Tiana Major9: Diva. Soul. Energy. The debut album from the R&B songstress from Newham - EP11

0:02You are the one who has decided on the artist. Yes, I am the laptop bearer. Who are we doing today?

0:08Tiana Major9:Today is Tiana Major9. Three words to describe her? Yes. Diva, soul, energy. As in would you... That's how I describe her. That's who she is. Diva. In one line or is it three separate lines? Diva, soul, energy.

0:30right here we are again bro back again bro episode 11.

0:35Tiana Major9:yeah 11 11 we're kicking on mate okay into double digits and that yeah mate how you been actually before i asked you how you've been yeah let's get into the yeah this is what i'm excited about this one uh we'll go 93 yeah going a triple quest midnight marauders yeah this has been coming this is this is up there for me i'm not gonna lie this is up there as one of the best hip-hop albums i'll say and one of my favorites i don't care i don't care this is up there this is up there night like three golden age of hip-hop um hey you can hold he can hold that thanks um yeah this is their third album and i think this is a triple quest at their peak uh prime time electric relaxation is like probably the main single from from this there's not there's not any bells and whistles in this really other than the actual cover in the back cover itself yeah it doesn't yeah so you've got the all the colors in terms of the the red black and green vibes that they had in low end three that followed on to this this album yeah man and obviously you've got all the talking heads in the faces that's nice i like the label and yeah the label as well i need to get that one like a hat or a t-shirt as well i would like to get yeah that'd be cold that'd be very cold so there's the guys there's uh q-tip five dog r.i.p uh ali shaheed muhammad and sometimes jeroby white they're the guys man they're the guys what are we thinking very cool i'm just looking at some of the details I like this element on the Obviously you've got the little one here But then on this sticker It's got the track list And it says Instead of saying like A side or B side It says this side and that side Yeah Which I think is quite He's about a quirky man They're quirky So yeah these guys are like The spearhead of like Conscious rap Part of like the native tongues Which is all like Positive And kind of Yeah conscious lyrics and stuff Which is all I think was perfect for me Because when I discovered them was like when i was like a in my early teenage so i wasn't really trying to hear like too much like explicit content so all of that stuff is pretty clean um to a point anyways so it's like perfect for like a young person and i think that's why it was so popular for like young people at the time when it came out as well it's very very good it's very good so all the talking heads they're all like hip-hop like luminaries like people in the scene like dj uh djs and radio people as well so you've got like de la soul uh you've got like beastie boys you've got like heavy d you've got iced tea um you've got like p diddies in there somewhere and all that man so it's uh and this was just kind of just before the east versus west kind of hip-hop beef at the time so it's quite cool to have that and have people from different parts of america kind of united yes for this cover.

3:39Tiana Major9:I think it's like 72 different people are on it. There's different versions that you can get as well, which is cool. I think they've released seven albums overall. The recent one they had was maybe a couple of years ago, which was really good as well. The production is always insane. Q-Tip as a producer himself is just different levels. He's done production in Illmatic and stuff like that and a lot of the 90s hip-hop especially New York and Queens especially he had a big hand in it so yeah so I think I feel like this artwork's pretty like iconic I have a question for you you may or may not oh it's gonna this is gonna hit me god so you see we've got our sort of like main character with the red and green yeah do you know where that comes from or what it represents or anything I don't know exactly what it represents I know it's a part of kind of the native tongues collective movement right and this is basically an adaptation from their low-end theory which is also used that's that's the first time that i tried to request but you use that use that like kind of character in person uh and yeah so this is the second iterative and then basically basically the third album they also have that in there as well but i don't know like signifies it's it's all about like being afrocentric and stuff like that got it got it got it a big theme for them so yeah it's a really nice motif i like it yeah it's very very very cool i prefer the cover of the previous album blow and fury but in terms of the actual music this is this is me i would say this is this is me it's yeah it's got uh the chase part two um midnight it's called midnight that broad is because basically they say they most music is played at night and they're more odd to me to steal.

