Interview
with Che'Nelle:: conducted
by
JiZO Jewles
JIZO: Wassap
Che'nelle!!! Thanks for doing this interview
with us. Can you give us a short bio of
yourself?
Che'nelle: Lol. No worries, I was born in Sabah, East Malaysia, and I moved to
Australia when I was 10, singing has always been
apart of my life, I discovered my passion for it
when I use to sing in my dad's karaoke when I
was like 4 or 5.. During my time in Australia,
my mum use to put me into song competitions, and
I was also in a top 40 band when I was 14 for a
bout five years. My performance skills grew
there. After high school I decided that I wanted
to pursue a singing career professionally, but
never assumed that I would be making my way to
the states. I attended the academy (WAAPA) in
Perth for two years and earned a diploma in
contemporary music. There I learnt about music
programs and began the journey into songwriting.
I never saw myself as a songwriter but I also
linked up with a local producer that inspired me
to create my own home set up and so I did.. I
have been songwriting for over 6 years and I’ve
never looked back. I aimed to be a songwriter
for artists in Australia first and then work my
up as an artist but my direction was lead
differently. Charles Dixon who is now my
manager found me on myspace two years ago and he
had a vision in me and my music. We were in
contact for about 6 months and he flew down to
Perth from NYC to meet my family. Literally in a
week of his return he managed to shop my music
to virgin records. Next thing I knew the CEO
Jason Flom and Steve Tramposch called me from
NYC saying that they were interested in my
music. By the next week
I was over in NYC and they had already prepared
the contract. I signed away after going through
the documents with the lawyer and bobs your
uncle! I’ve been in Jersey ever since. It has
now been a year and a half.. And I am now a
capitol artist because both labels merged.
Currently, I am on a radio promo run, promoting
my new single ; )
JIZO: What is your musical training? How
did your musical career start and how'd you get
to where you are today?
Che'nelle: My musical training was all
pretty much self taught. I was in a band
for 5 years when I was fourteen, so I learnt how
to perform during those years. I had no vocal
training until I went to university. During high
school I had a vocal teacher for the choir I was
in but that was about it ...lol. My musical
career properly started when I got signed last
year and I got here today from Charles Dixon
finding me on myspace ; )
JIZO: How long have you been in the music
business, and what style does your music fall
under?
Che'nelle: I been in the music world
since I was 4, been in the music business
since I was 14 and my style of music is of not
just one genre. I consider myself a rhythmic
artist because my album consists of an
amalgamation of so many different genres. But
the sound I grew to have holds all those genres
together. I grew up with a crazy diversity of
music, which explains the style I have produced.
JIZO: What singers, bands, musicians have
influenced you the most?
Che'nelle: Songs influenced me more then
artists.. When I hear a good song it
didn't matter who it was or genre it was. But on
the top of my head some of the artists that I
have admired through the years are songwriters
such as R. Kelly, Diane warren, performers such
as Usher and Mary j, Dru hill, 2-Pac, India
Arie, Musiq soulchild, Timbaland. When I was
growing up I loved the carpenters and Whitney
Houston. I
know I’m all over the place.. lol.. hahaha
JIZO: How all of a sudden did you get
discovered if I may ask?
Che'nelle: I was discovered on myspace
mate. Lol
JIZO: What do you feel are the ups and
downs of being a performer?
Che'nelle: the ups and downs of being a
performer is balancing your time out to
keep fit and energized because that's so
important for a performer to perform a good
show.
JIZO: Who are your favorite poets and
authors?
Che'nelle: hmmm.. I should read more
books but I don't Hahira the last book I
read was 'power of vision' by Dr. Myles Munroe.
I love reading books
about how to stay positive and books about life
and purpose, inspirational books etc so I don't
have a particular author really. ; )
JIZO: Can you tell me the inspiration
behind that song "I fell in love with the DJ"?
Che'nelle: haha my manager sent me an
instrumental and asked if I could do a "dj"
type of song. I didn't want to be creating
another same old "turn the music up mr dj" type
song so I put the instrumental into my pro tools
session and jammed. The first thing that came
out of my mouth was "I fell in love with the dj"
and I went on creating from there haha I wanted
it to be fun and cheeky and visual because I
think people relate better when they can
visualize a story lol and apart of the
inspiration was from a lil crush I had on a dj a
long time ago hahaha
JIZO: What was the thinking behind your
first album (official release date: August 28th
2007)?
Che'nelle: the release date is actually
the 25th of September now .. I wanted the
first album to be filled with songs I’ve written
during my journey towards being signed.. so a
lot of my songs were already written in Perth..
I pretty much just chose what I thought suited
the first album the most and what I thought
would be of great introduction as a new artist.
JIZO: Is there any particular reason as
to why you titled it "Things happen for a
reason"?
