Nadine Caesar is a singer and a songwriter with a real gift to perform. She is from London, and her musical influences expand across many genres such as Soul, Hip-Hop, and World Music. Coming from a family with a boundless musical background, which inspires the ethos of a poetic coming together, which consists of strong communication to encourage meaningful thought: a healthy collaboration that produces strength of mind and profound spiritual being, therefore it’s no surprise that she is the fine artist she is today.
The pop music icons that inform her work are those such as the great Lauryn Hill and the excellent Nas. An otherworldly and brilliant fact about Nadine, is that part of her childhood, involved her being on tour with her mum, who is also a singer, and exiled South African musicians such as Julian Bahula and Miriam Makeba, this is something more that crept into her subconscious, and helped develop the artist within her.
This marvellous artist is one who has charm and charisma, with an energy that speaks with gusto. Although confessing to not being a rapper, Nadine certainly possesses a faculty of power and mouldability within her singing voice to sing anything and have her mark left on it. She has had the appetite to entertain from around the age of five, as she used to perform rude versions of R Kelly songs with her fellow playmates during lunch times, for the rest of her peers, until the dinner lady told them off. Hence there being an ounce of mischievousness about her that only makes her more likeable. Her voice has a likeness to the soul singer Lisa Fischer, but only cooler.
“Redemption Song”:
The first track to feature from Nadine is her cover of the Bob Marley classic “Redemption Song”. The video is beautifully shot in black and white, depicting a real crystal vision of African and African-American icons who all held vital roles in African and African-American Civil Rights Movements. The video emphasises the emotional narrative, and the will to move forward with the resilience to fight for freedom within those times, which in parallel holds relevance to now. Her soulful voice simmers effortlessly through the track, whilst being potent on every line. The track has received tremendous feedback for this highly original and ambient rendition of this powerful song.
The next song “Don’t Let Them“, reveals the poetic talent involving her lyrics, that shows her strength as a songwriter and not just a brilliant singer. Again this artist proves her ingenuity by combining the complexity of a humanist political subject with a strong spiritual message. Musically, it is a sweet acoustic number, which has elements of pop, soul and folk to it, held together tightly with undeniable singing ability, that controls the tender melody.
“Don’t Let Them”:
Being no stranger to the music industry, some of Nadine’s highlights so far include, winning the 291 Competition at the Hackney Empire, at the age of 16 and headlining at the Jazz Café in Camden Town, London with her group Devine Devine. The most impressive event must be her supporting Pharrell Williams at this year’s BRIT Awards. She is currently running a campaign through Pledgemusic, where people can support and pre-order her forthcoming debut EP The Redemption. You can also get involved in some fun experiences and get exclusives from Nadine Caesar here.
With this project, she had the chance to produce and arrange one track herself and work with some friends who also happen to be amazing producers and artists such as Alex J King, Universal Mind Systems, Rebirth RMG, Adelight and Azekel. Lead single “Don’t Let Them” can be downloaded on iTunes here. It’s clear then that Nadine Caesar is a musical force to be reckoned with, she would express her attitude to life by saying that time is key and that you must believe in yourself, an outlook that’s quite simply impossible to disagree with.
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Words by Michael Barrett // Edited by Ayo Adepoju
