Like most of you by now, I have seen the most inspiring made for TV movie of all time, the “New Edition Story”. This movie was the equivalent to an R&B Roots. Three jammed packed nights of shear excellence. Once again we got a up close and personal look into the glamorous, but sometimes ugly, life of the music business. Like the old saying goes, this business can either make or break you. And this movie clearly showed that very theme. Again, the industry doesn’t know what the people really want, as it was clearly displayed throughout this movie.
Dear Music Industry, Please let the artist do its thing. That’s why you signed the artist in the first place. Let’s be real, the artist already possesses some type of star quality, hence the reason why they signed them in first place. So, for this week’s “ Women That Rock” series selection, it is yet another young lady from a growing list of Artists that need to be heard by the masses.
Hailing from across the pond, London born”Terri Walker” has a voice and sound that needs to be heard, not just on a national but global level as well. This gifted young artist not only studied classical training at a young age, but it can be heard throughout most of her music. Ms. Walker recorded her demos in LA then shopped them to several labels located both in the UK and the US., which eventually ended up with a recording deal with “Def Soul” UK division. Now, I know most of you would say that’s a good look for this talented artist. But, let me show you how they, (meaning the music industry) do nothing for the artist.
She records her debut album entitled “Untitled”, the debut single is entitled “Guess you didn’t love me” featuring “Mos Def” which is a very nice track, but guess what, it doesn’t stand a chance to reach the masses due to the fact that there is no media outlets that will play the track. This is the first mistake and then if we fast forward several albums and years later after dealing with several labels not knowing what to do with yet another amazing talent. Terri tries her hand at putting out yet another album entitled “Untitled to Entitled” a nod to her first debut album.
This album is definitely a well balanced project. I absolutely love the track “Lose Twice”, its one of my extreme favorites on this great album. Terri delivers a stellar performance on this great body of work. If only the record companies would stop controlling what’s being played on the airwaves, maybe only then would great artists have a clear and fair shot at dominating the market. After researching Terri’s work and story, I found myself feeling overwhelmed at the fact that her music and musical stories need to be heard by all that value true soulful music. There are hundreds even thousands of great talents that are going undiscovered each and every passing day. Either by dealing with fact they’re signed to a label that doesn’t believe in their music or just doesn’t get it. All I ask is just let the people decide what is good and what’s not. Show your support for those artists that aren’t on the mainstream radar because they do it for the love of the art form. Just remember that.
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Leslie A. Thomas is a lover of all things music, follow me on Twitter @LBoogie252005.
