Which R&B diva will have the hottest album of 2011? Although musical heavyweights like Mary J. Blige, Beyoncé and Jill Scott may instantly come to mind, the surprise contender vying for the title is former Destiny’s Child member Kelly Rowland.

Hot off the heels of her smash hit single Motivation, which features Lil’ Wayne, Rowland is poised to set the charts on fire with her third studio release Here I Am. “I think the most amazing thing that I have learned is my strength — as a woman, as an artist, as a business woman. [There’s] definitely confidence, a lot more confidence,” Rowland recently told VEVO.com

“I learned a lot from this record and I think the second phase of the album I actually learned the most, which was when I decided to push back the release date. I know a lot of people weren’t happy with me because of that but it was the best thing for the album and I can’t wait for everyone to hear the result.”

Here I Am will feature appearances by other female powerhouse performers such as Nicki Minaj and Fergie of the Black Eyed Peas. Interestingly enough, the project will be going up against that of her former Destiny’s Child bandmate Beyoncé, who’s fourth studio album 4 is also set for a summer release. Rowland’s Here I Am hits stores July 26.

BY: Del F. Cowie

So who exactly is Keri Hilson? She’s been the seductress in R&B superstar Usher’s “Love in This Club” video, the ethereal voice of empathy on producer Timbaland’s hit “The Way I Are” and the songwriter behind pop star Britney Spears’ “Gimme More” — and that flexibility just mirrors her chameleonic visual presence since she emerged into the spotlight.

Speaking to her in person, it becomes apparent every step is viewed as a logical progression in what, contrary to how it may appear, has been a lengthy career in the music industry. In the midst of a media blitz at a downtown hotel, hours before she’s due to take the stage at Air Canada Centre as part of Lil Wayne’s I Am Music tour, 26-year-old Hilson is clearly focused on shifting her reputation from helping to craft hit songs for the likes of Mary J. Blige, Omarion and the Pussycat Dolls to doing the same thing for herself.

“Performing was definitely there before songwriting,” says Hilson. “Songwriting was like my Plan B and I really took it up because I knew I was good at it and I could make some money at it while I was a starving artist. So I never would have guessed it would have taken off as fast or as far as it did, but I’m thankful that it did.”

Hilson honed her songwriting chops as a teenager in Atlanta during a period where she was a singer in two failed female R&B groups, concocting her own approach to songs she heard on the radio. “I wrote to other people’s songs while they were singing and that was fun to me,” says Hilson. “I could completely not hear them and write my own thing.” For inspiration, Hilson often drew on her immediate environment. “The black women in Atlanta are some of the most beautiful black women in the world,” says Hilson. “We’re very conscious of upkeep and all that stuff. No diss to other cities, but Atlanta is full of successful black women that take pride in the way that they look. So the [hair] salon, the nail salon and places like that are where young women like me grow up — I would hear conversations and learn and be put up on game…. I know that I want to be able to speak to women the way those conversations happened in the time that I was growing up and also in the albums that I listen to.”

Hilson also found inspiration from then-Atlanta resident songwriter and producer Babyface. “These are songs that I’ll have at my wedding — songs that I’ll have people play at my wedding, you can believe that,” says Hilson laughing. “Not that I’m getting married, I’m just saying, eventually. I love him and I got to meet him and that was a huge deal for me.”

Before she got to meet her idol though, Hilson helped to form the songwriting collective The Clutch to bring more attention to the work of R&B songwriters. Eventually, she met producer Polow Da Don, now known for his work with A-list R&B artists, which proved to be a catalyst for her career. Having noticed her work, Polow notified Timbaland of her talent and the superstar producer immediately recruited her.

Now, after countless featured vocalist turns, including on Kardinal Offishall’s recent “Numba 1 (The Tide Is High),” Hilson feels she is ready to break out on her own terms. “A lot of people don’t do music that really represents them,” says Hilson. “They do music that represents the trend right now or something that they aren’t, and I didn’t want to do that. I said if I ever got my shine, I’m gonna be honest. And my music is definitely that.” Even a club-oriented song like her latest Polow Da Don-scored single “Turnin’ Me On,” featuring Lil’ Wayne, incorporates Hilson’s stated mantra. On the track, Hilson does not fall headlong in love with potential nocturnal suitors, Ÿber MC Weezy’s crude overtures included. “Recognize a real woman” is her pointed rebuttal to their lust-fuelled approaches after she outlines her rules of engagement.