5:33Tiana Major9:So it's like, we're stealing for your ears is what that's saying. So, well, very cool. Great choice. Um, yeah, definitely a great one. I feel like, um, look at it. I feel like sometimes not all, I don't know. I feel like this is a great thing to have on vinyl because it's the sort of thing that it's like more listen to it as a mood. I feel like sometimes, Vinyl listening I know you don't Necessarily need like A heavy hitting Rap album Whereas something That feels a bit more Mood based with the Jazz influence as well I think is good And obviously Looks the part as well So yeah I'm happy to have it As our final of the week Clean I've been waiting Obviously I've been like At what point is it coming out I don't want to be too eager You know Bring it out straight away And seem too keen But Yeah man Yeah it's looking good It's looking good Pop of colour Yeah literally Literally Yeah so shout out to them Very good Very good Have you noticed I haven't got I haven't got a hat on today Yeah I know I think this is 11 episodes And we finally see The top of your head I need to show people that My hairline is still okay It's just about It's just about surviving Because these guys Think this guy is hiding something You know This selection of hats Do you keep talking about Yeah I had to prove it to the man Like not everyday hats You know But next episode I will be going back to a hat For sure For sure I told you Like the stars Align perfectly Yeah yeah I can see you Got a little fresh trim on that Yeah F4 fade holding me down.

6:55Tiana Major9:That's what I'm saying. They're the guys, bro. They're the guys. So, yeah. So I got my trim yesterday and I thought, the people need to see it. They need to do a big reveal. The people need to see it. So, yeah. That's it, man. And that's me. Anyways, I'm fine. Thank you for asking. I'm all good. And that's it. Such a pain. I don't want to talk about me anyways. I just want to talk about music. So let's get into it. Let's do it. Let's do it, man. Let's do it. recent rotations yes i got three i've got three of course of course you want to start or shalai you know i'll let you start bro how gracious it means i can finish so and we're probably going back a couple decades yes let's see don't spoil it for the people let's go the viewers that know they know all right my first recent rotation of the week we've got dc free and tiago okay new tune called valley okay okay yes yes are you aware of this yeah DC3, he's having a great time at the moment.

7:55Yeah, yeah. So, yeah. MOBO award winner now. Exactly. Shout him out, shout him out. I'm following a big 20, 25. So, yeah.

8:04Tiana Major9:Sorry, what award did he get in the MOBO? I think he got multiple. I think he got Best Newcomer. Yeah. And maybe Breakthrough. Yeah. Although I don't know how those two differ. Do they do? I think that's right. Do MOBO do Christian artists as well? Oh, yeah. I think he got Gospel. I think he got Gospel artists. Gospel, yeah. He might have got that as well. I assume so, right? Yeah, maybe it was Newcomer and Gospo in that case. We'll check after. We'll check after. Should have, should have. No, that's my fault. I've thrown you off. I've thrown you off. This is why, if you pick artists that are familiar to me, I'll start.

8:34Tiana Major9:This is like the Don Tonover one that we did before all over again. Yeah, I know. This guy just would be like, oh, I know who that is. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'll hold myself back. You go on. You go on. Can't wait for your one. But yeah, new collab from these two, the two young UK rappers. um obviously dc3 we touched on um kind of like for anyone who doesn't know a bit of a young uk kendrick ish-esque um type rapper um yeah who sort of i guess exploded onto the scene with a lot of um yeah really clever like hooky videos of him like freestyling often starting with like um sort of like familiar silhouettes i guess um so he's got one that kind of i guess recreates like the Kendrick Dam album cover for example and then transitions into him sort of like rapping and then Tiago I first came across him back in the 2024 he was just putting up I say just he was putting up some really good freestyles online still in his school uniform so I was like oh I think he's like 16 15 16 at the time yeah so yeah that's obviously like a year and a bit ago now and he's just been doing that pretty consistently and the guy can rap and he can really really rap um so i was like i wonder when he's going to start putting like music out and he has been and so it's really nice to see these two come together and power tune um it's interesting the artwork if you haven't seen it is a nod to like um samantha the dave and j huss record okay um i feel like it's nice because i feel like it represents like these two being two of the new like with new guys coming up yeah coming through and also like a nod to respect of these guys as well um so the tune valley uh yeah full of bars obviously two two rappers but also he's got good melody lines in there as well got a catchy hook um and at one point there's a mad beat switch and dc3 goes off and does his like high intensity bar in um so yeah overall really solid song nice to hear that um from the two of them and yeah especially after sort of like the recent noise around DC3 with his, yeah, with his awards and that.

10:38It was good to see him, man. Good to see some exciting stuff coming from the Young Bucks.

10:42Tiana Major9:Yeah, I love it, man. And he, like, DC3, I know he's been, he's got, like, a healthy amount of, like, cosigns from, like, reputable artists and stuff. So he is, like, a part of the Next Up, which is nice to see. Yeah. And it's my type of rapper that I like as well, isn't it? Like, you know that's the type of music I like. So I like to see that coming out of the UK. So, yeah, I'm here for it. Okay. So yeah, if you haven't checked that value, check it out. Very solid first pick, mate. I'm happy with that. I'm glad of that. I'm here to please you. You seem to always start very well. Don't worry about two and three, guys.

