Girl Power, Jamaican Style
Talk about “Jamaican”, “female”, “reggae” / “dancehall” and her name will definitely be called. Known simply as “Ce’Cile”, this Jamaican diva has consistently been tipped as the woman most likely to join Dancehall’s men in the mainstream. Style, wit, grace, intelligence, creativity and flare for controversy are all key components for a budding diva. Add a bit of sexiness, along with a large measure of talent and you’ve just defined the allure of Ce’Cile – Dancehall’s “Bad Gyal”.
Already armed with raft of popular Jamaican singles, albums released in Japan and Europe, it’s her much anticipated North American / Caribbean debut album “Waiting”, (Danger Zone / SoBe Records) that is most likely to thrust her to international stardom.
From the beginning Ce’Cile has been an innovator. This ‘Bad Gyal’ has kept tongues wagging since first breaking into the Dancehall scene with the self produced, shockingly refreshing and thought provoking smash “Changez” designed as a marketing ploy by poking fun at her male counterparts. Rhythmically inventive and catchy, it shot across dancehall’s macho braggadocio, light-heartedly lampooning the music’s biggest male names with unflattering speculation on their bedroom performance. Not surprisingly, it won her a legion of female fans. Ce’Cile is a deadly combination of sex appeal with veracity and though dancehall for the most part is purely a testosterone-driven sphere, to miss Ce’Cile is to miss half the story. She writes lyrics that other females shy away from for fear of being shunned in Jamaica’s male dominated music scene. Being the most outspoken, especially on issues concerning women, Ce’Cile has never felt trapped from expressing her stance as being bold, calculating and brutally honest in her lyrics and subject matter. Her hit song “Give It To Me”, (Coolie Dance rhythm driven) requesting reciprocal oral treatment (taboo in Jamaica) was demanding and in your face. “Can You Do Di Wuk” a duet with Sean Paul featured on his Grammy winning multi – platinum selling album “Dutty Rock” was a testiment to her “badgyal” demeanor and the track became a natural pick for djs worldwide and made it possible for her to join Sean in Europe during his Dutty Rock tour for several shows including the Europe MTV Awards pre-party and Wembly Stadium in the UK. On her album “Waiting”, she delves into other topics such as “Faking” disclosing the fact that many women have to resort to that level in order to pacify their partner’s inadequate performance. “Talk Talk” playfully reveals the fact that many women are not above sampling their friend’s goodies due to the information they confide about their man. “Worth It” is the ultimate “spend your money on me” tune, where she explains her “pro gold digging” stance. These are just samples of her creative, controversial and fun subject matters. However, Ce’Cile does not forget her roots, thus in addition to spitting on hardcore dancehall bangers, she also delivers on a number of groovy, roots reggae tracks.
Ce’Cile‘s sense of assurance can be partially due to the fact that she’s somewhat of an anomaly within the Island’s music industry as she stems from one of Mandeville’s (one of Jamaica’s key affluent town) oldest, wealthiest and most prestigious families
The granddaughter of Mandeville’s cherished mayor, Ce’Cile unexpectedly fell in love with the tough sound of dancehall and instead of battling her way through Kingston’s hard scrabble recording scene, she systematically and single-mindedly pursued her career from the inside and began honing her signature “singjay” vocal style; a blend of honeyed melodies and rapid-fire rapping delivered in English but tinged with patios (jamaican dialect), otherwise known as chatting or toasting. Ce’Cile‘s signature sound – the combination of sultry singing, along with finely honed deejaying, has left in her wake a string of “Ce’Cile knockoffs” that have started emulating her pioneering style, but Ce’Cile maintains she is a full package that can never be duplicated. Ce’Cile has been widely acknowledged with the bevy of award nominations received over the past five years which include capturing accolades for; the Irie Jam Radio Awards, Jamaican Federation of Musicians, 2 IRAWMA awards, South Florida Reggae Awards, Stone Love Awards, Star Awards, Richie B’s awards, Tamika Awards and more. To date, Ce’Cile is still one of the few Dancehall artists to be featured in Source Magazine, Vibe Magazine and XLR8R Magazine. Ce’Cile also yearly tours Caribbean, USA and Europe bringing her fresh style to all audiences (by the way she is as comfortable in front of an audience of 30,000 as she is in front of an audience of 3000). This groundwork has lead to crossover hits in Germany such as: “Rude Bwoy Thug Life”, “Hot Like We”, a collaboration with DJ Tomec and other genre-crossing collaborations with British breakbeat producers Stanton Warriors and the electornica wizard Amon Tobin. Ce’Cile has managed to secure collaborations with elite artists including; Trina, Shaggy, Timberland, Beenie Man, Elephant Man, Sean Paul, Lady Saw and Olivia. Ce’Cile has come this far by doing things her own way, in her eyes being true to herself and her music is why she is Jamaica’s (and soon the world) loving Bad Gyal. Such an uncompromising attitude makes Ce’Cile truly an original voice. Ce’Cile‘s North American Debut is on the Danger Zone / SoBe Record label (indie) and is available on Itunes. The first single “So Fly” (a duet with Beenie Man) has already been charted number 1 on the NY Reggae Charts, and in the top ten on the South Florida Reggae charts and is now added to Miami’s Power 96.
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