“Everything I’ve done with Danja, Timbaland and Polow is always emotional,” says Hilson. “I feel that’s what sets me apart from anyone else that they work with. Even if it sounds trendy, it’s an extension — the true extension — of some strong emotion that I have. But even if I make light of it for the sake of it being a club song, it’s still emotional, because I have songs that you can play in the club; but if you sat in the car it would be thought-provoking, so I make sure that there’s a balance between the two.”

According to Hilson, In A Perfect World… does not shirk from showing her vulnerability — in fact, her favourite songs on the album are the ones that make her cry. Even though the featured producers, especially the aforementioned Timbaland, are currently known more for their up tempo, electro-infused sounds, Hilson sees these backdrops as the perfect complement to her lyrics. “That sound for me provokes some sort of emotion,” says Hilson. “I love writing about heartbreak and hardship and stuff like that, and the colder the track, the more it jerks out of me.”

Connecting with women in the way they communicate is a vaunted aim of Hilson’s songwriting; it’s an approach she’s tried to carry into the day-to-day reality of her career. While it may seem like she is surrounded by superstar male producers, Hilson is proud to point out that women are working on her management and choreography, and fast-rising Timbaland protege Marcella Araica helmed recording and mixing duties for the bulk of her record. “It’s all women running the show in my world,” says Hilson.

Ultimately though, she wants people to see through the machinations of the music industry and focus on the raw material of the songs and really find out who Keri Hilson is. “I want people to feel that, even though they may think of me as some cute face, as opposed to a singer or a personality or someone with feelings.

“They kind of make you an object, throwing all this makeup and accessories on you and making you a fashion icon,” says Hilson. “I want people to feel the music through all that. Yeah, all that’s cool, but I want to be known and respected as a musician, as the musician that I am.”

Originally published in Sway Magazine, Spring 2009

Photo courtesy of Ciara's official website, ciaraworld.com

According to Amazon.com, the release of Ciara’s new album, Basic Instinct, has been delayed to December 14, just in time for the holiday shopping season.  The release of Ciara’s 4th studio album has been delayed numerous times.

Ciara is collaborating on the new album with writer-producers Tricky Stewart and The Dream, who also worked with her on 2009′s Fantasty Ride.

Check out the new video for Speechless:

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Mother and Daughter team

A hospitality endeavour brings new challenges and rewards for one mother-daughter team.

By Stephanie Pollard

Rozz Entertainment Complex Centre has a restaurant, a banquet hall and a performance venue all under one roof. The brand new business on 200 Advance Blvd. in Brampton, Ontario is the brainchild of mother-daughter team Rosalind Blake-Sutherland and Tanika Blake.

And with the help of partners Lloyd Blake and Leo Sinclair, the pair aims to make its dream of offering affordable luxury a long-lasting reality. “For a long time, I wanted to get into the entertainment field,” says Blake-Sutherland. “I was always having little things going on like fashion shows or dinners.

I had this dream that I would have a place that offers up nice Caribbean fusion in an entertainment complex where we could have R&B, reggae and jazz artists.” With her business partners, Blake-Sutherland created the concept for Rozz in 2008, but it didn’t materialize until this past summer, when the doors finally swung open.

A versatile concept isn’t the only part of this hospitality equation. As Blake-Sutherland and Blake work to balance the mother-daughter and employer-employee bond, both are finding that their relationship has become deeper as well as more complicated. “I find it really hard separating employer from mother,” Blake says of the arrangement.

“Sometimes it doesn’t matter what she’s telling me, even when I’m in the workplace and it’s related to work, it’s almost like, ‘Mom is not happy with what I’ve done.’” For her part, Blake-Sutherland admits that because she depends on Blake for so much, her expectations tend to be extremely high.

“Sometimes I think she tries too hard to please me, I really do,” she says. Grievances aside, this mother-daughter team is constantly working to ensure that Rozz upholds its reputation of providing quality entertainment while giving back to the community through scholarships and other endeavours.

With business starting to boom, Blake-Sutherland and her daughter are confident this entertainment haven will be offering the royal treatment for years to come. “I see Rozz having about 10 different locations,” Blake-Sutherland says. Blake finishes her mom’s thoughts: “Also, what we have here are different components of business in one area so it would be great to see a Rozz banquet hall by itself or a Rozz restaurant by itself. That would be really great.”

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Deborah Cox’s soulful sound has kept fans satisfied for more than a decade. Singing since the age of 12, the Toronto-born artist got her start as a back-up singer for Celine Dion.

Now, with nine Billboard-charting hits under her belt, she is recognized as Canada’s Queen of Soul. Sway caught up with Cox last year while she was promoting her album The Promise.