11:19No, no, no.

11:20Tiana Major9:Good start. Okay. My number one is Asosa. Okay. He's not all that is the tune. I was contemplating on this one. I was thinking about whether or not I should do it because obviously she's like, she's like a fan of us. Like we've got a follower of that. So I don't want to be like having favorites and stuff, but I thought about it. That's the whole point of this, right? Yeah. It's the point of us as the champion, the people that we rate and for them to interact and engage with us as well. So I thought it was only right to mention this song. He's not all that. And this is actually my most played. It's only come out, it only came out like yesterday.

12:02Tiana Major9:I swear. and i've been bumping it i'm not gonna lie to you like i obviously a part of the uh social media world and that like they always do the snippets and stuff before so she's been doing the snippets for a couple of weeks and that and i was like yeah this is a bounce bro this is me this is it so as soon as it came out i was like i need to check this i need to go to it and uh yeah didn't disappoint it delivered bro it delivered so i was very i was very very happy she's a bit of a runner at a minute putting out quite a few singles yeah yeah it seems it seems like single after single and they're all hit i really i really do highly rate her she's like a very very good songwriter as well is what i is what i thought if she writes these songs then yeah she's very good at that because um yeah they're all just like very well written like verses chorus bridges like perfect melodies with the beats and stuff as well um she's done her whole vibe is very kind of nostalgia r &b uh and even this this song is like a kind of a more of a bouncy like throwback r &b yeah yeah but she's also done like written like songs like lemonade which is a bit more housey and stuff and like other r &b tunes that are probably a bit more slow and like kind of almost old school like Timberland, Aaliyah kind of sounding beats and stuff.

13:25Tiana Major9:So she's got like a healthy mix in there now, which is like showing some range, but I appreciate. Obviously she's, we mentioned, I think it was in the last episode that she's got a feature in the US number one album, Don Tulliver's Oxygen. So she's like got vocals in The Long Way to Calabasas, which is like mad. She's, I don't know if she's still on tour or it's just finished, but she was on tour of Rochelle Jordan as well. Oh, cool. Didn't know that. Yeah, she's doing the European tour of that. So she's like, it's popping off, bro. Yeah, there's things happening, man. That's it. It's mad. It's mad.

14:00Tiana Major9:So yeah, I just really, I really like it. Obviously the song, I don't know, I don't know if I'm the right demographic for the song because the song's like basically saying men are trash, isn't it? Like, he's not all that like, and it's just like, let's leave all these mantas aside and just like vibe and that. But the melodies, you know, I don't really listen to the lyrics. sometimes you're gonna appreciate it i'm just like bouncing and like oh yeah like this it's it's tuned bro it's tuned so that's my number one yeah esosa he's not all that guys ride into the car say yeah but all the guys forget that i was like he's not all that that's right you tell them but yeah yeah it's a very good song it is uh the production one is very good as well it's like a healthy mix no i've heard it's yeah it's really good yeah like there's i like when they they mix different types of like bass bases in there so you've got the 808 you've got like the synth and then you've got them overlapping at some point as well and it just takes you to different places and it's like two minutes or something but it's like got a lot of variation in there so I'm here for it man I'm here for it I'm like the tunes only come out like and I'm playing it a lot so sick yeah so that's my number one wicked we'll bigger up looking forward to see what comes next from a so-so shout out to you bro let's go My second one We're staying in the pocket of UK rap Let's go And this is Benga Tune called Peak Okay Yeah yeah You aware of him?

15:26Tiana Major9:Yeah I am Okay cool Wait wait wait No I was just going to say Not enough So I can't give you anything bro I can't interrupt you So it's all you bro I was ready for you to Put me on the spot with something I definitely didn't know No no no it's all you bro So yeah I would say this guy Yes UK rap with me and in um this tune pete caught my attention um yeah on socials to be fair um i'd been aware of like him and his name and stuff but i you know it's one of those where i couldn't like necessarily tell you a tune from him yes um and then yeah this was one of them like um stop scrolling moments because yeah the way the way that he crafted this sort of style of video it was like quite um yeah it was quite captivating i found um for various reasons i feel like the lyrical content one um the lyric he chose to lead with for the snippet i thought was quite hard hitting um also the way in which he just performs i think is really good like he's got a very commanding vocal tone okay and so i was like right like okay what what are you gonna what are you saying here um production's really clean there's like a grungy synth bass going on um he himself has a great flow and um it was clever it's obviously well shot content but they've also got the lyrics sort of subtitled which i think is always helpful because it's one thing to hear but i think sometimes we can be passive in our listening and this is almost like reinforcing especially when we talk about songs that have meaning like it really helped to reinforce it um reinforce it for me and even yeah it's not necessarily a small thing but like you can see that there's thought put into it so the subtitles have like it's a specific font that looks like it's bespoke or custom or whatever and it's sort of like it's a bit handwritten-y and so it feels it feels relatable because it's almost like this could be his actual handwriting i actually don't have much to say about him as an artist however this tune yeah i was really impressed with it and he has gained a fan in me from it and so i'd say Yeah, he's definitely one to watch.