Che'nelle: yes there is because "things
happen for a reason" is a phrase that is
the story of my life. It is a common phrase but
is like this.. Have you ever thought about a
particular someone and you happen to bump into
them that day? or u turn back around to your
house thinking you forgot something but you find
an important notice on your door that you needed
to see but wouldn't have if you didn’t return?
Things like that happens to me all the time..
the songwriting story is the biggest thing..
Because I NEVER saw myself as a songwriter nor
did I think I’d get this far.. If I didn't go to
Uni and did that course or met up with those
local producers I wouldn't have discovered a
world of writing.. Neither would I be signed
and be the artist I am now if those things
didn’t happen.. hahaha this is why I titled my
album "things happen for a reason"
JIZO: You never thought about doing
something else instead of singing?
Che'nelle: yes I did actually, lol I
wanted to study journalism or something in
the media world or even psychology IF my music
career didn't work out
; )
JIZO: Do you think lyrics are important
or do people respond solely to the beat?
Che'nelle: both are just as important to
me.. because music drives the body,
emotions.... and the lyrics drives the mind and
creates visuals.. together music drives the soul
.. music is so magical and powerful..
JIZO: To date, what has been the
highlight or best experience in your
career so far?
Che'nelle: the best experience so far
would probably be the Kanye tour in Australia,
where I had the opportunity to be his support
act, doing the video for the single "I fell in
love with the dj" in LA, and hosting MTV (The
Big Ten) with Vj Damien. That so far has been
the best experiences. ; )
JIZO: Besides music, what are some of
your hobbies or passions?
Che'nelle: I love cooking and
entertaining my friends, taking time out to
relax
and just watch tv with a comfy blanket on the
couch and eat and call a million people at home
(Perth), and hit the clubs when I can!! These
are some of my hobbies lol
JIZO: What is your description of a
perfect day?
Che'nelle: a perfect day for me.. waking
up having a nice breakfast, with a loved
one or friends.. get my ipod, put on my bikini,
grab a towel, prepare a nice lunch for me and
however many of my friends, hit the beach or the
pool and sunbake.. For a few hours, come home,
burn some candles, put on some music, open a
bottle of wine.. Cook a fabulous dinner, put on
a movie and fall asleep.. yay... no stress, no
schedules, no drama.. Perfect day.. lol
JIZO: Hmmm, let see: Boxers, briefs or
thongs?
Che'nelle: THONGSSSSSSSS is all about the
G baby lol
JIZO: (blush…) Very nice… That’s my kind
of girl. LOL.
Thanks for everything
Che'nelle! YA R.O.C.K!
Che'nelle: Thank u so much I appreciate
the support and love mate !! ; )
Che'Nelle's Biography::
The armies of club-goers sweating to the fusion of
hard hip-hop, exuberant pop and complex, sensual
dancehall rhythms in CHE'NELLEs double debut UK
single, I Fell In Love With The DJ and US single
"Hurry Up", are ahead of the curve in discovering
her, as the club underground always is. But her new
album, CHE'NELLE, makes it abundantly clear that
CHE'NELLE is a multi-leveled talent, a beauty, and a
personality who will soon prove herself irresistible
to the massive mainstream of the worldwide urban and
pop audience.
Already a hit songwriter in her home country of
Australia, where she is set to open for Kanye Wests
upcoming tour, CHE'NELLE, 22, signed her first
recording deal in America with Virgin Records,
discovered by club DJ and radio vet Sir Charles
Dixon. She completed her Virgin debut album --
almost entirely self-written -- with production help
from hit-making A-listers including Sean Garrett (
Beyonces "Ring The Alarm", Pussy Cat Dolls
"Buttons", Ciara's "Goodies, Chris Brown's "Run
It"), Rich Harrison (Amerie "1 Thing", Beyonce's
"Crazy In Love") and a list of hot up-and-comers
from New York, Toronto, London and Australia. A
satisfying combination of compulsive rhythmic music
and soul-deep, intimate ballads, CHE'NELLE serves
notice that a major new singer-songwriter is on the
scene. And it announces unmistakably CHE'NELLEs
unforced yet irresistible knack for drawing lines
between every form of contemporary rhythm-based
music, creating a fresh, essential music for the new
urban world of the millennium and beyond uniting
both music and listeners.
CHE'NELLE, born in Malaysia and relocated to
Australia at age 10, was raised in an environment
where music and singing without notice of genre
boundaries was a daily feature of home life. Her
father, a civil engineer and architect, loved the
classic pop balladeers of the Sixties, and her
mother brought home every kind of rhythmic dance
music, singing her daughter to sleep with her
favorite new R&B and reggae songs. As every child
does, CHE'NELLE charmed her parents with her
singing, but she also amused and astonished her
father in his karaoke lounge when she ignored the
flashing lyrics to improvise her own, and invented
her own words so that she could sing him songs shed
heard just that day in a video. I was so young I
didnt even remember it until he told me that
recently, she laughs. He said he knew it wasnt how
the songs went, but then he noticed that the words
made sense. Maybe thats where my lyric writing
began, subconsciously!