Describe your inspiration for The Promise.
This album was inspired by my love of old-school soul music. I recorded it over a three year period, so the final product and release of the album was a long time coming. During the last few years, there were a lot of different R&B vibes happening and I really didn’t want to get locked into one of the sounds you were hearing on the radio. So I took my time.

In 2007, you released a jazz album Destination Moon. How did that come about?
I’ve always loved jazz and wanted to put together a project like that for a long time. The process came together by hanging out with friends in the studio. The first jazz concert I saw was Miles Davis and it was a real turning point because it opened me up to what jazz was all about.

Throughout the past decade you have started a family and grown a lot as a person. How have you matured as an artist?
I know a lot more about the business now. Today I’m not afraid to do what I love, including switching genres and styles of music. The fear of needing to be one particular type of artist is just not there anymore so I don’t hold back.

What advice would you offer to up-and-coming musicians and youth wanting to get into the biz?
There are way more resources out there now than there were when I was starting out. So the best advise I can offer is to take advantage of these outlets as much as you can. The internet is such a great resource; you can put out an entire album online and have it be incredibly successful, without a huge budget.

Do you have any new projects in the works?
I’m involved with a not-for-profit project based in South Africa called Broadway that works with artists like myself to bring art and music to the underprivileged, school-aged children of South Africa.

The Promise is available at all major music vendors. Fans should anticipate a North American tour in 2009. For more info, visit: deborahcox.com.

Peter and Paul Okoye, better known as Nigerian R&B duo, P-Square, kick off their North American Tour tonight at the Ricoh Coliseum in Toronto.  The identical twins are leading the way in Nigeria’s flourishing music industry, the subject of a CNN report last year.  While album sales are dwindling on this side of the world, business is booming in Nigeria.  Danger, the pair’s fourth studio album, reportedly sold three million copies in the first month.   P-square was recently nominated for Best International Act at the 2010 BET Awards.
Show starts at 7:30pm

Maiko Watson says she now feels more comfortable in her own skin.

The former Sugar Jones singer has stripped away bubblegum pop for soulful sounds and control of her life

BY: Amanda Robinson

Her journey left her with a few bumps and bruises, but Maiko Watson says she now feels more comfortable in her own skin.

Armed with a unique fusion of acoustic soul, jazz and R&B, the singer-songwriter, producer and recent business owner is ready to once again make her mark in the music business, but in a much different way. The Winnipeg native is back in Toronto to promote her recently-released debut album, Sweet Vibration, which was put out by her own independent label, Labeame Records. “I was influenced a lot by jazz around the time I was writing this album and R&B and soul is kinda my roots in music,” she says. “The album is a combination of those things, and just me being more mature now.”

You might remember Watson from when she was in her early 20s — she was one of five members selected to be in the pop group Sugar Jones, which was formed in 1999 through the reality TV show Popstars. In 2001, she married Canadian musician Remy Shand, moved back to Winnipeg with him, and left Sugar Jones. Watson spent the next few years touring and singing backup for Shand’s band. They filed for divorce in 2006.

Looking back at her younger self, Watson says she knows she wasn’t ready for marriage after being taken on a whirlwind ride to fame with Sugar Jones. “I got married really fast. It’s like everything was happening all at once,” she says. “You’re not looking very far ahead. I know now that I didn’t know who I was back then. I feel a lot more comfortable with who I am now and what I want.”

Watson says this even though Sugar Jones’ debut album went platinum and spawned two Top 10 singles on the Canadian charts. The group was even nominated for a Juno, performed at the Air Canada Centre and opened for acts like Destiny’s Child. She admits leaving the group was a bit selfish. “I was more considering myself than members of the band,” she says. “But, at the same time, we all have our lives and I’m still in touch with most of the girls.”

Now an independent artist with an independent record label — far from the days of screaming fans, tour buses and industry parties — Watson describes her time with Sugar Jones as having given her an unrealistic view of the music industry. Watson now enjoys the daily grind because she says she has what she lacked while in Sugar Jones: a more soulful sound, creative control and, most importantly, the ability to determine her own success. “There’s a lot of work on the business side of things. It’s a lot of sending out packages, constantly contacting people and research. At the same time, I really enjoy it because you’re making things happen for you.”

After being on a rollercoaster ride for the last few years, Watson says she feels that this is the perfect time for her to re-emerge. She’s developing her sound as an artist and, with changes in the industry — artists becoming famous as a result of social networking websites like MySpace or iTunes, for example — her grassroots label may have a huge chance to succeed.

Watson has also taken control over her personal life. She’s currently single, enjoying her freedom and the ability to focus on making it to the top once again.