17:30And if you've not listened to the tune, do listen to... What's the tune's name? Benga Peak. Peak? Yeah, yeah.

17:35Tiana Major9:Okay, I'm going to have to give it a go. Yeah, he's one of those artists again. Yeah, for me, he's just living on social media. So I haven't... I don't think I've listened to his actual songs. Sometimes it's harder to transition like you as an observer. It's just we're lazy. That's what it is. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's like there's so many times I see good artists or even just like films or whatever like that. And it just, the thought of me having to leave this app and then go over here and then do the whatever. Yeah, I know. So I'll follow you and then I won't. Yeah, and then I'll be like, I'll be part of the journey.

18:12Tiana Major9:It's poor, it's poor. Yeah, I know it is, it's mad. That's it. Okay, my number two. This is an artist similar to your second artist where I don't really have too much to give you here. and it's the same as you said it's a stop scrolling moment so my number two recent rotation is mute and the song is called gold tea uh mute is spelt with a v instead of a u so mbt got it and gold yeah gold teeth is the song and it came out on the 11th of march so fairly recent yeah she's an American rapper, female rapper I think this is the early days I think so her social media, she has songs, I've looked into Spotify to see what's going on and stuff she had songs dating back to 2022 but on her social media she's wiped everything up till January basically so this year there's a new roll up new things happening so So, and yeah, for me, it was a stop scrolling moment because one, the visuals, like the way it was all filmed, just like super clean.

19:24Tiana Major9:It was basically just her in like, like the bleachers in a high school, like track field, football pitch. She's out there and just rapping and stuff. But then she's got very unique voice as well. It's quite, it's quite like high pitch, which almost similar to like Samara Sin maybe, like maybe like Sampa the Great and stuff like that, like where it's, yeah, so quite, quite a high pitch, but like diction is there and she's barring off. And you're like, whoa. And the beat is very hip hop, like US, like New York almost kind of rap, which is obviously me, you know, New York. So yeah, that's kind of what got me in.

20:09Tiana Major9:and yeah I don't really know I don't really have anything else just listen to the tune go on her page and check her out and see the visuals and you would understand something is bubbling and something is coming nice I'm looking forward to it so that's my number two I can picture that visual as well and it sounds cool she wears quite cool colours and she's got interesting hats and stuff like baggy fits and that yeah so it's just cool it all just looks very cool who's this cool person and then she's like spitting I'm like okay there's talent as well you're gay you're gay so everything comes together okay sick yeah so please give it a go very nice very nice shout out mute okay my third recent rotation the final one for the day going in a slightly different direction now okay this is an artist called Boy Soda and the song is called Hit the Road you're lucky bro you're lucky you live you live to fight another day very close but but i told you i've got like a playlist of like potential recent rotations yeah he's in there so you're lucky so i got there first so what what tune did you choose i'm glad uh it's called hit the road okay yeah yeah yeah um so he is a samoyan australian artist um yeah which is obviously moving quite far away from the uk rap uh pocket that we've been in um this is like funk soul vibes and yeah this it yeah i just came across it um and was like oh this is very good music clean super clean um it's like full band um there's a grooving bass line in there which i was like i had to turn that up for one um and listen to that one quite loud um backing vocals as well extremely clean and just very enjoyable like i feel like when people have got good bvs on track i'm like you care about your craft and you've considered this we're not just saying i'm the artist and i'm gonna do a few sort of stacked vocals here and there yeah um whether or whether you can sing or not maybe you're out here just doing ad-libs but this is like yeah you've you've it's really considered um and and crafted and then for him his vocal range is like really impressive and so that almost operates as like its own instrument um and yeah a lot of his music does sound quite similar in in that sort of sonic um so yeah if you're into your sort of funk soul or just appreciate good music and good arrangement then boy solo is definitely one to check out yeah i agree i agree i'm glad i'm glad you're smashing it today bro thanks man three for three three for three baby yeah it's crazy yeah now Boyzoda just super super clean bro super super clean I can't say anything else I just you play it you're like yeah it's cool it's clean I feel like it's one you can press play to anybody and you can be a fan of drill grime neo soul classical music and you'll be like yes yeah we said this about Elmine before like yeah there's certain artists and certain like ways of production where you're like yeah i can tell this is like professional like these men are not mucking about so shout out to samoa man that trust me they produced a gem literally shout him out cool uh yeah last one gonna bring it home okay so we're going back all right we're going to 1988 is what we're doing we're doing uh i'm going quite popular on this one i'm going quite big we're going bobby brown every little step so this is uh this was from his like most popular album i would say don't be cruel and bobby brown of his time was like probably like the king of r &b of his run basically he was the guy at that point like he was like the chris brown of that time kind of thing or or whatever like he was dancing stepping like one of the best performers of his generation like people say ever like good like he's up there like if you see him see him perform insane so this is like new jack swing he was like probably the pioneer performing artist of new jacks new jack swing um and yeah just little i mean a little bit of history around bobby brown and that he was a lot of fans will know this but anyone who doesn't and who's like listening to bob brown for the first time so he he was a part of new edition which was a rob group which was uh basically they were supposed to be the answer to like the jackson five there's supposed to be the 80s version of the jackson five like that's why they have songs like candy and stuff like that um and uh basically bobby brown wasn't the lead singer uh to this group and so he wasn't he wasn't feeling it so the group formed in like 83 i think and then by 86 he's like i'm big i'm bigger than this i need to do i need to be out of here bro like this man and there's a whole movie about this as well there's a new movie so please watch the movie as well um little side note that i've just remembered from the movie uh i think leon thomas does the singing vocals in this movie oh no way yeah yeah so oh so it's quite a new movie yeah maybe it came out maybe like four years ago possibly something like that uh so yeah give give that give that watch it says totally tells you the whole story yeah so yeah he left and like this was i think his sophomore album so uh and there's yeah there's a there's big tunes in here so obviously you got don't be cruel which is the the main single um my prerogative uh and then yeah this one every little step which was kind of the first one that kind of put me onto Bobby Brown.

