Melanie Fiona
BRM has done it again. We've hunted down, captured and documented the most innovative and exciting artists to recently emerge on a number of different scenes.All month long we’ll be running interviews with our discoveries to help get you ready for what’s to come in 2010. But to get a complete look at our full list of emerging artists, check out our current winter issue.
Melanie Fiona was once the opener on the European leg of Kanye West's Glow In The Dark Tour, Now the Toronto native is headlining her own tours, releasing her debut solo album, The Bridge, and being hailed as a breath of fresh air to the R&B/soul genre. Her vocal ability ranks her right up there with Chrisette Michele, Marsha Ambrosius and Jill Scott, but when asked what sets her apart, Fiona replies, "I just have a very international view of the world that I put into my music. I feel like that's really unique."
BRM: How does it feel to be Grammy nominated on your first album?
Melanie Fiona: It feels incredible, the honor is huge. It’s the highest honor you can get as an artist, as a singer in the American music industry. It's a everything I've been dreaming of since I was a little girl, and to be in the category, with who I'm [in the category with], I cried, it's an incredible feeling.
Are other female singers embracing you?
I've met Beyoncé a couple of times, Essence Music Festival with Layla Hathaway, a couple of events with Ledisi and they've all been really, really great to me. Supportive. They've been…cool and really nice women.
Do you feel you've opened doors more doors for artists in your home city of Toronto?
Absolutely, I feel like the movement that’s happening with the artists coming out of the city of Toronto, it's so great right now. That’s what it’s about. It's about doing something that allows people after me to feel inspired. To follow their dreams and go for it.
How do you cope with being homesick while away from Toronto?
I do the iChat, online, Skype thing… with my family. Every Saturday, my nieces go to gymnastics, so my brother, my Mother, my Dad, I video chat with them. Sometimes they come to see me. Another thing that I do, is I just kinda chill with friends and family that I've made in different cities, that I enjoy being around.
What sets you aside from your peers or your competition?
I feel like, I'm Canadian, of West Indian heritage, I'm mixed. I grew up in a mixed culture. I just have a very international view of the world and I put that into my music and I feel like that's really unique. I feel like the music [I make] is not categorized into one box, nor can it be classified, nor can I be classified.
Words by Damien "DDot Omen" W.
Photo by Robert Adam Mayer
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