- Look out for Watson in the coming months, promoting her album and playing at festivals. You can check her music out at myspace.com/maikowatsonmusic

R&B Singer Melanie Fiona

Toronto-born singer Melanie Fiona talks about her journey to the top of the charts

BY: DEL F. COWIE

To say things are going well for Toronto R&B singer-songwriter Melanie Fiona would be an understatement. When Sway magazine caught up with Fiona in the midst of her whirlwind schedule, she was in New York City. It was not long after the Grammys, and Fiona scored a nomination for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance for the song It Kills Me. She lost to BeyoncŽ’s Single Ladies — no shame there — she was just happy to be nominated.

“It just took away from the pressure of actually winning the award or not,” she says. “I just wanted to go and have a good time. My parents flew down, they were proud. It was a real dream come true.”

But the highlight for Fiona wasn’t the glitz and glamour of the Grammy gala. That same weekend, a parade of music superstars convened in a recording studio to remake We Are the World for the victims of the catastrophic earthquake that struck Haiti earlier this year. “Coming off the high of the Grammys, I got to see and be around some of the greats in music for such an amazing cause.” Rubbing shoulders with the likes of Quincy Jones, Gladys Knight and Lionel Richie is the result of years of hard work for Fiona, now at a turning point in her career. The aforementioned It Kills Me, from her debut album The Bridge, is a show-stopping ballad that has elevated Fiona into another realm. At the time of this interview, the emotionally charged song, which details the internal conflict and turmoil of a stormy relationship, had been No.1 on Billboard’s R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart for an impressive eight weeks. For her part, Fiona never doubted that the song would be a success.

“The emotion that It Kills Me has is what makes it so unique,” she says. “We knew that this was our monster record. We knew that when it was time, we were going to hit. But you never really know when the right time is, so we released it as the second single and it just took off.”

The song was co-written by Andrea Martin, a songwriter whose credits also include classic ’90s R&B staples such as En Vogue’s Don’t Let Go, Monica’s Before You Walk Out of My Life and SWV’s You’re the One. However, Fiona’s relationship with Martin goes beyond business. They are now close friends and share the same heritage.

“What! She’s Guyanese,” says Fiona. “That was our first bond when we first met. It was really cool. She actually has the same birthday as my mom. On all levels we just kind of connected and had a lot in common. Now we’re like family, for sure.”

It was actually a family connection that first attracted Fiona to music. Her father played guitar in a Toronto group and her mother loved to sing. People would often ask her to sing when she was young, and while in high school she joined a Canadian female R&B trio called Xquisite, which also featured current MTV Canada host Nicole Holness and Toronto R&B artist Andreena Mill. After they disbanded, Fiona persevered with a solo career, occasionally jamming with local artists. She was even briefly in a group with Toronto hip-hop artist Drake, until she got a break with an L.A. management company while she was what she describes “young, fresh and green.”

“I just naturally fell in the pocket,” she says. “I realized I was going to miss my family’s birthdays, I wasn’t going to be home for every holiday. I was going to have to sacrifice working a regular job, making a steady income to spend money to hopefully make income. It wasn’t easy sacrificing my life, basically, to get here.

“It’s not for everybody. I can’t honestly just turn around and say that if you picked up a plane ticket you could make it too. I know people who quit this race a long time ago because they can’t fathom the thought of being away from their families or not having money or not having a place to live and really struggling.”

Working under the name Syren at the beginning of her solo career, Fiona tried to find her sound by collaborating with a variety of producers. “It took a little bit on a creative level, before I had my record deal, to try to explain to people who I am and where I come from and what that means to my music,” she says. “That was a little bit different. Going [into a studio in] Toronto and being like, ‘I want to do some music that reflects my heritage.’ People would be like, ‘OK, we’ll have a little bit of calypso, reggae, a little bit of R&B and a little bit of pop.’ They would understand that right away. Whereas in the States, I would say, ‘I’m Guyanese.’ [They'd respond], ‘What? You’re from Ghana?’ They didn’t understand the culture and they didn’t understand where I came from. So, it was definitely difficult for me, at first, to find producers who understood the vision of the type of music I grew up listening to.”

Still, for the most part, her realities in the U.S. and in Canada were polar opposites. “I just kinda kept [my career] south of the border. It was kind of like a double life I was living,” she says. “I would come home, go to school. I’d be a daughter, a sister, a friend, a girlfriend in Canada. Then I would leave and be [living] in hotel rooms, and recording and going to events that were kind of unheard of for Canadians. I always kept it that way because I knew that being in the States was work and Canada was home.”