26:15Tiana Major9:Just hella energy, loads of bouncing that. If you see the music video, there's just him and like two backup dancers and they're just jumping and they're doing all of this. He's doing all of this. It's insane. It's insane. And there's loads of videos of him like doing live performances of it as well. And it's the same energy. And he's doing it and singing at the same time. In the song, he's got a bit of rapping in there. And then 1988, like 80s rap is not great, but you're here for it because you're just here for the time. Yeah, man. The tune was produced by Babyface and L.A. Reid. Okay. So they're big boys.

26:56Tiana Major9:Yeah, yeah. In the album, it's got production with Teddy Riley as well. He's like the pioneer of Jack's Wing production. So yeah, that's my third. Just give it, if you need something a little peppy, need to like you know get a bit feeling in love but want to like be a bit energetic about it bobby brown every little step for that you know i'm trying to keep it short this one i went on too long about funkadent last week so we're gonna keep it dr funkenstein yeah dr funkenstein so this time it's just bob brown every little step 988 give it a go nice some solid picks in there yeah Alright cool so that's six new songs For the people Should we get into the spotlight And see who we're talking about Let's do it

27:45You know that's where By

27:49Tiana Major9:Bell Biv DeVoe Poison They're from New Edition They're basically what was left behind Because every man left Every man left And then one of the guys from Bell Biv DeVoe became like an artist developer and he basically developed Boyz II Men. Oh, really? Yeah, yeah. There you go. Tidbits for you, my guy. That's just for you. That's not for the listeners.

28:22Alrighty. Spotlight Artist Time where we get into an artist discography usually centered around a new release that we'll discuss, talk a bit about their journey so far and yeah have a bit of dialogue about it ask each other some questions maybe bring up some fun facts and today you are the one who has decided on the artist yes i am the laptop bearer

