 6: He really comes from the school.
Speaker 3: He went through the nice high level, nice performer. Yeah,
Speaker 3: fire show style of the artist, the drip Eric m hmm,
Speaker 3: gonna dance.
Speaker 6: And all them.
Speaker 1: Anything is possible involved right them closed, You're.
Speaker 3: Right, you're right. I'm not going my voice Bruno performance.
Speaker 1: I could even interchange that. I could I could interchange.
Speaker 1: I could do Bruno voice and Mike stage. It could
Speaker 1: be either or to be honest.
Speaker 6: Well, yeah, dudes.
Speaker 1: Close closes it.
Speaker 3: And the passion of the artist, the.
Speaker 1: Heart of the artist, Stevie Wonder a heart of gold. Yes,
Speaker 1: it's very passionate that man is still out here doing
Speaker 1: God's work, God's work, his life's purpose work. After everything
Speaker 1: that he has accomplished, he still gets out there with
Speaker 1: so much love in his heart. That is something that
Speaker 1: I don't think that we see and feel enough of.
Speaker 1: He's dedicated to it, and.
Speaker 3: You know it's different like I just he just Busher
Speaker 3: brought him out on this tour here in l A.
Speaker 3: And he started singing, just him this piano, and I
Speaker 3: was like, Tank, you're not going to break down crying people,
Speaker 3: chill out. I was talking, let it out.
Speaker 1: Everyone would understand.
Speaker 3: Everyone, It's cool, Stevie. And and we're at the in
Speaker 3: the v I P like high rise section, like all
Speaker 3: eyes on us.
Speaker 6: They would they wouldn't understand.
Speaker 3: They would have been like Tank over there crying and saying,
Speaker 3: you know, jealousy people people. It was. It was still
Speaker 3: amazing it was still spiritual, it was still connected, it
Speaker 3: was it was yeah, yeah, do.
Speaker 1: You know that. Stevie Wonder once said I was in
Speaker 1: I was with him, and he once said, I listened
Speaker 1: to my own music. He says, I listened to my
Speaker 1: own music when I need to feel God. He said,
Speaker 1: because everything that I've ever created has come from God.
Speaker 1: Because I don't have the gift of vision, so I
Speaker 1: only know this conversation with God and these gifts. So
Speaker 1: I listened to myself when I need to feel close
Speaker 1: to God. Like that's why the passion and heart of
Speaker 1: that person needs is needed in the world. Like, yeah,
Speaker 1: it can only be gottee Stevie Steveland.
Speaker 3: He said, ReBs in this guy, Oh, can we.
Speaker 1: Go back and talk about songs again?
Speaker 3: God could have only given him that vision. Hello, he
Speaker 3: yet he didn't see no the turgical dances.
Speaker 6: Hello, get out of the tank.
Speaker 3: Okay, get.
Speaker 6: Stevie go kick ass.
Speaker 1: Y'all got meat, y'all got thing. It's a thing.
Speaker 3: People come up to me and tell me it's a thing.
Speaker 1: Don't you drag me.
Speaker 6: Don't drag me into the Stevie looking at the tank.
Speaker 1: Stop Hello, mom, Yeah, I'm not gonna go into the
Speaker 1: depths of hell.
Speaker 5: Here.
Speaker 1: I'm just gonna stay right here. Yep, call you after.
Speaker 3: I ain't saying no nxs. Hey, I ain't saying no
Speaker 3: nat I ain't saying no names. I ain't saying no names.
Speaker 2: Who was.
Speaker 3: What you did? Don't say? She ain't saying no names.
Speaker 6: He Yep, we're here now, We're here now.
Speaker 4: We had a very very important part of the show, Wow,
Speaker 4: will you tell us a story? Funny or fucked up?
Speaker 4: Are funny and fucked up? The only rule to the game, okay,
Speaker 4: is you can't say no name.
Speaker 1: Okay, it's a little fucked up. Not gonna lie a
Speaker 1: little fucked up. I was on a flight and I
Speaker 1: was sitting next to someone where we were discussing the
Speaker 1: event that we were just coming from, and we were
Speaker 1: talking about a particular person who I knew that I
Speaker 1: wasn't feeling at the time because I had once known
Speaker 1: this person very well and felt connected to this person,
Speaker 1: but a short few years later didn't feel connected to
Speaker 1: them anymore. And as we were having this conversation and
Speaker 1: this person was expressing their thoughts on this person as well,
Speaker 1: we didn't realize that there was a family member of
Speaker 1: the person that we were talking about sitting sitting behind us,
Speaker 1: right behind Oh this is great, right behind this. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so there was a confrontation.
Speaker 3: Mmmm no, oh okay, yeah, yeah, person says, so what
Speaker 3: you say they stood on business? But did I?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm very sorry you had to overhear that conversation.
Speaker 1: But I do feel this way about this person, and
Speaker 1: I'm I am. The only thing I'm apologizing for is
Speaker 1: that you overheard it. And I'm really sorry that that happened.
Speaker 1: I should have been more mindful about where I was.
Speaker 1: And that was that. And then I saw that person
Speaker 1: a few years later and hadn't seen them for many
Speaker 1: years in between, and and that person looked like they
Speaker 1: wanted to talk to me. And I was just like
Speaker 1: peace and love, got nothing and love for you and
Speaker 1: just kept it moving. And now that is a far
Speaker 1: distant memory in our in our mass.
Speaker 6: Yeah, it was.
Speaker 3: It was.
Speaker 1: It was uncomfortable.
Speaker 3: That is great. It was uncomfortable conversation mid flight.
Speaker 1: Oh no, it was in the airport after.
Speaker 6: Waited waited because they needed some space because also because the.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they waited, they waited, they waited, they waited.
Speaker 3: What was she saying in.