Despite this reality, under the name Syren, Fiona was able to release songs like My First Love, which was remixed into an up-tempo house track, and the Supa Dups-produced Somebody Come Get Me, a selection featured on the Reggae Gold 2008 compilation. The song actually led her to open for reggae legend Beres Hammond in Toronto.

Yet, the business aspect of her career remained firmly in the U.S. and reached a critical point when music executive Steve Rifkind, the founder of influential ’90s hip-hop label Loud and the man responsible for launching the careers of the Wu-Tang Clan and Akon, among others, decided he wanted to set up a meeting.

“My name was kind of floating around because I was shopping a deal,” she says. “Steve set up a meeting and came into one of my studio sessions. I played the music and he was like, ‘Oh, my God. You’re a star! You’re a star! I’m gonna fly you to New York and we’re gonna figure it out.’ He put me in front of his staff and was like, ‘I’ve gotta sign her. I can’t pass on this.’ The next day he put the paperwork in front of me and it was a done deal.

“In the fifth year of my career, I do get to say I’ve had some pretty big names stand beside me in support. From Steve Rifkind to Andrea Martin, you know, Jay-Z to Questlove, Kanye West and now Alicia Keys, as I’m getting ready to tour with her. I can’t take the credit for all of it just being talent. It’s all of the hard work and the music that has gotten the attention and the respect of these people before they had even met me. It’s definitely a great union. As an artist, all you can really hope for is the respect of your peers and people you admire in the industry.”

Admiration from fans is also ever-present, as the public has responded positively to the eclectic brew of music on The Bridge, which, at times, mimes Motown melodies, yet sonically traverses everything from analog soul to lover’s rock and contemporary R&B. Many are also pleasantly surprised by Fiona’s connection to Canada.

“A lot of people think I’m from New York. I’m like, ‘Actually, I’m Canadian and proud to be.’ I’m really happy that I get to be part of the movement that continues to put Canada on the map. People are like ‘Damn. You’ve got Kardinal Offishall, Drake. You had Deborah Cox, Tamia. You have Melanie Fiona now. Maybe there’s something up there?’ There is and there has been for a very long time.”

That something has drawn widespread critical acclaim, leading to opportunities such as Fiona being the voice behind a recent Italian advertising campaign for Martini Rosato. The Bridge is also a testament to her cultural background and the varied musical paths she had already travelled before she recorded the album.

“I grew up in such a multicultural society in Canada; my eyes were exposed to so many different types of cultures, food and people that I’ve always felt that music shouldn’t be for one type of person,” she says. “I just said, ‘I’m going to take a risk. I’m going to be that artist who is going to break all the rules and not put myself into a box and really try and make an album that is consistently varied and diverse.’

“That way, people understand it’s not really about the instruments used. It’s about the feel of the music more than anything. I don’t really classify the music I listen to as black music or whatever. If I like a song because of the way it makes me feel, then that’s what I’ll buy or that’s what I’ll listen to. I just want people’s minds to be open and understand more about why I did it that way and why the music sounds the way it does.”

Leaving it open to interpretation led many tongues to wag about whether the topic of Give It to Me Right, the lead single from The Bridge, was as lascivious as it seemed. It’s something of which Fiona is highly aware.

“Of course it’s wordplay, and it can mean many different things,” she says. “People always think it’s about sex, all the time. Sure, definitely it could be. If you want to use it in that context, why not? But really, if you listen to the words, without the sexy beat and without the singing, if you just think about it, it’s like everybody wants what they want, the way they want it — and they want it right. Like, if you got a bad meal you would send it back to the kitchen. If you were dissatisfied with something you would file a complaint. Give It To Me Right is kind of a motto: This is what I want and I don’t want to have to settle for anything less.

“I think that people feel that way all the time in relationships as well. It kind of became this really cool women’s anthem because it gave women that shake your head, shake your finger, no nonsense attitude. Like, ‘I know what I want and I’m strong.’ That was a beautiful thing for me for women to be empowered by that concept.”

Being empowered is a constant theme that arises when speaking with Fiona. Her next single, Ay Yo, is also her favourite song from The Bridge and draws on this theme. She hopes it can serve as a rallying call for anyone facing difficult circumstances.

Soon, Fiona will be taking the next step in her career when she starts work on her second album and competes to win a Juno for R&B/Soul Recording of the Year. But her goals seem to extend beyond the music industry. Somehow, it’s fitting for the singer, who saw taking part in a charity single recording as being more important and fulfilling than her Grammy nomination.

“It’s been about the music and the music has gotten the attention of the people,” Fiona says. “But now it’s about the movement of what it means to be an empowered artist and young woman, and charitable events and things like that… it’s time to give back.”