28:44Tiana Major9:you are you are let's get into it who are we doing today spotlight artist today is tiana major nine nice so yeah she's treated us to her debut album on valentine's day this year uh november scorpio So I thought It's only right Let me stop talking about her It's only right You know Give her a couple of Bits of info That people might not know I'm going to give you Three words To describe her I've gone for it Yeah Diva Soul energy Is what I've gone for What were you thinking What do you think As in would you That's how I describe her That's who she is Diva In one line Or is it three separate Like That's Would you say It's an amalgamation She's Diva soul energy Or is it like Diva Soul Energy That's what I'm saying Three channels Okay That's what we're dealing with I like it I like it I'm saying that So straight off the bat Yeah Some of the influences That she has mentioned Whitney Houston Mariah Carey Shaq Khan Erykah Badu Lauren Hill That's Diva Fez That's soul And that's energy Yeah So this is what This is what we're doing I hear it This is what we're doing so do you know much about tiana major major nine and that what we said i need to before we start i need to understand what who are temperature check yeah what level of moron am i talking to today when did you like discover like hear about her or whatever and then i'll tell give you you can fill the gaps yeah exactly so i've i've known of her for a long time in terms of like information or facts about her i really can't tell you much okay that's perfect bro i probably i think i discovered a 2019 yeah um and i think it was around i came across a like the i think it's at sixes and sevens ep and rainfall on storm's ease that's that's perfect time the heavy is the head you're doing well then you're doing well don't worry about it okay so i'm the same uh that that ep was 2020 and that's that's the same time i just got it as well so i've just got a big tune in there real affair but we'll get into that we'll get into that so let's just talking about her general timeline before we get into the discography yeah well i'll frame it this way she's back from a two-year hiatus as well so and yes i felt like that that hiatus will be explained so she was she was gone from 2022 and she basically came back late 24 with a couple of singles for this album and we'll get i'll explain why that is and makes sense because i feel like some of the singles from the album have existed in my like consciousness for a while and then i was like i was like this these aren't new right yeah because i know and have known okay cool let's get into it let's i'm looking forward to it yeah so she's british jamaican she's from east london newham is where she's from okay one of four siblings um she basically her music musical beginnings was her mum used to take her to church and her mum was the um kind of helped out in the church school so she when she was younger when she was like five she used to help her mom like prep for for the on the weekend in the church and stuff and it meant that she would like be learning the songs and the like gospel tunes and stuff that she that they would they would be going to be doing for their class and that's when she kind of just fell in love with music well early yeah so we're early so yeah my next line in the facts is she always wanted to be a singer so from this point she was like i'm i'm here i'm gonna be yeah this is what i do so she was laser focused and not like a couple of our artists that we've spoken about where they said they don't want they wanted to do this or they didn't really know they didn't know if they had had the maybe the talent to do it initially she this is not this is not the tiana this is not the energy that we're dealing with right so so she always knew her mom was nicknamed uh showbiz mom with close family and friends because she would always kind of push Teona out to like sing in public essentially.

32:54Tiana Major9:A pivotal moment for her was they had a local like Got Talent show which was Newham's Got Talent and she won it basically. So that was in her words a pivotal moment when she knew like, all right, I believe in myself and it's being validated. So this is what I'm going to do. in 2014 she also won Mobo Unsung as well oh no she was a finalist she didn't win it so she was a finalist at that point puts you on the map though that stuff yeah so she's already she's bubbling up she is 30s so she's our age as well it's nice to know nice to know I have someone oh okay interesting because I feel like in the album she alludes to like a few years left of my 20s yeah yeah yeah so that kind of alludes to when a lot of this stuff was written right So this album has been a long time in the making I rate that she put that out Because I feel like for me If I was putting that out I'd be like Oh I don't know Because is this integrity Do you have integrity with this?

33:53That's good

33:53Tiana Major9:It shows you where she was When she was writing it I think that's fine You can't write and think about When it's going to be received This is going to be happening So yeah So she's at our age as well Okay nice So when she first went into music she uh she went by the name tiana thomas which is her name uh but there is an artist called tiana thomas who is like a oscar grammy winning rmb artist already so so she basically chose tiana major nine um to differentiate between the two and obviously she chose major nine because that's a musical chord and she was very much into jazz she studied music when she was in college um so it's kind of an ode to that right yes so that's just like the little history before we're we're a professional artist so now we're we're doing this we're doing this we're independent we're gonna release some songs and stuff so 2017 is when she first starts releasing music so between 2017 and 18 she has three singles uh merry go uh let it back and uh mr mysterious uh all r &b soul uh mr mysterious has got kind of uh notes of like caribbean influence and reggae influences with the drums and stuff so you can kind of she's trying to weave in her identity which is already nice at the early stage uh after that she has uh a ep called rehearsal at nine which includes those three songs and four new songs and yeah it's all r &b soul it's all and hints of jazz as well so there's a lot a lot of acoustics piano based songs she's very strong vocally as you know so she's just like just sing it off just showing showing her talent now 2020 which is where we we we enter the scene we're like oh so yeah 2020 ep at sixes and sevens so this is her first song uh signed so she gets signed in 2019 and the year before to Motown.

