New Canadian/Caribbean R&B/Soul singer songwriter Melanie Fiona has delivered a wonderful debut album called The Bridge. On it, she reveals countless sides of her personality. She is strong, sexy, contemplative, and joyous. On this album, she uses a variety of different musical styles with an authentic old school yet modern feel to it. It’s a mixture of Soul, R&B, Neo-Soul, and Reggae, all influenced by Pop music.
Whether it is using a sample of “Time of the Season” by ’60s psychedelic rock group The Zombies on the highly addictive first single “Give It to Me Right”, being sexy and seductive on the beautiful “Bang Bang”, using the doo-wop sound on the catchy “Please Don’t Go (Cry Baby)”, bringing back the ‘50s on the wonderful love song “You Stop My Heart” or bringing a Caribbean reggae influence to the bold and sassy “Ay Yo”, Melanie Fiona manages to wrap her strong versatile voice around each song and musical style.
The only weak point on this album was the song “Priceless” which was a good track but was let down by the production on it and, on an album of such high standards, just didn’t work. However, she displays the talent, songwriting ability and confidence of an old school veteran on all of the album’s tracks, and puts her own unique stamp on each song. The songs in turn each have their own real punch to it and there’s a real authenticity of modern music on this album.
The Bridge transcends and crosses boundaries and barriers between music genres, age groups and genders. Her sound brings together the past and present with a blend of classic soul and modern pop. She has amazing potential which if she keeps on fulfilling, could make her a star in the making.
The Bridge is out now on SRC/Universal Motown.
Reviewed by Kamran Assadi
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