Music

Q & A: Melanie Fiona talks her teen years with Drake, moving to the U.S. to find success, and playing the genre game

by Richard Trapunski

Her first album, The Bridge, established Melanie Fiona as an artist to watch back in 2009. Three years later, with the release of her sophomore album The MF Life, the 28-year-old R&B singer, originally from Toronto, is cashing in on that promise. She’s won Grammys, Junos and collaborated with big-name artists like Drake, Cee Lo Green and John Legend, and though she’s done it all since moving to the United States (she’s now based in New York City), she’s still waving the Canadian flag. We caught up with Fiona at the Pantages Hotel in Toronto to talk about her identity, style, collaborations and heritage.

AUX: You’ve been in Toronto all day. Does it still feel like home, even when you’re here doing press?

Melanie Fiona: Oh, absolutely. This is home. This is always going to be home. I love coming home. Especially to come home and know that I have love here and support here, it’s a great feeling. I just went to Sotto Sotto for lunch, which is like my favourite Italian restaurant. And I love 7 West. I love to go shopping on Queen. I mean, it’s a great city.

That said, you didn’t have your break here. You had already moved to Los Angeles by the time anyone was paying real attention to your music. Was it an intentional career move to move to the States to “make it”?

It kind of just worked out that way. My opportunity came from L.A., and that’s where I went for it. It’s just difficult. It can be a little bit difficult. But you’ve just got to keep going. I went down there with a Canadian flag on my bag, just like “I am Canadian!” So it’s nice to be back home and celebrate success back home, too.

Have you come in contact with the long held myth that Canadian artists have to be recognized in the States before people will pay attention at home?

Well yeah, that’s the truth for my scenario. And I think it’s the same for a lot of people. Drake is one of them. Deborah Cox, Tamia, Kardinal, Glenn Lewis. It is that way for a lot of artists. But I think it’s very specific to certain types of music. Indie rock bands, they have no problems. They’re gigging all the time here. I just think that in terms of the market and demographic, there probably needs to be industry-wise a better infrastructure to support the different genres that are popping up from Canada.

I’m sure the success of somebody like Drake or even The Weeknd probably helps things, too.

I hope I’m helping. (laughs)

Well you did just win a Juno for best R&B performance, even if that came after you won a pair of Grammys. How does it feel to get that recognition here at home?

It feels great. Hey, better late than never. That’s what I say. It feels like part of a journey that I’ve been on for the last three years, wanting the attention and the success back here. I’m just happy that it’s starting. I can only go up from here, now that Canada’s paying attention. That’s great.

Speaking of Drake, you collaborated on this new record. But it wasn’t a traditional rapper/singer collaboration?

He wrote the song. I think it’s brilliant. I think he brought his style of things to my project, and we developed a great concept. It had a lot to do with time constraints. He was like “I’ve got this really great song I want to do for you.” He felt really passionate about wanting to write something, so I was like “yeah, totally.” And that’s more interesting than just like “oh, Drake’s hot. They’re both from Toronto. They did a song together.” I appreciate art and collaborations in all forms. I still think we should do a song together, though. I think people from Toronto especially are waiting to hear that.

When you and Drake were teenagers in Toronto, you performed together in a group called the Renaissance. Is it vindication that you’re both finding success all these years later?

Well, I just feel like certain things are just meant to be. Me and him, we met years ago. Almost ten years ago. God, how old am I? No, we met like… let me do the math… seven years ago. We’ve both come such a long way since, and we’re very proud of each other. It’s nice when we see each other and just remember we started where we started.

What was the style of the project?

He was an emcee, I was a singer. There was another singer, a male vocalist, who’s now his keyboard player. He’d play piano, I’d sing, the male vocalist would harmonize, Drake would drop a verse, and then we’d just rotate like that. Or Drake would have a song and I would sing the hook. That kind of thing.

Are there any recordings anywhere?

None. We never went in the studio. Never. We never did the studio thing. It was all live performances. This was so long ago, I don’t think people were smart enough back then to take a video, to know how big that media would become.

Your original break was having the song “Somebody Come Get Me” included on the 2008 Reggae Gold compilation, under your stage name Syren Hall. Was that your style back then?

Before I started making my first album, The Bridge, all my music reflected what I came from back home, which is this very reggae inspired fusion of R&B and pop. I’m Caribbean, so that’s how that resonated with me. That’s where I started to just make a buzz for myself so that people could kind of understand and accept me for being different from what everyone else was doing at the time, and it’s what came natural. And now on all my albums and in my shows, I have to have some sort of reggae element in there for the homage to my heritage.

Your parents were originally from Guyana, and you claim African, Indian and Portuguese descent. Has that heritage led to your current style?

I think, definitely. I’ve never wanted to allow people to be able to put me in a box and to pigeonhole me in one style of music. Because I’m a singer first, and that means I should be able to sing whatever song I want to sing in whatever genre. I grew up in a multicultural, diverse nation and city. I view music as a universal language that brings all people together, so I don’t want it to be the thing that separates me from any group of people. So I just make the music I want to make.

Has going to the States and appealing to pop radio made it hard to project that hybrid identity?

Yes, because they… maybe I shouldn’t say what I really want to say about it. I just find there’s just a lot of colour lines in the States when it comes to radio. It can be tough when they want to segregate everything into hip hop, urban, adult AC, rhythmic, Top 40, pop, dance, techno. There’s so many bloody categories, and I just can’t stand that. When I go overseas, like in Switzerland let’s say, I love that you’ll hear a Melanie Fiona record, Green Day and Bob Marley all on the same radio station. That’s how I feel about music. So the segregation game in the music industry for genres down there is just like [groaning noise]. It’s just like seriously, come on, the internet is multi-format. But still, they’re into boxes down there. “What box do you fit in? Check here.” I always check other. [laughs]

The style on your new album, The MF Life, isn’t quite as retro sounding as your debut. Was that an intentional broadening?

The first album paid respect to what inspired me artist-wise, being retro-soul, which is what I grew up listening to a lot. And The MF Life is The Melanie Fiona life, which is where I am right now. My attitude is a little bit more sassy and aggressive and unapologetic. And I’m okay with that, so I wanted the music to reflect that. And I wanted it to be current and young, as playful and versatile that I feel that I am.

Are you planning to continue in the same direction in the future?

It’s hard to say because the album just came out. Hopefully I’m going to be going out on tour, because I love to perform. And I’ve been doing some writing. I’ve been doing some writing for other artists. I have a song that I wrote on right now, the K’naan and Nelly Furtado song. I wrote on that, which was a cool thing for me. I think Nelly Furtado is fantastic, and she’s Canadian of course.

Wasn’t that how you started, writing for other artists?

Before people really knew who I was, I had a placement on Rihanna’s second album. It’s just about developing the brand and my art and my craft. At the end of the day, it’s a business. So wherever I can stand to expand on my business, then I’m great with that. But I still get to do what I love.