| 
By Belinda
Boakye
With the new release of ‘Cold As Ice’, the follow up to
the 2005 hit ‘Come Into My Room’, Nathan is rapidly gaining recognition
as one of the saviours of UK R&B as he continues his assault on the
sceptics of UK urban music.
The son of a singer/actress, Nathan
has the blood of an entertainer running deep through his veins and is
hungry to fulfil his destiny. He was first brought to our attention after
winning Choice FM’s Rapology competition, which led to recording with
renowned producer Michael Daley
[Craig David, Beverlei
Brown].
Since then,
Nathan’s talent has proved him worthy of working with such names like
Angela Hunt (songwriter
for Nas) and Salaam
Remi, (producer for The
Fugees, Ms Dynamite
and Amy Winehouse).
This latest
single maintains element of surprise and endearment surrounding the artist.
Written by himself and produced by Tone
N Silver (Mary J. Blige,
50 Cent) and again Full
Crew’s Michael Daley,
its complete contrast in sound to ‘Come Into My Room’ demonstrates the
diversity from which Nathan heralds and the broad spectrum he aims to
cover as an international artist.
The boy is charming, humble and full of jokes. To complete
the package, such personality is matched with intelligence and an obvious
drive to achieve his goals. A pleasure to talk with as well as to listen
to, Nathan will soon have the world at his feet and is ready and willing
to accept everything it has to offer…
With so many black, male singer songwriters around at the moment,
how do you feel about the comparisons to Usher,
Ne Yo, Mario.
. .?
I love it! I like being compared to people that have sold platinum albums;
if you compare me to them then that’s a compliment. Obviously I’m going
to do my own thing and create my own path, but I really don’t mind; I
want to use that to grow, competition is healthy and I’d love to work
with those people as well.
How
do you want to differentiate yourself?
Well because I’m from the UK and I lived in New York and Jamaica as well,
it’s different; it’s not the normal thing, so I try and make all those
things come out in my music, so that’s an extra edge instead of just the
same old, same old.
Do
you mean through the actual style of music or the lyrics?
All of it, and the approach as well, what I try and do - what I try and
add. I try to be versatile. I don’t want to make an album of songs in
the same vein. If you listen to ‘Come Into My Room’ and then you listen
to my new single ‘Cold As Ice’, they’re two totally different songs. That’s
like how I approached the whole album, I don’t think there’s two songs
that sound the same on the album and I’m so proud of that because that’s
hard to do, especially when you’re writing the whole album yourself. So
it’s always about finding something new and coming at it with a different
angle. I’m probably going to run out on the second album…(Laughs)
What
musical influences do you draw on?
Now I’m a big Michael Jackson
fan and a big R. Kelly fan.
Michael Jackson mostly, and Marvin Gaye
as well, but more than artists I get inspiration from songs, there are
lots of songs that I love and that’s what inspires me, lyrics.
Name
a song that from a stereotypical perspective we would be surprised to
hear you like.
There’s a song by Sixpence None the Richer
called ‘Kiss Me’. I liked it so much that I used it on my album. I made
a different song out of it because I love the song. At first I just wanted
to do that song over, but then my producers were like, ‘Don’t do the song;
I know you love the song but let’s make it into something different,’
and it turned out great. It was nice to do something different that people
would be like, ‘that’s familiar’ but because I’ve done it in my way it
takes people time to think about, ‘I know I’ve heard this before, where’s
that from again?’
How
long did it take to make the album?
It took two and half years to make the album, since ‘Come Into My Room’,
we’ve been recording and recording; we never looked at it like ‘Ok, so
we’re making album’, we just looked at it like ‘Ok, so we’re going into
the studio today and we are making another single.’
I
suppose that’s good in away because it brings up the quality of the album.
Exactly, there are no ‘album tracks’ on this album.
What
kind of producers did you work with?
Well, the producers that worked on ‘Come Into My Room’ are called Syklones
Productions and I worked with them for eight tracks on
the album and they definitely made me into a proper artist. I’m a perfectionist
now… I worked with Salaam Remi as well, he’s a producer that has worked
with The Fugees, Nas, Ms Dynamite, Amy Winehouse.
Do
you get over-awed when you’re working with people like that?
When I’m working with people like that I try and go onto their level.
It only makes me try harder, like I was working with a songwriter as well
called Angela Hunt, and
she wrote the hooks for some of Nas’ songs and it’s like I’m writing and
I have to compete with that. We wrote this song together, which may be
the next single, it’s called ‘Snatch’ and we were just vibing off each
other and she was like, ‘You’re a really good songwriter’, but I was only
that good because she was there. It makes me step up my game.
How
much songwriting input did you have?
I think it’s because I’m a Scorpio, I’m a control freak. I can’t just
see myself as a Britney Spears
doing other people’s songs, so I’ve maintained a lot of control; but the
thing about it is that there’s no point in maintaining control and making
a rubbish album, so if the right thing to do is to relinquish control
and then let people write the songs to let me have a good album, then
that is what I would have to do. But I’m so lucky that I’ve got to do
the album that I wanted to do. There’s no song that I wouldn’t listen
to which is a really good thing, it’s probably because I write them myself.
I don’t think I could find it in myself to finish a song if I’m not feeling
it.
Are
there any collaborations on the album?
The first album is mostly me; it’s just the way it worked out.
I
suppose that’s good in a way because there is the trend of new artists
latching on to more famous artists to establish themselves
Yeah, and I wanted to stay away from that, that’s a conscious decision
we made to just say the first album is about me. In a way, it’s more daunting,
especially because I wrote all of my songs as well. If they don’t like
the songs, they don’t like me; it’s only me to blame. I’m not scared,
I’m actually quietly confident. I did put a lot of effort into it so hopefully
it will go well.
What’s
your opinion of the UK urban music scene?
My opinion is that there are loads of talented artists in the UK, but
no record labels want to take a chance on them; they would rather spend
money on guitar-based bands. It’s funny because they say black people
in the UK don’t buy records; that’s not true because at the end of the
day 50 Cent, Ciara,
Usher, they come here and get number ones, so someone’s buying it. So
introduce me to the people that are buying those records and let me sell
to them. ‘Cold As Ice’ is such a different sound that people were taken
aback; everyone just says it’s different. The reason why we’re doing something
that’s different is because we have the freedom to.
You’re
tipped as the ‘new UK R&B sensation’; with all these labels and accolades
assigned to your name how does that make you feel?
I’m honoured for people to say that…. I’ve been labelled like that for
a couple of years now, since ‘Come Into My Room’ and I just want it to
actually happen, if it’s going to happen. That’s why I’ve been working
hard and putting in the effort and hopefully I’ll get what I deserve.
I just want to be able to do it properly and live up to it.
Chat exclusively with Nathan and tell him what you think
of his music on 07725 NATHAN. Look out for ‘Masterpiece’,
his debut album which hits stores October 9, 2006. Check his official
website, www.nathanofficial.com
for more details.
Back
To Interview Archive
|
