Soul singer Pearl�s latest single Free shows growth
Maureen Odubeng | Friday January 27, 2017 15:41
The multi-talented young woman, who was born in Lobatse, is not only a vocalist, as she also writes melodies and lyrics, amongst other things.
The enthusiastic Pearl, describes her latest single as the beginning of a new chapter in her musical journey, which embraces her love of Soul, Afro-beat and Jazz.
Pearl describes her song as a blend of Soul and Afro-beat.
“The single Free is produced by ThExchange Project with music production handled by the affiliates Waithaka Ent & Wilson Kentura. The song exudes sensitivity and vulnerability and yet has a fierceness, rawness and powerful energy that gives it a colourful and authentic expression of emotion making you feel that you can break free from any kind of setback,” Pearl explained.
The song is friendly to the ear and will most definitely appeal to music lovers across different genres, as it combines different genres, with the end product being a beautiful danceable song. To many, the song might come across to some as a house song as it has some elements of Afro-house beats.
Pearl’s musical journey started when she was 17-years-old.
“Before that I was writing lyrics as a way of letting go of inner frustrations. It was not easy leaving Botswana at the age of 14. I sold my first lyrics to Hollywood Records at age 16,” she said.
Pearl said at some point in time she moved to Munich, Germany where she started as a backing vocalist.
“That time it was also about getting away from home and finding myself. After a year and a half I came back to Denmark and did other things. Dancing occupied me a lot as well as acting. I took courses in these fields and just loved the performing arts. I ended up giving lessons to young people in performance and movement for many years,” she said.
Pearl said in 2002 she started taking her singing a little more serious, after Ayi Solomon, a musician who happened to be a good friend of hers helped her get her first band together.
“I featured in local R&B, Hip-Hop compilations, but music was an on and off thing and it was difficult to find direction. I knew I wanted to do Soul music, but there is a very small audience for that in Denmark so it wasn’t easy. A combination of personal struggles and maybe not being a strong vocalist at that time made everything shaky. But I never gave up working on my vocals and on writing songs,” she said.
Pearl said the beginning of her real professional journey started in 2006, after a Russian musician based in Denmark heard her demo, and introduced her to a band in Moscow.
“I was featured on two of their albums and performed a couple of times in Russia. I even performed in Siberia. The experience gave me confidence to work on an album,” she said.
Pearl said for her first album, she was not too concerned about going commercial, but wanted work on a project where she could express exactly she was as an artist.
Prior to releasing the album, Pearl, had released a few singles. She said her music sold better outside Denmark.
“I have collaborated with South African underground House producers plus very established Angolan Afro-beat/House producers. I just did a new song with PM Project,” she said.
Pearl said her next album will be produced by the late Whitney Houston’s family label Drinkard Music Group.
“So now I have a chance to do Soul and Jazz as I have always dreamed of,” she said.
She hopes she will be able to stage a show in Botswana some time soon.
“It will be a blessing to have my people behind me,” she said.
Some of Pearl’s songs include Stay, A Woman, Why, You (from The Fall and Rise of A Woman album), and she was featured in a single titled Slowdown.
“Slow Down is my first House track where I was featured by Smartology and Danzito. The label Seres Producoes has just released a remix of the single, and it is doing well,” she said.