ARTIST: Keshia Chante
TITLE: 2U
LABEL: Sony BMG
GENRE: R&B
BITRATE: 206kbps avg
PLAYTIME: 0h 48min total
RELEASE DATE: 2006-12-05
RIP DATE: 2006-12-05
Track List
----------
01. Been Gone 3:35
02. Kiss 4:01
03. Fallen (Feat. Freeway) 3:42
04. Beep Beep 2:43
05. 2U 3:19
06. Summer Love 3:26
07. Be About Yours 3:00
08. Little Things 3:27
09. Can't Believe 3:36
10. Stomp 2:59
11. Too Much 4:03
12. Sorry 3:46
13. Cool On You 3:42
14. Ring The Alarm (Keshia Chante 3:13
Remix)
Release Notes:
Ottawa's Keshia Chante isn't your average 18 year old.
The up-and-coming R&B singer, with a sophomore disc, 2U, in stores on Tuesday,
appears to have both professional and personal ambition way beyond her years.
"I give J.Lo credit for her business side," said Chante, who has been living
in Toronto for the last two-and-a-half years with her mother. (Her parents
separated when she was six).
"I love the fact that she's involved in so many different ventures. And I'm
very much like that, where I'm so interested in so many things. I'm very
creative and I'm easily inspired."
To that end, Chante wants to have a clothing line, her own perfume, an acting
career -- her debut will be in an episode of the new CBC TV series, Da Kink In
My Hair to be aired next spring -- and even her own label one day.
Believe it or not, the recent high school graduate (from Fletcher's Meadow in
Brampton), is a student of life.
"Every single day I'm in my Blackberry typing in the five lessons of the day
that I've learned," said Chante, who also wants to write a book. "It's just
something that I've been doing just since I was really young. And it can be
something really, really simple. And I have to learn something or else there's
just no point. I'm very into progression."
First up, hopefully, is an American breakthrough.
Chante, who recently opened for Ciara at the Guvernment, spent the summer
touring the U.S. on both the Teen People and Seventeen mall tours to set up
the release of 2U, which will come out early next year south of the border.
"In America, there's a lot of work that goes into it," she said. "I'm starting
all over again. It's pretty much doing my groundwork. Because it's so much
more of a bigger market, everything that I did here, is like triple."
And she's not a bit daunted by it.
"It's very, very exciting," said Chante, who is already an established star in
Canada, having won her first Juno award last year for best R&B recording
following the release of her 2004 self-titled debut, which spawned five Top 10
singles. In fact, it was the third single, Bad Boy, which garnered the
attention of BET in the U.S. and led to labels calling to record and release
her second record.
"I feel really blessed that I've had the opportunity to have trial and error
in Canada," said Chante, who appears on MuchOnDemand on Monday (5 p.m.) and
has an Ottawa show on Thursday. "It's (been) four years of just performing and
touring and doing interviews and things like that. I've had the proper
training. So it would have been a little strange to have been 13 and thrusted
into the spotlight in America."
In the meantime, Chante is excited about her sound on 2U, which she recorded
in New York, Los Angeles, Miami and Toronto with various songwriters and
producers -- and claims to have no concerns about the so-called sophomore
slump.
"For me, the growth has been crazy," she said. "Just the range vocally as an
artist, just my artistry has changed. And the way that I listen to music and
the way that I respect music has changed, ridiculously so. Where at 14, I just
loved to sing, but now, I live to sing."
Chante admits it's unusual that 2U's first single, Been Gone, samples
classical music -- Vivaldi's Four Seasons' Winter. But she's come to love it
after some initial trepidation.
"When I first heard it, I was like, 'You guys are crazy. I don't want this.'
And after awhile of working on it and then finally getting to the studio and
recording the song, it's completely different. I didn't realize the song was
so challenging to sing. And now I just have a newfound love for classical
music."