Speaker 1: Two a y that's that's where I know I was
Speaker 1: in to Yeah, yeah, to see I was in the
Speaker 1: I was in the aisle. Yeah it was. And I
Speaker 1: knew the family member so that it's not like I
Speaker 1: didn't know that they were there. Ah, it was great,
Speaker 1: Yeah it was. It was. It's great now, it wasn't
Speaker 1: great at the time. I don't like I don't like drama,
Speaker 1: you know, and so I don't.
Speaker 3: You weren't doing it for drama.
Speaker 1: I wasn't doing it for drum.
Speaker 3: It's hard to be it's hard to know that that
Speaker 3: that person is right.
Speaker 1: But you know what it did. It was back to
Speaker 1: my lessons of watch your mouth truly because you don't
Speaker 1: know where you are and you don't know who's around
Speaker 1: or who knows who. And that was a valuable lesson
Speaker 1: and I think that's a valuable lesson for anybody. But
Speaker 1: sometimes you just be talking. You're just like good it is.
Speaker 1: You don't really but if it's how you truly feel,
Speaker 1: it is it is.
Speaker 3: But I and it was a warranted conversation between you
Speaker 3: and whoever else.
Speaker 1: Yes, yes, we were having you know, we were having a.
Speaker 3: It's kind of a privilege.
Speaker 1: It was like an opinion. It was like more of like.
Speaker 3: An kind of a privileged conversation in a sense.
Speaker 4: Not if I bought three c that part and they
Speaker 4: talked about my cousin, I'm gonna tap you on your
Speaker 4: shoulder and we get off display I'm not.
Speaker 3: Oh, I'm definitely I'm not because because but.
Speaker 1: That but that's but that's it now, I know no,
Speaker 1: But you know what the thing is though, it's because
Speaker 1: I knew the person.
Speaker 3: I know the person knew I thought you knew who
Speaker 3: they were, Okay, so.
Speaker 1: They came up to me and were like, that's how
Speaker 1: you feel, like yeah, Like I was just really surprised,
Speaker 1: like I I you know, I I've always thought so
Speaker 1: highly of you, and I was surprised, and I was like, hey,
Speaker 1: look I understand why you feel that way. I get it.
Speaker 1: And I was like, but I'm like, I'm really sorry
Speaker 1: that you overheard that conversation. I should have been more
Speaker 1: mindful about where I was. And I was like, I'm
Speaker 1: sure that was hurtful to hear. I'm so that was
Speaker 1: hurtful to hear. That's what I said, because you don't
Speaker 1: want to hear anybody talking about anybody about your people
Speaker 1: like that, Like I wasn't saying anything crazy. It was
Speaker 1: really just my own experience about how, like I said,
Speaker 1: I was once connected to this person, then how I
Speaker 1: felt very disconnected to this person based off of their actions.
Speaker 1: So you know it was not accepted.
Speaker 3: Yeah that's a good one. Yeah, that's a good one.
Speaker 3: He was going in too. And this mother, let me
Speaker 3: tell you it was.
Speaker 1: You know what it was. It was It was. It
Speaker 1: was just it was. It was a conversation of tastes
Speaker 1: and we were on the same tas if.
Speaker 3: Y'all were on the same page, you can imagine that. Yeah,
Speaker 3: I'm saying you you too. It was going up. Give
Speaker 3: me nothing, give me the jack and coke.
Speaker 1: The thing is I really like when they did that,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying, Like that was whack. They
Speaker 1: could have done that best.
Speaker 3: That one time it gets it gets it gets excited
Speaker 3: that well, Melanie, we have always valued your gifts, your presence,
Speaker 3: your friendship, your family, our family. We've been doing that
Speaker 3: a long time, and we are grateful for the opportunity,
Speaker 3: too to do a deep dive into where all of
Speaker 3: this comes from and then why it is the way
Speaker 3: it is. And we're happy, Number one that you're good
Speaker 3: and then we're happy number two that you're back.
Speaker 1: Yeah, good and back. I like that.
Speaker 3: We we're really excited about.
Speaker 1: That, like like you sing man, thank you. Thanks.
Speaker 3: That's exciting.
Speaker 1: Yeah that listen, that means a lot from from this
Speaker 1: room specifically.
Speaker 3: That's exciting.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Thank you, guys.
Speaker 3: That keeps uh. You know, I'm I'm I'm always keeping score.
Speaker 3: I'm always keeping score. You on you on our side,
Speaker 3: You're on our Teamron, you know, you know, you know,
Speaker 3: you know what it is. You know what it is,
Speaker 3: and we just appreciate you. We support you and whatever
Speaker 3: you need from us, you always know that.
Speaker 1: Thank you and thank you guys for creating this space.
Speaker 1: This is really important, really really important. Thank you. Thank
Speaker 1: you for holding space. Thank you for holding the time,
Speaker 1: because I told you I was coming, I was coming,
Speaker 1: and now I'm here and I'll be back for sure.
Speaker 1: Thank you guys.
Speaker 3: Ladies and gentlemen, Money is Tank Valentine and this is
Speaker 3: the Army Money Podcast, the authority on all things R
Speaker 3: and B. We have been bathing, sound and fall asleep
Speaker 3: and true therapy is taken place. Ladies and gentlemen, She's back,
Speaker 3: Melanie Fiona.
Speaker 4: Thank you guys, R and B Money is a production
Speaker 4: of the Black Effect Podcast Network. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio,
Speaker 4: visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen
Speaker 4: to your favorite shows. Don't forget to subscribe to and
Speaker 4: rate our show, and you can connect with us on
Speaker 4: social media at Jay Valentine and at the Real Tank.
Speaker 4: For the extended episode, subscribe to YouTube dot com or
Speaker 4: slash R and B Money