Veronica :
Theen

Release Date: 23 May 2005

Reviewed By: Elizka

1. Dil Lageya

2. Hey Ya

3. Indian Girl

4. Stay

5. Sajina

6. Aaja

7. Tere Naal

8. A Little Bit (Thora Sa)

9. Sitarey

10. Kya Kuroon

11. Talk About

12. Dil Lageya (Mentor Kolectiv Remix)

13. Indian Girl remix (Feat. AC)

The Game - The Documentary
Read Review

Being known as the The Rishi Rich Project's only female vocalist and the key asset of 2point9 Records crew, it comes as no surprise that the talented shooting star would come out with her first solo album.

After recent hits with both Juggy D and Jay Sean, Veronica has gracefully granted us with ‘Theen’, (Hindi for ‘three’). The name of her debut album represents the lyrical assortment of three languages: English, Punjabi and Hindi.

‘Theen’ is undeniably produced by Rishi Rich and Mentor, who are behind those fearless Desi beats, with added guest bonuses in the form of Juggy D (of course), and the Mentor Kollective. This is also unified with a rare infusion of R&B, hip hop, Bhangra, some Arabic, contemporary funk, a little bit of salsa and a touch of reggae.

Topped with Veronica’s own bi-lingual style of lyrics and vocals, this is a nice recipe for an instant light and fun “pick me up and dance”. Tracks like ‘Dil Lageya’, ‘Hey Ya’ and ‘Sajina’ are already getting rotations in the club scene. These are also in the promo video for ‘Theen’, which are featured on MTV Base, Channel U and many others.

With a song like ‘Indian Girl’, (where the instrumentals are from Jay Sean’s tune) Veronica sings about her contentment with being an Asian female, which is what makes her stand out in the male dominated music industry: "People telling me I can’t do this, Asian girls don’t make no music". Here she makes her mark as a British Asian artist with a prosperous culture, who amongst a mixture of others, also has a passion for urban and Desi style of music.

Half of the album was written and recorded by Veronica in her own studio and is instrumentally very impressive. From songs like ‘Ajaa’, which has that salsa R&B feel to it, with the guitar in the intro being very smooth, to ‘A Little Bit (Thora Sa)’, that has a definite rock influence, yet is still maintained within the formula by Veronica’s style of singing. Another track, ‘Sitarey’ is a soulful slow jam, where Veronica’s Desi vocals describe her perception of love. One of my favorites, ‘Talk About’ is a nice R&B tune, with a clever ‘chipmunk’ voice added to it, having a lot of potential for the mainstream.

With her suave youthfulness and fun aspect to her songs, Veronica’s lyrics give out a hint that she has a lot more in store than she displays on this album. She will probably surprise us again with an even more unique, intense and profound way of expressing her music and inner self. Personally, although Veronica does a great job with combining her vocals and the different vibes of music without deviating from her own style, I would like to see her experiment more with the vocal range to show her full singing potential.

On the whole, once you get over the perception that the album is only hype and open yourself to all the different influences of music, you shall find that you’ll be pleasantly refreshed and intrigued to listen to it again and again.

Judge it as you wish, but the word is that Veronica is on her way to becoming the “UK's First Lady of Asian Soul” and with a drive to be a ‘leader’ rather than a ‘follower’, she is sure to set a trend with her Desi-R&B style trademark.

Rating: 3 Out of 5

Top Three Tracks:

Talk About
A Little Bit (Thora Sa)
Indian Girl remix (Feat. AC)

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z