Reminiscing good times

Barbadian songstress Faith Callender relived some of the best moments in her career at the listening party of her first album Memories, last week Wednesday at the Copacabana Beach Bar.

Surrounded by family, friends and members of the local entertainment fraternity, Copacabana was filled with love as artistes recalled their most poignant memories of Faith.

The listening party opened with performances her soca comrades such as Jus D who had the crowd moving with hits such as Only Thing She Knows, Wifey and Manager; Shaquille who performed his 2019 release Fine Wine, Nikita with Brown Girl and Rhea Layne turned up the tempo with Speakah.

The 25-year-old shone on the stage with her bejewelled pink microphone as she introduced the audience to her “labour of love”. Setting the mood with her opening track All Night which was inspired by Lionel Richie, Faith captured the audience with her new selections.

The eight-track EP which is produced by the Noise Boyz shows Faith’s diversity as an artiste with genres such as soca, Latin, pop, and R&B. Her newer tunes All Night, On My Way, Memories, Closer and Minutes were well received by the crowd, as well as familiar soca tracks ManGo, Refill and Give Thanks.

Faith revealed that production of the album started in late 2017.

Speaking to Bajan Vibes about how she worked on the album tirelessly, she shared that she was extremely pleased with the warm response.

“I wanted to not only target the Barbadian audience but give the outside world something that they would be familiar with as well, fusing the soca and keeping it authentic at the same time… I think it is refreshing for some people because people will know me from singing other stuff in hotels. So to hear that collaboration, I think it is refreshing and something different for them,” she said.

Recalling all the sleepless nights that she spent slaving away in the studio after work, Faith said the album was well worth the wait.

“Some parts [of the production process] were easy. Some songs were easy to record – for example, Mango was an in and out [the studio]… and for others, I had to bring in a vocal coach to help me go through certain techniques and hit notes. There were late nights coming from work to the studio to have a writing session or even to record; sometimes you are leaving in the morning to get up and go again. It was definitely a lot of long hours, a lot of late hours and it was worth it.”

With the Crop Over season kicking off in May, she indicated that Memories would tease the palate of fans until she drops her next single. (KK)