Melanie Fiona - Caribbean, Represent!

Melanie Fiona – Caribbean, Represent!

Jams/Pop Culture

November 5, 2009

16 COMMENTS

melanie_fiona
Bellas, I am so tardy to the Melanie Fiona party!

I’ve been watching this beautiful young singer on the rise, but I guess I wasn’t paying close enough attention. All of a sudden, my mind connected the dots. The chick I’d seen on VH1 Soul with Questlove, was the vocalist behind that version of Sam Cooke’s Cupid that I heard at Starbucks! And the same artist I’d been reading about on Soulbounce forever! OH! This is Melanie Fiona!

It took me a while, but now I’m head over heels for her sound and her style.

Melanie Fiona hails from Toronto, but — according to Wikipedia — has parents from Guyana. Which perhaps explains the Caribbean influence that comes through loud and clear in her Subway Series. In this awesome clip, she performs her songs “Sad Songs,” “Please Don’t Go” and “Bang Bang” on the streets and in the subway stations of New York City.

So. Amazing. The sounds of steelpan gave me chills – such an amazing and underused instrument.

Melanie’s album, The Bridge, is available for sale right now. Show a real singer some love, if you’re feeling this!

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Tagged With: Hip Hop Heroines, melanie fiona, melanie fiona subway series

COMMENTS

Chatty Patty says:

November 5, 2009, 11:00 pm

I love her music...I am looking forward to picking up her album!

Deanna Jackson says:

November 6, 2009, 12:17 am

I'm loving Melanie Fiona's new single, "It Kills Me." She is gifted and real!!!!

Ondrea says:

November 6, 2009, 1:40 am

Mannnn!!! I have been waiting for this for a while! Finally we got some real singer, some soul, some rich talent back into the industry. THE ESSENSE OF WHAT SHE IS SINGING, AND THE WAY SHE IS DOING IT, IS CAPTIVATING/AMAZING/CR3AT1V3

BSQUARED86 says:

November 6, 2009, 6:07 am

She's so amazing! the video was great and I lover her album! I got it on iTunes!

nyc/caribbean ragazza says:

November 6, 2009, 11:04 am

Can't wait to hear the whole album. I was in Toronto two months for a work project. It's called the Northern Caribbean for a reason. It was a trip, 95% of the black people I met were from the islands or their parents were. I felt very at home.

MeMeMe says:

November 6, 2009, 3:50 pm

Love her music! I am getting the CD on Nov. 10th.

Candy says:

November 6, 2009, 4:37 pm

Man, bella you ain't said nothing but a WORD! LOL I've been feeling this girl sooo HARD since I saw her Wendy Williams a few weeks back! Finally, a REAL singer with an original sound.

Angie O says:

November 6, 2009, 5:53 pm

I love Melanie Fiona - you should hear "Somebody Come Get Me" off the mixtape she did with ?uestLove. She really brings the island soul on that one. The whole mixtape has been on heavy rotation for the past two months - can't wait to hear the album

Tissa says:

November 7, 2009, 10:30 am

I've not heard alot of her music, but I remember seeing a video recently and it was "hott"! Radio stations are starting to blow her up too. Just heard Tom Joyner and Michael Baisden talking about her just this week. Think I'll "youtube" her today.

Ke' says:

November 8, 2009, 8:48 pm

OMG! That is so cool that her family decends from the caribbean especially from guyana my fathers family decends from there .... before the blog I had not heard about her but her music is nice she sounds really good

CJ says:

November 9, 2009, 10:42 am

I love her sound. I've been feeling her since she was unknown, and I'm finally going to buy her album.

Jennae @ Green & Gorgeous says:

November 9, 2009, 3:20 pm

Don't feel bad. I had been hearing about her, but not really paying attention too. This girl can sang! And I love how she performed with random street artists! I am originally from the Virgin Islands and played steel pan for years, so this really brought back some memories. I was just telling my husband that we should buy a tenor pan (the one the guy was playing in the video). And I'm headed over to iTunes to get Melanie Fiona's album right now :)

4B Trini says:

November 10, 2009, 12:21 am

Another artist exploiting West Indian culture and singing over street rhythms. Big Deal.

Bee says:

November 10, 2009, 1:20 pm

@ 4B Trini: Just to get your perspective, how exactly is MF exploiting West Indian culture? I personally love her stuff - it brings freshness to this stale music industry, and as someone of Jamaican heritage, I love that my generation is still in touch with their roots and can bring it to the world in creative ways. There are a lot of other people doing a good job of exploitation. To me, MF isn't one of them.

SoFrolushes says:

November 10, 2009, 4:41 pm

This is the second time I coming back to this post. I never knew she had a Caribbean connection and I think her voice is amazing. I came across her song called "sad song" it samples the classic Janet Kay song "silly games" it is such a nice use of the original backing track or whatever its called. Thanks again for highlighting her

S. Ann says:

November 11, 2009, 10:54 am

Love Melanie Fiona. She is so down to Earth. Here are live performance in Bmore here . . . http://blog.theindiestry.com/search.aspx?q=melanie%20fiona&sc=t&dt=3m&al=none

Melanie Fiona – Caribbean, Represent!

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