36:14Tiana Major9:So the way this happened, basically she has like a long time friend and producer that she collaborates with a lot called Progression. Do you know Progression? Yeah. I knew Progression. I checked. I was looking at this. I was like, Harrison follows Progression. How does this guy, how do you know that? You just know his music and stuff. Yeah, but he also execs like the Stormzy third album, in it so like we had some is it you mad boys are that is it so what we shout out to progression like yo we mentioned you're the pod bro give us they're not sure right now he's the coldest trust me he's the coldest yeah so she throughout because obviously doing this research i've kind of i was looking at interviews but i was looking at different stages of her career having interviews and that is a name that she like champions throughout she's like progression's the guy progression the guy so uh and even when she posted uh on instagram of her album releasing she did like a collab post with progression and it was like yeah because he exact this one as well i saw he had credit yeah exactly so so he's the guy and this is the first time i'm hearing i'm hearing of him but anyways back to the story of being signed to motel so she's working progression and basically he's talking to the a &r and they're listening to his production and his beats and a a few of the songs have Tiana's vocals on it.

37:35Tiana Major9:And they're like, it pricks their ears. And they're like, who's this? What's going on over here? And he obviously says, yes, Tiana, major nine, she's doing this, blah, blah, blah. And basically they're kind of the hunt regarding, like we need to find this girl. At that time, she kind of did her first live performance in London and they went to the show and they're like, sign here, you're with us. so and then so then she was signed to moton so that's 2019 and then that follows the next year ep at sixes and sevens so this ep off the bat critically acclaimed this get it gets a grammy nomination for collide which has a feature collaboration with earth gang and it's the uh like the titular song um of the movie i didn't write the movie down oh my god i can't remember what it's called queen and slim yeah uh i was like it's escape me yeah yeah which is such a sick thing which yeah and if you haven't seen that film i would say i would suggest watch it because it's like that is like wrapped up in music right there's so much there's so much music in that album uh in that in that movie um so yeah they get a nomination for that song and it just blows up it's like millions of views and stuff yeah what moment that's the first single in in your in your like first signed ep so she's already she's already popping off yeah yeah a song in there that i wanted to mention as well i was just think it's called think about you which is basically like a reggae like love's anthem and stuff so it's kind of and we've already seen signs of her kind of bringing in the caribbean side of things but now she's got like a full like reggae beat in there and it goes off it goes off and she's got a remix of that as well um which goes even deeper into like the jamaican culture um the themes of the ep there's like love and vulnerability and emotional honesty and stuff like that which is kind of something that you see throughout her music yeah so that's that's 2020 august 2020 december 2020 we have back at sixes and sevens so this is like a stripped back uh EP or acoustic acoustic renditions so you just got like yeah loads of acoustics for all basically i love it when artists do that which yeah gives her gives her the opportunity to be like here's the vocal this is me bro this is me so she has that and that that that comes out in december uh february 2022 she's back with two seater with smino big big tune um a lot of a lot of uh kind of the similar themes and melodies and a lot of guitar led r &b uh but on this track as as well at the end she's rapping as well and there's a beat switch and she starts rapping okay okay so like she's good at it she's obviously rapping in in like an east london accent you can really feel the grit of it as well um so that's that's yeah that's one of my favorite songs to be honest and that all that leads to a four-track ep so that's one that's the first single uh and that's for me once is what it's called that came out in march 2022 so that's the month for later and this is her last project under motel so she during this time just after that ep she goes on tour with jasmine sullivan as a supporting act which is pretty pretty good like if it was one of the artists that i would say like likened her to it would have been jasmine so it's like a perfect makes sense yeah and she goes on her first like american tour as well so she's going everywhere in it um she then in the summer um supports adele at the british summer yeah bst festival uh so she does supports her for the two days yeah um which is insane and basically the way that's come around is because adele was a fan of her at six and sevens ep and was one of the first like artist to co-sign that album that ep as well yeah i remember that actually yeah so she's just like just a fan basically so sick so sick and then bring brings it it brings it down so then uh what happens then is basically tion is trying to get gold in terms of uh like an album album now and she essentially just couldn't get in contact with the label it's uh in the interview she alluded to uh there being kind of a lack of people and personnel that so no one was returning her calls or anything which sounds insane insane it's not like someone an artist that you'd think is on such a trajectory at this point it's kind of everything she's done is kind of big gold basically yeah um and yeah she can she was struggling to find anyone to talk to about like anything so um yeah so she was basically just left the label which is insane which is insane i think during this time i think it was it was more due to organizational infrastructure than anything else yeah um motown uk uk became a thing yeah at this point yeah um so all of her I guess she used to have like a whole team around her disappeared because she was with the US before and now she's kind of converting into the UK and I don't think the