Song of the day – May 17
Melanie Fiona, live at Scala (London) © Romain Kedochim
Oh well, blame it on the reggae. It appears, my friends, I’ve been sleeping on all kinds of amazing new music. (New – just to be clear – meaning both “new to me” and “stale, verging on the moldy” to everybody else.) Who knew, for instance, I enjoyed Missy Elliot protégé Jazmine Sullivan so much? That “Bust Your Windows” video is superb! Y’all should’ve told me, kids!
So let us, for a moment, consider up-and-coming R&B singer Melanie Fiona, another artist making a big splash-début I may have been the last person to hear about. At first glance, Ms. Fiona may suggest something of an Amy Winehouse – petite frame and big black hair (sans the squirrel nest perched atop, Lord Have Mercy), but resemblances end there.
Melanie Fiona is not only hotter, saner and friendlier than the current crack-challenged Winehouse, she’s also Canadian. The singer was born and raised in Toronto, where she says she “grew up very West Indian even though [she] grew up in Canada.” (Hello there, Canadian multiculturalism!)
At any rate, Melanie Fiona has been garnering accolades all over the place. In recent months she’s signed an SRC/Universal Motown record deal, made friends with Kanye West, got herself in the Billboard Hot 100 charts and opened for Mr. Hudson in London. (Although, Mr. Hudson, another Kanye West-endorsed product, is the very sort of tall blond weirdo I am usually very suspicious of, his Too late too late isn’t half bad. To me, he sounds like a higher pitched, less depressingly Swedish Jay Jay Johanson. In a good way.)
So today’s Song of the day is “Give it to me right,” from The Bridge, Melanie Fiona’s first album, which was released sometime last week. (Does that still count as sort of new? I don’t know any more.)
Despite the fact its whole sultry, free-spirited woman in New-York City apartment concept reminded me a little too much of Winehouse’s “Rehab,” I’m going to go ahead and post the official video anyway.
But I will also say this. Was it not so politically incorrect to prefer remixes over originals, you very well may have ended up with the Talib Kweli remix, the Busta Rhymes and Raekwon remix, or even the wild, live-from-the-stairwell acapella version, featuring no other than the best beat-boxer alive, Kenny “The Human Orchestra” Muhammad. All well worth your time.