Mole ‘massive’ at Mahalia’s Corner

Mole touched down on the stage at Mahalia’s Corner and delivered a riveting set much to the delight of the hundreds at Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre Sunday night. It was his first-ever performance on that stage.

The popular artiste confessed to Bajan Vibes that he always wanted to be a part of the annual show, now in its 10th year.

“Being very truthful now, I wanted to be on Mahalia’s Corner. I told myself this is an avenue I would like to get in and I got in it. When I got that call, I was like ‘yea I down’… It feels like my blessings are increasing. I enjoyed myself. The performance was great. The crowd enjoyed it. Everything was nice so I am counting my blessings,” Mole, whose real name is Reco Cumberbatch, told Bajan Vibes after performing at the event.

The 26-year-old said his performance there was not that different to what he is accustomed to. “They kept asking me if I am nervous but I wasn’t nervous at all. I was cool and collected. I was comfortable.”

When asked about the overwhelming success and popularity he is now experiencing due to a great Crop Over season Mole said it was way beyond his expectations.

“This year was a great year for me. Last year was an awesome year, but this year tops last year by far. Breathe did something that is just unbelievable. I had Aye, Do It Fuh Daddy and Boomflick. They are songs that were big throughout, but Breathe did something different. Breathe is extraordinary,” he said with a smile.

He continued: “When I am creating music, this is what I have in the back of my head: ‘music is always going to come’, so I am going to do songs, what hit, hit and what doesn’t, doesn’t. As long as I am alive and music is coming, something has to hit for sure. So Breathe is just a song I put out. I did nine songs this year. But Breathe was one I said would hit for sure. I wasn’t expecting it to be so big and so fast but I welcome it.”

Given that both his 2019 hit songs Breathe and Deh Wid Um are part of Thundabolt and V Neck riddims, respectively, Mole said he strives to come with something different.

“I try hard not to be like everyone else. If everyone singing ‘bout wukin’ up and going down, I want my concept to be different. I try to be out of the box because if all of us are on one rhythm singing ‘bout wukin’ up, people will say ‘all ah de songs de same pon de rhythm’…

Mole, a perennial in the annual Bashment Soca competition, was unsuccessful this year. Ironically, he actually credits that turn of events for pushing him to release Breathe.

“Because of [the competition] I released Breathe and it so happen that it was released [at] the perfect time and turned my Crop Over into something phenomenal. There really are no words for it. Breathe is the first of my songs that outside of Barbados is huge. It blow up outside.

“With my other songs, you may hear my name once a week but with Breathe, you hearing it every day. That is what I wanted. Everything happens for a reason. If I had won Bashment Soca, I would not have released Breathe. It was supposed to be an out of season song,” Mole said.

The response to his 2016 song Do It Fa Daddy made him keep the moniker “daddy”. When he went on social media, he saw posts where people constantly referred to him as “daddy”.

The singer said his style of music has always been embraced by young people, especially school children. “The younger generation, especially the schools, it started there. They pushed me. What I do is called Bajan dancehall and they love it. You can do more with the dancehall given the audience. Soca is more on the clean path.”

‘Daddy’ readily admits that he is “from the streets” so he intends to keep it real – always. “I am from the streets. The streets are what made me. I am not one who would get a lot of radio play even though I would do the clean versions to a song. My songs usually play after they get big.

“So my songs would be playing in the streets first and then after they get big, they would touch radio. So I would say I was always for the streets. I belong to the streets and the streets belong to me. There is nuff love and respect always…”

When asked if he had started creating any new music for 2020, the artiste said he starts with a clean slate. He won’t be thinking about the impact of Breathe or trying to create another song as good as it since it might put him under undue pressure.

“I try not to think about it. The more you think about it, the more you give yourself writer’s block. If I am thinking I gotta top Breathe, when I go to write I may have a good song but it may not be a great song.

“I had a song this year I told myself would be big, but it only ended being big in the gyms but not out in the streets. It turned out different – it was big but in the gym world. So, I just create music and it goes where it is supposed to go,” he said. (IMC)