| BROOKE
VALENTINE "I
can escape inside music no matter what else is going on..."
--Brooke Valentine
 The
time has come – the music world has birthed a true nightingale
whose artistry distinguishes her from the industry's current
herd of wannabe R&B/pop phenoms. This chanteuse doesn't
adhere to conformity and defines her music freely. The artist
is Brooke Valentine.
A
native of Houston, Texas, Valentine ups the ante for creative
expression with her Subliminal Entertainment/Virgin Records
debut disc CHAIN LETTER. A melodic pilgrimage through the
perils and joys of a young female life, CHAIN LETTER is refreshingly
skimpy on gimmicks and ample on innovation. Valentine's diverse
musical tastes create the album's universal pulse by serving
a delectable stir-fry of R&B, pop, alternative and rock
– offering something for all music lovers. Only 19 years
of age, she explores the kaleidoscope of human emotions –
the good, bad and sometimes downright ugly. "When you're
listening to my album, I want you to know that things happen
and eventually you get over it,” she declares. “CHAIN
LETTER takes you on a ride as you go through the different
phases in your life."
The
journey begins with the ‘rhythm & crunk’ party-starter
"Girlfight," produced by self-described ‘King
of Crunk’ Lil' Jon and featuring Outkast's Big Boi,
which cleverly brews tension between two groups of women that
finally festers into an all-out street brawl. On the hypnotic
ladies anthem "Taste of Dis," Valentine delivers
the kinetic energy and seduction that listeners will immediately
grasp. Amid syncopated beats she encourages women to celebrate
their sex appeal and tap into their ‘inner diva.’
Valentine also invites us inside her more satirical persona
with the cleverly macabre ode "I Want U Dead," which
shares her morbid thoughts of revenge on an ex-beau, from
poking holes in his condoms to running his car in a ditch
– no punishment is too great to avenge heartbreak. The
hip call-and-response track "Blah, Blah, Blah,"
featuring the late, great Dirt McGirt (aka Ol’ Dirty
Bastard), is about a woman who feels smothered by her man
and wants her freedom without giving up her relationship.
On the flip side, Valentine expresses a woman's vulnerability
on the melancholy "Tell Me Why Don't You Love Me,"
about a woman's insecurity in a challenging relationship,
while her feathery vocals on the beautifully harmonic "Cover
Girl," addresses a woman's need to always be her man's
sole object of desire.
Unlike
many new artists, Valentine co-wrote her entire album in just
four months with her executive producer Deja, CEO of Subliminal
Entertainment, an independent label and production company.
Because of their around-the-clock work ethic, they were very
selective when recruiting their dream team of producers. "It
was important that this album was an accurate reflection of
me,” she explains. “We worked with producers who
didn't try to change that." Deja reached out to the industry's
producing elite and before he knew it the collaborations developed
with the speed of a real chain letter, with several producers
and artists wanting to be involved with the project. "The
vision for the album was to choose producers with versatility,
but who could work without boundaries," says Deja, who
has been producing since the tender age of 16. (His production
work has been included on several albums that have collectively
sold over six million copies.) "All the different musical
styles make sense, like listening to a great film soundtrack."
CHAIN
LETTER’s production henchmen include Soul Diggas (Destiny's
Child, Missy Elliott), Heatmakers (Lil' Flip), BloodShy (Britney
Spears, Christina Milian), Bink (Jay-Z) and Tricky (Britney,
TLC). All their contributions produced an impressive archive
of 200+ songs. Collectively, that catalogue reflected Valentine’s
eclectic musical tastes and influences, which include artists
as diverse as Janet and Michael Jackson, Red Hot Chili Peppers,
Alanis Morrisette, Blondie, Pat Benatar, Sade, Angela Winbush,
Anita Baker, Faith Hill, Shania Twain and Linkin Park.
As
a youngster, Valentine, the eldest of three children, entertained
herself by singing along with the radio. It was a fifth-grade
solo debut during a schoolyard recess that inspired her to
hone the talent she knew she possessed. A timid, 10-year-old
Valentine mustered the courage to join her classmates as they
sang a capella during recess, unleashing her surprising pipes
upon her peers and teachers. Adding to the admiration she
received at school, Valentine's grandmother acknowledged her
God-given talent and began putting her grandbaby on the spot
for impromptu solos at church. "I would sit in the back
at church every Sunday trying to hide," she laughs. "And
just when I thought I'd gotten through the service without
her calling on me to sing ‘His Eye Is On The Sparrow,’
she'd always call me up."
Between
school and church, Valentine began fine-tuning her instrument
whenever she had a free moment. Just when her singing career
seemed to be turning into a dream deferred, Valentine met
Deja, the first person outside of the schoolyard that had
taken time to really hear her voice. After an impromptu audition
for the burgeoning producer, Deja teamed a 14-year-old Valentine
with two other girls and called them BKS (Best Kept Secret);
they began performing shows from state to state. After graduation,
the girls forged ahead on different career paths, but Valentine
remained committed to her craft. "I was so used to being
in a group, I thought that's how it needed to be until Deja
asked me to perform one night at a showcase. I realized that
it felt very natural performing solo and we decided right
there that’s how I'd continue to perform." In 2002,
Valentine decided to follow her executive producer and mentor
to Los Angeles, where she began the grueling process of her
artist development – writing and performing locally
in hopes of securing a record deal. That big break came in
2002 when Deja gave a demo to a Virgin executive; the rest
is musical history.
Despite
the music industry's saturation of carbon-copy soulsters,
this southern belle's debut is sure to set a precedent among
her peers and shepherd the new wave of artists into a utopia
where originality and free creative spirit is the norm. Be
on the lookout for Brooke Valentine and her brilliant CHAIN
LETTER.
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