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The amazing adventures of Sewuese

Written by Semper Azeez-Harris
Tuesday, 24 November 2009 00:00

With her intriguing name and her catwalk looks, Nigerian-born Sewuese could probably get away with a mediocre voice and still have a successful singing career - thankfully, her voice is very far from mediocre!

Sewuese is, in a sense, a rarity in this day and age of music where artists seem to emerge from total obscurity to immense fame and back again in amazingly short time. A backing vocalist for some six years she has worked for an array of influential artists think; Dwele who she describes as “funny and intelligent” and Bilal “a darling soul and very committed to what he does particularly his performance and he just has that voice that can carry you to another place”. One Usher Raymond felt compelled enough to speak to her after a show” I shed a tear - you moved me”.

Our meeting place for the interview was an intimate small cafe near Wimbledon station. I was slightly late but she was as nice as pie and greeted me with a warm smile. After ordering a mint tea for Sewuese and a tea for myself, we sat down and the conversation flowed.

It was the intimate nature of the cafe that allowed her to be refreshingly honest about her life. "I really did not have a lot of friends at school I was not a popular kid there as I was very much a loner. I stood out for the wrong reasons because I was taller than a lot of my peers, ” she says.

"In school, if there was a lesson that I did not want to be in, then I would be in the music room. Sometimes the teacher would know about it but she would sometimes just turn a blind eye to it. I neglected my classes at the time but music was my refuge at the time."

It is this character building time however that allowed her to immerse herself in music. "I really feel that I was born to sing. I do not come from a particularly musical family but my brother kind of introduced me to making music."

After taking a delicate sip of her mint tea, she recalls with clarity the moment when she decided she wanted to sing. "I was hearing a lot of music but I was not exposed to a lot of music. I kind of picked up on RnB and I remember I heard a production by Devante formerly of Jodeci and I was just so moved," says Sewuese.

The purchase of a piano by her father evidently helped her to become more musically proficient. In a scene that seems idyllic, Sewuese and her brother would spend the hours creating music. "Well we just used to play around. He would play the drums I would be on the keyboard and we would just make beats together it was something that really captured me."

The lady that sits in front of me is certainly different from the young lady that was a victim of bullying; open, engaging, humorous and hardly a "loner". She asserts however that the "young Sewuese" remains a constant and helpful dimension of her character. She laughs as we get onto the subject of her alter-eg. "Well, it is not a new idea to have an alter-ego because everyone is so multi-faceted [Beyonce and her alter-ego Sasha Fierce]. Naturally I am quite a quiet and introspective person. Ace the Mute is the girl that I was before I broke out of my shell so to speak. She is very quiet, keeps to herself... Ace is a dreamer. She is the observational side of me, and takes things in from around her in her environment. She sometimes has wild ideas but she is sometimes afraid to act them out, which is where Sewuese comes in."

Initially the name Sewuese did not ring any bells for me and she readily admits that many people are not aware of her in her own right. It was only once I checked her MySpace page and saw a video of her performing with Sway and Lemar on the Jools Holland Show; I had a sort of “eureka” moment. I remembered the track "Saturday Night Hustle" (2008) where she sings the bridge. In truth while the track is great, it does not really display her talent. It is as a solo artist that her talent is on full view, “the album will be quite cross-over. I grew up on pop music, and had those introductions of RnB and hip-hop and so it is elements of these styles that I would like to come out in my album. I like my music to be song driven and I just love the whole production thing. If I can convey an emotional and entertaining feel across then I will be happy.” In a surprisingly calm fashion considering the big step she is taking in her career she adds, “I was going to make a mix-tape which I am still looking into but I do not want it to take up too much time. It's been a long time, people have been seeing me about and now I just want to show them who I really am.”

"So Closed" (which can be heard on her MySpace page) will evidently be on the album and it is here where you really get a sense of her vocal prowess. A hugely emotive track that will have you remembering pivotal moments in your life with a sudden jolt, she engages you and affects you the way good music should. "With So Closed" it has been so humbling because I have had people burst into tears when they hear it. I love to see that because my main thing is to connect with people on an emotional level." The ethos of affecting people on an emotional level clearly has roots in her past, "I just really want to make music that affected and helped me the way it did; an aid to help people to get through certain things" rather indicative of her heroes. "I love Cyndi Lauper, and Mary J Blige is a very real artist. I went to see her live and nearly the whole auditorium was in tears. "Children of the Ghetto" (2004) got nearly everyone going she just knows how to touch you. I also have an up-tempo track called "Lemonade" which I want to be on the album. It is like this analogy of me because people describe my sound as refreshing I kind of like the idea of my sound like lemonade and having a zing!” she laughs.

After years of self-management, Sewuese has entered a new stage in her career. Through management company My Ish, she has entered the hugely popular Funky House domain. "I started to collaborate with a team called My Ish which is a young label come managerial set up who work with Princess Nyah and Doneo." To that end, she completed a track with Doneo but she states clearly and with purpose that "this style is not my direction."

It would indeed be a shame if she were to take a permanent road into funky house. I love funky house but she evidently has more versatility and talent. She could bless so many different genres of music and you can see her blessing a powerful soul track or indeed some up-tempo track with some crisp vocals. After spending a long time in the shadows of her contemporaries, 2010 will hopefully be Sewuese's year.

"So Closed" - acoustic version

Sewuese performing with Sway and Lemar: