Keishera - Show Me You Ready
Keishera is releasing a brand new highly acclaimed single, "Show Me You Ready" on September 3.
Beginning with a calming, ethereal atmosphere, the song begins to draw you in, and intrigue you with it's modern twist and top class production. After a short introduction, the song begins to slowly unfold with the vocals entering alongside new elements and percussion.
From the very moment the vocals take center stage, you know how much time has been taken in ensuring the structure feels well thought out. There's a soft mellowness to the vocals, yet they also burst with power, uniqueness and originality. They're one of a kind!
Towards the end of this action packed hit, the vocals layer up with backing sections harmonising in a truly stunning manner, before the lull in the intensity end, leaving you urging to hear more from Keishera.
Although the track is 4 minutes long, it constantly evolves and twists, so the listener never loses interest.
Presave it here!, and check out our exclusive interview with Keishera out below.
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What got you into music?
I’ve always loved music - I think back as a child listening to music on the radio, being from Jamaica you hear a diverse eclectic group of singers playing on the radio not just reggae, that gave me chills, I was introduced to quality singers at that early age through my mom playing records, everything from soul, blues, country music. Essentially me wanting to do music didn’t manifest until much later in life because I was afraid of my husky voice. It took a while for me to really appreciate my tone, texture and register, I would sing out loud because it made me happy, and received encouragement from passers by. I was a part of this band called burnt sugar which was put together by Greg Tate and one night an amazing singer songwriter was in the audience and after hearing me sing she told me the guard my voice with my life, I didn’t fully understand what she meant at that time but I kept on going! I was living on my own at an early age and singing to myself was a form of entertainment since I couldn’t afford a radio, It helped to keep me calm and centered. I worked on my voice, range and confidence, recording some songs here and there without direction. What really solidified it for me was a brief encounter with Ahmet Ertegun shortly before his passing. He invited me to Atlantic records in his office after my music was passed on to him through a coworker friend, and we spoke about me keeping my accent, my tone, texture, writings and where I saw myself in the future, it was an introduction with plans to work together in the near future! After we both returned from our trips but it never took shape because he took sick and shortly passed away. All these among other happenstance made music, singing and songwriting my passion, which gave life to my musical journey, exploring it has filled me with excitement each time I touch a stage.
When did you release your first song?
My first song was released shortly after meeting Ahmet, when I went to Jamaica to stay with a friend who worked for VP Records JA. This was late 2004- 2005. I was introduced to Mr G aka Goofy. He heard me sing and invited me to record a song for his Guitar Riddim - the Soul Food Riddim he was about to release. My song on that compilation is called “So Good” and it was released a few days after recording it! The response was lovely.
What instruments do you play?
I play my vocal cords and I’m a songwriter- lol I attempt to play a little guitar but I’m not good at it.. not in a way that I can play out live, I need a lot of practice.
How do you produce and release music?
My process varies, sometimes I get together with a musicians with the idea to create something from scratch and we’ll just play around with sounds until we get the ruff idea, Then I’ll fine-tune the song lyrics and record it, another way is I might already have a song in mind that I’ve been working and need the music to be made, so I would reach out to my producer for production, with my melody as the driver and we’ll build it from there… to me a song isn’t finished until it’s mixed mastered and released. Another way I create as-well is the producer will send me a track- if am really feeling goosebumps then I would write to it record it and send it back to him. If we both love it we will do the mix and master and then…. The rest is history. I am mostly self-published handling the majority of my releases under Keishera Music - along with some promotions. Currently I am working with ER the Label on my up-coming release “Show Me You Ready” which drops on 9/3. It can be pre-save by following this link: https://le.ffm.to/showmeyouready
Who are your biggest musical influences?
Mostly ‘Old school music’ is my biggest influence, no exactly genre specific, I love a lot of artists I don’t think I have one that is like wow, I draw inspiration from a lot of people, I tend to love songwriters and real performers that you can feel the soul bouncing off the music and their energy holds you long after the performance has finished. Singers like Tina Turner, Sade, Al Green, Sam Cook, Bill Withers I love Aretha Franklin, Nina Simone, Reggae music Bob Marley, Jimmy Cliff , Buju Banton, Supper Kat Shaggy, Marcia Griffiths ..., songwriting on a whole in a lot of these songs really grabs my attention. Tracy Chapman to me is off the chain lyrically so is Ed Sheeran , Adel, loved Amy Winehouse all these different Singer/songs are just like wow in terms of New age, Alicia Keys, Her, Ella Mai, Rihanna, Estelle… I love them all. And so much more
In what genre would you describe your music as being?
Overall I would say my music is a fusion of Soul and reggae, I’ve been doing a lot more soul stuff lately but I started off doing Reggae Soul, It’s what makes me different, my voice has an accent, you can hear it in some cadences. Because I’ve lived so many places in this world my sound is culturally diverse, originally I’m from Jamaica it’s in my blood so that element is always going to be present in some way shape or form.
Do you write your own songs?
Yes I do, those are my own words, my songs lyrics are my experiences or an observation, and at times it’s me manifesting -like something I’m trying call into my life or let go of, it’s a conjuring in future tense, my songs are all emotions driven :-)
