She’s doing it for herself!
A French-Martinican nu-disco singer will launch her first solo album at Clinton Hill’s C’mon Everybody on Nov. 13. Adeline says that her self-titled project, her first recorded without her band Escort, was prompted by the #MeToo movement, which helped her to conquer her fears about branching out on her own.
“I wanted to wait for the right moment and then I realized there would never be a right moment or time and I’d have to create it yourself, so I took a leap of faith,” said Adeline, who lives in Clinton Hill. “In the political context, there was a lot of emancipation of women and a lot of stuff happening and having heard a lot of new music out there, it was super inspiring to me and all of these things gave me the courage and confidence to go and do it.”
On “Adeline,” the singer explores love, pop culture, and social and political issues. But mostly, she aims to establishes herself to listeners.
“There are a lot of different topics on my album, but the common thread is because its my first album, a lot of it is me introducing myself as an artist — as a person,” she said.
She also uses the songs to distinguish herself from her more materialistic counterparts in the dance genre, she said.
“Most of my songs are not your typical love songs,” she said. “There’s some stuff about looking for non-materialistic love, social media, and some political stuff — it’s a very feminist album.”
She not only wrote and sang the tunes on the album, but she co-produced it — which is unusual in the male-dominated music field, she said.
“In the music business, all of the decisions, budgets, or projects, are led by men,” she said. “It’s very important for me to spread the word to women that they do not have to wait for a man to produce their music. We don’t need a man to do it for us. Girls can produce and make beats too.”
She designed the album as a sort of time line, held together by one of her favorite musical genres.
“I would say this album is a journey of different eras of black music, with one common thread being funk,” said Adeline. “The album was made to be listened to from beginning to end. It was designed almost like playlist, and all the songs kind of go into each other.”
But Adeline has not abandoned her colleagues in Escort. The band will perform twice this weekend, and the band members will back her up at the release party, which promises to be a wild time because of her own love of performing, she said.
“I’m very proud of the music because it comes out really well live, and I’m really excited about that because I just love the stage so much,” she said.
Escort at Brooklyn Bowl [61 Wythe Ave. between N. 11th and N. 12th streets in Williamsburg, (718) 963–3369, www.brook
Adeline at C’mon Everybody [325 Franklin Ave. between Clifton place and Greene Avenue in Clinton Hill, www.cmone
“Adeline” on sale Nov. 9.
RickExpress
