''Keshia Chanté'' is a self-titled debut studio album by Canadian singer
Keshia Chanté
Keshia Chanté Harper (born June 16, 1988) is a Canadian singer, television host, actress, songwriter and philanthropist. As a teenager, Chanté gained recognition with the release of her singles "Unpredictable", "Bad Boy" and "Does He Love Me" " ...
, released by
BMG Music Canada
BMG Music Canada was the Canadian division of BMG, located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
History
BMG was formed in 1970. In 1986, it acquired RCA Records. In the acquisition, the company acquired RCA Victor Ltd. to form BMG Music Canada as par ...
on June 22, 2004, and was certified gold. The album received positive reviews from critics and industry insiders, winning numerous awards, including a
Juno Award
The Juno Awards, more popularly known as the JUNOS, are awards presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music. New members of the Canadian Music Hall of ...
for R&B/Soul Recording of the Year, making Chanté the youngest winner. The album garnered numerous awards and accolades.
Singles
The album features the singles "Shook", "Unpredictable", "Bad Boy", "Does He Love Me?" ft. Foxy Brown and "Let The Music Take You". The album was certified gold.
Her debut single "Shook (The Answer)" was released in early 2003, when Chanté was only 14 years old. It won an
Urban Music Award
The Urban Music Awards (UMA) is a hip-hop, R&B, dance, and soul music awards ceremony which was launched by Jordan Kensington in 2003 and is now held in several countries.
The US version of the award ceremony, the Urban Music Awards USA, was ...
for Best Pop/R&B Single. The follow-up, "Unpredictable" went No. 3 on both radio & video charts;
/sup> she released her first video, which hit No. 1 on YTV and the top ten on MuchMusic
Much (an abbreviation for its full name MuchMusic) is a Canadian English language specialty channel owned by BCE Inc. through its Bell Media subsidiary that airs programming aimed at teenagers and young adults.
MuchMusic launched on August 31 ...
. In November 2003, the CD single of "Unpredictable" was certified gold. Because of that single, in 2003, she won the Canadian Radio Music Award
The Canadian Radio Music Awards were an annual series of awards presented by the Canadian Association of Broadcasters that was part of Canadian Music Week
Canadian Music Week (or CMW) is an industry conference and music festival held over ten ...
for Best New Solo Artist. In early February 2004, Chanté's third single, "Bad Boy", was released. It was also successful, breaking the Top 10 on radio and sitting at No. 3 on MuchMusic for four weeks before later earning the No. 1 position on the chart. The video was directed by Director X
Julien Christian Lutz (born October 31, 1975), known professionally as Director X, is a Canadian filmmaker, commercial director, music video director, and television director. Having directed more than 100 music videos, he is widely known as a pr ...
. 0/sup> Later, in June 2004, Chanté topped the charts again (Top 5) with the release of her fourth single "Does He Love Me?" ft. Foxy Brown, which Chanté & Foxy Brown wrote and Young Gav (Foxy Brown's older brother) produced. The video was also directed by Director X and became No. 1 on MuchMusic for three weeks. The video also garnered her an Urban Music Video Award for Video of the Year. On June 22, 2004 Chanté released her self-titled debut album. On December 3, 2004, it was certified gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...
. It contained her previous singles, as well as her later to be released fifth single "Let the Music Take You", also penned by Chanté. In October 2004, at the Canadian Urban Music Awards
The Urban Music Association of Canada (UMAC) is a Canadian non-profit organization focused on showcasing and expanding Canadian urban music established in 1996. UMAC offers a variety of service such as workshops, tours and also hosts the ''Canadi ...
Chanté swept all three of her nominations, winning awards for Best New Artist, Video of the Year (for "Bad Boy"), Fans' Choice Award and taking home the Rising Star of the Year award. /sup> In that same month, she also sang the national anthem at the Canadian Football League's Grey Cup championship game. 1/sup>
In December 2004, Chanté headlined a concert at Nathan Phillips Square
Nathan Phillips Square is an urban plaza in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It forms the forecourt to Toronto City Hall, or ''New City Hall'', at the intersection of Queen Street West and Bay Street, and is named for Nathan Phillips, mayor of Toro ...
in Toronto for New Year's Eve. 2/sup> In February 2005, Chanté won Chartattack Awards for Best Album and Sexiest Female. During the same month, she was also selected to represent Canada at Expo 2005
Expo 2005 was a World Expo held for 185 days between Friday, March 25 and Sunday, September 25, 2005, in Aichi Prefecture, Japan, east of the city of Nagoya. Japan has also hosted Expo '70 Osaka (World Expo), Expo '75 Okinawa (Specialised Expo), ...
held in Japan. In July 2005, Chanté went on a cross-Canada mall and venue tour sponsored by Solo Mobile
Solo Mobile is a discontinued mobile virtual network operator in Canada started by Bell Mobility in 2000. Historically, Solo was considered a discount wireless brand, offering low price monthly plans with some unlimited options in certain cities ...