CHE'NELLEs hometown, Perth, is a city of over 1.5
million residents on the western coast of Australia,
on the opposite end of the continent from the
countrys largest city, Sydney. Despite the countrys
distinguished history in pop and rock, which claims
such international stars as Olivia Newton-John,
Peter Allen, Men at Work, INXS, and, more recently,
pop-dance icon Kylie Minogue and the rock band Jet,
the Australian music business had never launched a
major international star in any urban-related idiom.
Without any local role models (but, consequently,
without any suffocating formulas to unlearn),
CHE'NELLE was drawn naturally toward the music that
fulfilled her most: hip-hop, reggae dancehall,
neo-soul ballads, and the new R&B. Whitney Houston,
inevitably, was a key influence, but so was the
local club scene, which thrived on hip-hop and
dancehall. Something in me was hungry for that,
because I wasnt brought up with Motown or R&B, she
recounts. I was looking for Luther, Mary J., all the
jazz cats, Ella Fitzgerald. There were a few of us
who used to go to the one under-age hip-hop dance,
which was once a week and on school holidays --maybe
200 people, cramped up in the room. CHE'NELLEs brief
but impressive professional history and her music
itself are living proof in microcosm of the
influence of hip-hop as a universal grounding force
a force as natural, powerful and essential to global
youth as gravity, or sunlight.
At age seventeen, CHE'NELLE was initially confused
to walk into her university music class and find it
filled with electronic keyboards and computer
equipment. She had performed with a top 40 cover
band on weekends since her mid-teens, honing her
skills as a live entertainer, but began to long for
the satisfaction of singing her own songs. In order
to make her own song demos, and without money for a
producer, studio time or vocalists, she mastered the
technology so well that she set up a bedroom studio
at home, working with an outdated computer and
borrowed software. At the same time, she knuckled
down to learning music theory and song structure,
and taught herself the demanding art of arranging
and singing background vocals. Finishing her degree
in music, she signed to a music publishing company
as a staff songwriter about two years ago.
At the time, CHE'NELLE considered herself primarily
a ballad singer, finding kindred spirits in
India.Arie and Musiq Soulchild, whose life-like,
conversational works are paralleled in the album
highlights My Pledge and 2nd Nature. But she also
began writing songs in the hard club style of
hip-hop and dancehall, following the footsteps of
such empowered female singer/songwriter/producer
triple-threats as Arie, Missy Elliott and Alicia
Keys. She cut vocals prolifically for local hip-hop
and reggae mix-tape producers, winning competitions
across the country, establishing her voice on the
local urban radio and club underground, and
attracting notice as far away as Sweden, London and
the U.S. west coast. One of the songs she co-wrote,
Hell, No! was chosen as the debut single of Ricki-Lee
Coulter, a finalist in the second season of the
Australian Idol competition, and it scored CHE'NELLE
her first national top 5 hit as a songwriter, with
an impressive 21-week run in the Australian top 100
chart and a gold single certification.
Although CHE'NELLE counts that hit as a relatively
modest start, Things started happening really fast
after that, she says. My production manager, Sir
Charles Dixon, found my website on myspace.com; we
were in contact about seven months, and he flew down
to see me in Perth. Within a week after he went
back, literally, he told me that Virgin Records
wanted to bring me over to New York. They had a deal
waiting for me.
Now, shes fashioned an album of genuine
accomplishment and emotion, confidently working
across the wide, eclectic spectrum of the new urban
music. Although her personal history could be called
a reflection of urban musics own best multi-cultural
instincts, which have surfaced recently in
everything from the crucial South Asian elements of
Jamaican dancehall and Caribbean soca, to the
massive eruption of Spanglish bilingualism in
reggaeton, the truth is that CHE'NELLEs ethnicity is
transparent in her music, and its her personality
thats crucial to her lyrics -- as any individuals
would be. Perth is a laid-back, relaxed place, and
straightforward. Thats the Australian part of me,
she says. The storytelling my issues, feelings,
relationships, how I see myself coming up as a
person, thats the side that comes from my Malaysian
upbringing.
But its only CHE'NELLEs philosophy and outlook thats
laid-back, judging from her compelling and magnetic
work on CHE'NELLE: in this debut, the unbounded joy
of music is front and center. What youre seeing now
is seven or eight years of work, she says. Recording
is like my physical release, and songwriting is my
mental release -- the stories and issues Ive heard
about and want to express. Performing is the product
of those releases. Every artist is given a blessing
to release their feelings through music.
