As most of you will know by now, rapper/MC/singer/songwriter Speech Debelle picked up this years Mercury Music Award with her debut album ‘Speech Therapy’.
Not what was expected by many people, including myself, in the run up to the Barclaycard Mercury Prize awards show last night (September 8th).
Any artist who has received recognition from a prize panel as illustrious as the Mercury Prize judges, can beat established artist such as Kasabian, The Horrors and Bat For Lashes and deservedly hyped up newcomers such as La Roux, Friendly Fires and Florence & The Machine deserves some recognition.
So join me in taking the time to find out a bit more about the 24 year old from London.
First of all I have to admit I’m not really up on Speech Debelle, the only track I’d really heard of was her latest single titled ‘Better Days’. A nicely paced track with some great lyrics which reflect upon real life and give her audience something to relate to. The song, and Debelle’s music in general remind me in parts of earlier Estelle tracks or a female version of Plan B.
From listening to ‘Speech Therapy’ its obvious her lyrics come from the heart and her past experiences.
Although Debelle had a comfortable upbringing she left home at the age of 19 and lived in homeless hostels for four years.
Her father left Speech and her mother at an early age, growing up without a father has provided inspiration and topics to write about. It gives her listeners who are in a similar situation something to relate to.
Although ‘Speech Therapy’ would not have been my choice to win the Mercury Prize I appreciate why her album was chosen by the judges.
The £20,000 prize money and massive amount of publicity generated already will do much more for her than it ever would for established artist like Kasabian and The Horrors.
Although a bit unrelated, here’s a great quote courtesy of an interview with the Metro which may follow Debelle around for a few years to come. A comparison of the king of pop and the son of God.
“Music is healing. The best example of that is Michael Jackson, the late great. To me, Michael Jackson’s story of his life is very similar to the story of Jesus. This young guy who, from when he was very young, showed signs of being exceptional. Jesus went around preaching the gospel and touching people to make the blind see and making lepers better. Michael Jackson’s gone around the world and done that – he might not have literally touched someone and made them see but, apparently, I don’t know if this is true, there were kids around him who had cancer that didn’t have cancer any more. In my childhood, he made me happy.”
See the full interview here.
To find out more about Speech Debelle and listen to the winning album, ‘Speech Therapy’, check out the links below.
Official Website | MySpace | Last.FM | Spotify | Amazon
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