(Bell
A bell is a directly struck idiophone percussion instrument. Most bells have the shape of a hollow cup that when struck vibrates in a single strong strike tone, with its sides forming an efficient resonator. The strike may be made by an inter ...
), EckoRed and SPC sponsored Chanté's tour across Canada which helped raise awareness for the phone counseling service Kids Help Phone
Kids Help Phone (french: Jeunesse, J’écoute) is a Canadian charitable organization that provides online and telephone counselling and volunteer-led, text-based support in English and French to youth across Canada. Kids Help Phone also provi ...
. In September 2005, Chanté performed on tour with Destiny's Child
Destiny's Child was an American girl group whose final line-up comprised Beyoncé Knowles, Kelly Rowland, and Michelle Williams. The group began their musical career as Girl's Tyme, formed in 1990 in Houston, Texas. After years of limited ...
throughout Canada during their Destiny Fulfilled... and Lovin' It tour, and is also included on their ''Live in Atlanta'' tour DVD. In October 2005, Chanté received four nominations at the Urban Music Awards. 3/sup>
Critical reception
Tara Henley of ''The Georgia Straight
''The Georgia Straight'' is a free Canadian weekly news and entertainment newspaper published in Vancouver, British Columbia, by Overstory Media Group. Often known simply as ''The Straight'', it is delivered to newsboxes, post-secondary schools, ...
'' noted that "Beneath the slickly produced, hip-hop--tinged, pop veneer of tracks like "Shook (The Answer)" lies an arresting voice, magnetic charisma, and driving ambition."
"Unpredictable"
"Unpredictable" features an interpolated melody from " A Dream" by DeBarge
DeBarge was an American musical recording group composed of several members of the DeBarge family. In addition to various solo projects completed by members of the family, DeBarge was active between 1979 and 1989. The group originally consisted ...
. Denise Sheppard from Amazon said "Unpredictable" was "a sugar-pop track that definitely appealed to her younger audience.'"[https://www.amazon.ca/Keshia-Chanté/dp/B00028U67W]
Charts and certifications
"Unpredictable" went No. 1 on both radio & video charts, including MuchMusic & YTV's Hitlist.
Track listing
;Sample credits
* "Unpredictable" contains an element of " A Dream" (1983) performed and written by Bunny DeBarge.
* "Shook (The Answer)" contains a sample from "Shook Ones (Part II)
"Shook Ones (Part II)" is the lead single from Mobb Deep's 1995 album '' The Infamous...''. The song is a sequel to the group's 1994 promotional single " Shook Ones", with similar lyrics, but less profanity. The original song is featured on the ...
" (1995) performed by Mobb Deep
Mobb Deep was an American hip hop duo from New York City. The duo consisted of rappers Prodigy and Havoc. They are considered to be among the principal progenitors of hardcore East Coast hip hopEdwards, Paul, 2009, ''How to Rap: The Art & Scien ...
, written by Prodigy
Prodigy, Prodigies or The Prodigy may refer to:
* Child prodigy, a child who produces meaningful output to the level of an adult expert performer
** Chess prodigy, a child who can beat experienced adult players at chess
Arts, entertainment, and ...
and Havoc
High Altitude Venus Operational Concept (HAVOC) is a set of crewed NASA mission concepts to the planet Venus. All human portions of the missions would be conducted from lighter-than-air craft or from orbit.
Background
Venus is a planet with a r ...
.
Awards
;Won
*Canadian Radio Award for Best New Solo Artist
*Urban Music Association of Canada Award for Best R&B Artist.
Singles
* "Shook (The Answer)" (2003)
* "Unpredictable" (2003)
* "Bad Boy" (2004)
* "Does He Love Me" (2004)
* "Let The Music Take U" (2005)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Keshia Chante (Album)
2004 debut albums
Keshia Chanté albums
Juno Award for R&B/Soul Recording of the Year recordings