Tag: Brika

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Now, if you’ve been frequenting this site over the past few years, you may be familiar with Miami, FL-based JOVM mainstay and electro pop artist Brika. And as you may recall, the Miami-based pop artist has received attention both from this site and across the blogosphere for a sound that draws from trip-hop, jazz and several other genres, as well as a slow-burning neo-soul reworking of Shaggy‘s “It Wasn’t Me,” as well as her debut effort Voice Memos.

Brika’s latest single “Just Wanna Be Single” was produced co-written and produced by R&B singer/songwriter and producer Shy Girls with Grammy Award-winning producer Julio Reyes Capello, and the single pairs a slick but breezy and chilled out production featuring strummed guitar, finger snap-led percussion, languid cascades of synths and an infectious, radio-friendly ear worm of a hook with Brika’s coquettish yet self-assured vocals; but underneath the radio-friend airiness are unusually self-aware and introspective lyrics that capture a modern woman, who is perfectly okay with not having anything particularly serious holding her down; in fact, she wants to simplify her life and her relationships — in some way, she sees relationships as a difficult, time-consuming burden, full of heartache. Certainly, the woman who narrates the song is a fully-fleshed out woman, the sort of woman you’d find self-possessed and self-assured but a bit of a player, and yet beguiling all the same.

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Multi-Grammy nominated, Grammy-winning, Canadian-Jamaican DJ and reggae vocalist Shaggy is probably best known for his mega-hit singles “Boombastic,” “It Wasn’t Me,” “Hey, Sexy Lady” and “Angel.”  More than enough ink has been spilled throughout Shaggy’s career but I will say that “Boombastic” and “It Wasn’t Me” are so hugely popular that you’ll still occasionally hear both of those songs at parties, more than 15 years after their initial releases.

Miami, FL-based pop artist Brika has been something of a mainstay on JOVM as I’ve written about her a number of times over the past year or so. And in that time, Brika received attention across the blogosphere for an electro pop sound that at times seemed to owe a debt to trip-hop and jazz. Interestingly, Brika recently covered Shaggy’s mega-hit “It Wasn’t Me,” turning the uptempo reggae song into a slow-burning, sensual neo-soul-leaning reggae reworking that completely changes the song’s melody while employing the use of strummed guitar, organ, skittering percussion, double bass and Brika’s breathy coos. Certainly, by having a woman sing the song’s lyrics, it creates a completely different interpretation of the song while retaining the original’s spirit.