Search - Lady Sweety :: Lady Sweety

All Hail la Reine. . .

Achis | Kingston, JA/Philipsburg, SxM | 10/12/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Nearly each and every time I've taken a look at the French reggae scene over the past couple of I've been very impressed to say the least. My interest in the genre began with a pair of French West Indies natives; major dancehall act Admiral T from out of Guadeloupe and equally major rootical act Saël representing Martinique. Shortly after really beginning listening to the duo, I found myself relocating to St. Maarten, and unbeknownst to me at the time, placing myself very close to the newly burgeoning French reggae vibe. Out of ALL the various places the power and influence of reggae music has been reaching, I am probably most impressed overall with the French vibes (excluding Jamaica of course) which doesn't limit itself to one side or the other of the vibes. There are solid French talents coming up in all areas of reggae music, not just a heavy dancehall vibe or a heavy rootical vibes, the reach (at times) also extends to soca. Undoubtedly this is largely due to the fact that a great deal of `France's' reggae talent isn't French at all, but instead emanates from the reggae thirsty and packed FWI. Over the past few years Guadeloupe itself has made itself a true powerhouse in reggae music. Besides pushing forth their own talents, Jamaican artists of all varieties routinely tour to the island and perform to packed audiences (including recently, high powered dancehall ace Aidonia who was surprised the crowds, most of whom did not speak English were so educated on his songs and sung along) and are appreciated there greatly. Just this year alone, we've been able to receive very well done albums from MUCH Guadeloupe talent. Besides a few older albums from Admiral T and Saël which I went back and listened to (Mozaik Kreyol and Ma Vision, respectively) there have been artists with new albums; like Tiwony with the very solid Fly, Krys (who, to my knowledge is apparently Guadeloupe's most popular reggae artist, particularly with the younger crowd) with Renaissance and the absolutely amazing Admiral T disciple Saïk whose album Face à La Réalité ranks amongst the strongest dancehall albums you'll hear this year in any language. Other's still, such as Straika D and Daddy Mory from out of Martinique and the reigning King of Afrikan reggae Tiken Jah Fakoly and Lyricson (the only name I've mentioned thus far who voices exclusively in English) both from Afrika have all added to the overall Francophone reggae vibes. Thankfully, I've been learning French for a little while (although my French is still fairly bad) as I would have COMPLETELY missed out on the vibes (and we just cant have that!). Reggae fans all over the world should start picking up the language if they're going to put out vibes like this!



The list of quality artists went on quite awhile I think before I really realized something was missing. The very solid compilation, Rasta Legacy dropped over the summer and featured a very solid and plentiful French impact and I happened to realized that there wasn't a single female on the album, pushing a universal vibes from the feminine side. It took me awhile (and believe me, I tried a few others), but finally there is now someone talented enough to compliment the wicked vibes that the males of the genre are pushing, but doing so with a much more comfortable (and far more easy on the eyes) nature. Riding on the strength of what turned out to be a mega shot in Chewing Gum, Guadeloupe native Lady Sweety, has definitely set herself apart from the pack and established herself as yet another young and exciting name to watch on the French reggae scene. Despite what could certainly be described as a glossy presentation of her and her music (and I don't know if the same type of mentality exists in the French culture in terms of, similarly to Jamaicans being turned off when something has somewhat even a hint of the dreaded `crossover' word), make no mistake about it, Lady Sweety is very very skillful and she shows throughout her debut album just how many dimensions she has to display. In doing research on her further after hearing about her, she lists amongst her greatest inspiring artists, Lady Saw and while at times you can certainly see that (and no she doesn't particularly show a slack side (unless my French really is THAT bad)), I'd certainly much more closely compare Lady Sweety with dancehall Princess Ce'cile, as she is farrrrrrrrrr more closely to be associated with the new school vibes and not that wonderful brand of old school dancehall which Mama Saw still rules with an iron fist (although on the business side she probably is more closely like Saw as she didn't get her debut album pushed back and postponed for FIVE YEARS). She, also like Ce'cile, is capable at any turn of dropping the pop hit , or the dancehall hit. There was a bit of both in action this year when her tune, the high powered Chewing Gum (and subsequent HILARIOUS video) scored a nice sized shot in the FWI. The anti-Bad Breath anthem (which is shockingly a rarely explored topic in music now that I think about it, and a very nice idea) created quite a stir for Lady Sweety and helped lead to her debut album. The song itself could probably be best described as equal parts pop, dancehall and soca, and I would love to see what might happen if the bilingual Sweety might someday re-voice the tune in English or patois and see just what might effect it might have on the American stage, I would think that it would do quite well, based on idea alone. After getting her foot in the door with the huge tune, Lady Sweety now presents her debut and self-titled album, Lady Sweety, and doesn't disappoint at all.



Lady Sweety, the album is definitely for the dancehall crowd. While at times in the album she does show quite a level of pacing and an ever so slightly elevated vibes in a roots style, its clear to anyone that the dancehall is truly where she honed her ability as a DJ. Not too dissimilar is her vibe than when I found Saïk, and while I wouldn't probably put the two very close in terms of their actual styles, Sweety definitely deserves a comparison to the young lightening tongued wordsmith (she also, SHOCKINGLY, lists amongst her in major influences, legendary lightening tongued Jamaican DJ, Papa San) . Her debut album is quite a nice introduction to international audiences of her skills. Lady Sweety the album opens with Ka-Feel a `loose' combination with American hip-hop hype man Big Ali (who, to my knowledge has been serving the same purpose as of late with several international acts). Ka-Feel is probably exactly what you would imagine, something made exclusively for the dance floor, it also has a slight soca element to it (as does much of Sweety's music). Immediately following Ka-Feel is a track which I had actually heard once or twice before, Girls which features former French boy bander M. Pokora. Girls is pretty smooth, Sweety shows a nice skill on her first verse and its somewhat funny and ultimately harmless. Things really get fun, however, at track three when Sweety puts her biggest shot forward with Chewing Gum. If Chewing Gum doesn't get you moving in some way or some fashion then you don't have a vibe and while it is something ultimately that can be described as a pop-hit, the tune is nothing but hype dancehall in sound and a very nice idea. As I mentioned, I would love to see if Sweety (or anyone else for that matter) could have an even bigger hit with an English version of the hit, definitely something needed to be checked out. Lady Sweety goes even further into the dancehall with the track Non Stop(C'est Pas Possible) on which she taps not only underrated dancehall young veteran singer, but goes the extra `yard' and does the combination on a riddim supplied by non other than dancehall super producer Don Corleone. The song is a very nice score for the album and it definitely ranks amongst Lady Sweety's very best offerings for the album, as Corleone's rather hype style of making dancehall riddims melds nicely with Lady Sweety's brand of hype dancehall and Chico does nothing but add to the vibes. Still, the longest track on Lady Sweety definitely takes the real honors. The tune La Feu (The Fire) is exactly what it says it is, it is FIRE, but with a twist. The song itself is a very addictive dancehall track with the always popular East Indian vibe going through it and Lady Sweety literally shows off her bag of skills Djaying strong throughout the tune and a track which definitely has `second single' written all over it. Had she left the track with that alone, it may have still gotten my vote for Lady Sweety's best offering on the album instead, about fifteen seconds shy of 4 minutes, La Feu becomes a full blown spoken word piece which even further shows off Sweety's vast bag of skills and lyrics (there are little unofficial and unaccredited `interludes' at different points the album as well, usually accompanying the preceding or following song, but by far what occurs over the second half of La Feu is the greatest.



Another track which really stands out and might even be my choice second best track on the album overall is Ils Veulent Savoir (They Should Know). Ils Veulent Savoir shows that someone has been doing their homework and actually, even more so than La Feu, it shows off Lady Sweety's skills in the dancehall and she absolutely LOCKS OFF the flow on the third verse (following a first verse which is quite high tech and far from unimpressive and an even more impressive second verse which finds the Gwada giving love to some of her main influences including Sizzla Kalonji, Lady G and Papa San). Ils Veulent Savoir also has the distinction of undoubtedly having the best hook on a hype album which seems, at times virtually built around one big giant chorus and definitely the one track which I would recommend for the hardcore dancehall head, ALL killer. A great deal of the second half of Lady Sweety's debut album slows down the very hype vibe set by the opening half (thankfully). A warning shot of what to come is fired at track six, Un Homme Seulement (Only One Man) which finds Sweety at times going Lauryn Hill (especially at the beginning) on a tune showing love and respect to her man (whoever he is). Un Homme Seulement is a very smooth track and coming so close to all of the craziness which is the first half of the album, is a more than welcome changeup of the vibes on the album. Another nice peace coming from the more mellow half of Lady Sweety is the very nice Si J'avais Ose(If I Dare). Si J'avais Ose even more than Un Homme Seulement shows the utter versatility of Lady Sweety, should you go back to Ils Veulent Savoir and then listen the track you might never think the same artist capable of both of the tracks, as Sweety definitely has a singing voice worth paying attention to (again, much like Ce'cile). All that being said, when things really slow down for Lady Sweety, the tune which really wraps the album up quite nicely is definitely Pourquoi Tu Fais Ca?(Why Did You Do It?) which flows back towards a reggae vibe (many of the slower tunes actually probably fall closer to the line of r&b than reggae) . Pourquoi Tu Fais Ca? flows very nicely over a rather slight one-drop, but a one-drop nonetheless and is the album's `true' changeup. Sweety shows that although it is certainly the dancehall where she has honed her skills, she didn't neglect the rootical side along the way to making herself what she is.



Overall, what she is now is the owner of a very nice debut album (and there was a very nice official mixtape as well which actually first made me aware of this album coming). For such a very nice up and coming genre of music which is what the French reggae scene is becoming, I think they've found their Queen. Equally at home in nearly all forms of the music, Lady Sweety proves herself to be quite proficient at the dancehall side of things and now, in retrospect, I'm regretting that she didn't have more combinations here. Maybe in the next coming years we can hear Sweety on some nice combinations with some of her compatriots (a Lady Sweety/Admiral T or Saïk combination would be MASSIVE) and push the vibes and the music overall to an even higher level. While we still that to look forward to and to wait for, what you have in Lady Sweety's debut is a very solid French dancehall piece, definitely recommended to all of the newer fans of the genre (like myself) as well as those more on the vibes. All hail the Queen of French Dancehall."