infrastructure was set properly yet essentially so she kind of almost fell through the cracks basically yes wow it's a bit of a bad obviously from experience I know and you know if you doesn't it only requires one google search to understand that they're like organizational restructures and stuff and that changes personnel or reduces personnel but i just feel like even in the unknowns it's common courtesy to pick up the phone to an artist like taking the initiative let alone not answering when they call yeah so that's i mean the whole for like for however people perceive record labels the whole thing is that they're service providers in it and they're effectively agents between where an artist needs to get and they're the conduit between everything and their mouthpiece so it's like bro if you're not actually playing ball it's peak and especially as you say when someone's um and it's even if someone's at an early stage you're not releasing music they still need like guiding through that but when someone's on such a great trajectory as well that's what you're doing yeah that's the thing for me like just even like taking a like capitalist callous view on things yeah you think this is an asset hundred that is killing it and there's only yeah the trajectory is like this it's only going it's only going to be better it's only going to be better so surely we need to touch base and make sure we cater to this artist yeah um but wow but that wasn't the case how disappointing so yeah so now she she's what goes back to independent basically she's gone indie label and then indie again yeah uh just a couple comments um that she's she's made uh on the move and kind of how this has shaped her as an artist um she says that it helped her understand the industry better for both sides a lot quicker than a lot of artists because she's yeah now she's obviously understands what needs to be done and what team that she needs to be able to churn something out as an independent artist she said one of the harsh realities she learned is no one owes you anything so i guess yeah i guess especially in in her perspective she would have thought like yeah i'm gonna be treated treated well because i haven't done the label any wrong it's not like i've i've done any releases that haven't hit the mark or anything like that so i guess yeah there wasn't any type of loyalty there um but yeah it's just a reality that she she had to learn yeah gosh and she she listed a couple of pros and cons with being labels as well so um the monetary backing when she signed she said was like a lot basically it was what was necessary to get her music out into the world yeah and that was a second point basically it helped put her music out because yeah i guess you don't know the infrastructure that you need to get these things out into the world especially being being signed at a young age as well of course in terms of the cons um the decision making and kind of the rollout strategy she felt uh was really tough and it kind of took the fun out of her music and it almost basically gave her like a writer's block as well because having to deal with things that aren't art essentially yeah it just buggers the mind right so that that was something uh and uh and going through this ordeal kind of made her feel that she wasn't good enough so uh that's sad which is insane it's insane to hear from someone who like knows that they this is what they want to do and this is what they think they can do well and then all of a sudden like maybe maybe i'm not good enough to do it um so gave her a bit of doubt and this sorry quickly yeah go on is is is are those like um almost like retrospective thoughts following um the jasmine sullivan tour and this yes adele cosign all of these things yeah so this uh those those kind of label uh comments uh off of this campaign this album run that she's she's mentioned this okay i think she when she talks about um kind of her time at motown it's not with the regret it's not for sure like i've done like this was terrible they've treated me terribly yeah yeah of course it's more of like this is something I went through and there's something that I learned yeah and it's stalled randomly yeah exactly but now I'm back and I've learned better basically so I just find it so interesting that you can have so much perceived success and also like genuine quote-unquote success that is like by all accounts objectively positive in it yeah and as the artist or the person who's fronting it you can still feel insecurities or stuff yeah without validation from a structure that you might have previously felt comfort in yeah even though you've got your peers or like people who are like um you aspire to who are saying you're cold in it it's yeah it's just funny and i feel like yeah your contemporaries and the artists around you are saying that you are very good come through you're doing you're you're the next up kind of thing but yeah the powers that be and the people around around uh uh are just not helping basically well yeah there's a great it's a great learning curve so it will be an unhelpful one yeah exactly so basically that brings us to the album right so that's the end of 2022 uh as i said it's everything else after that is album so november scorpio came out this year valentine's day uh yeah you guessed it star sign november scorpio that is what she is she is a november scorpio uh it's 11 songs uh 37 minutes is what it is just under just under 38 which is a decent decent length i'll say i'm a i'm a 40 40 to 50 minute man personally so i would have liked i would have liked an extra song in there maybe to push it into 40 and I would have been just because I want as much from an artist as possible I don't know when she's going to release again I don't know I don't know so yeah thanks seven minutes um she said it's a love letter to herself um it's very introspective uh talking about uh how she likes to be loved or how she's been loved in the past um and it's also about kind of relationships in general right yeah so i've noted three tracks uh four tracks in actually that i just wanted to speak about quickly and we'll kind of get into like what's your favorite sort okay okay let's do it kind of thing just because in terms of the sequencing i thought was quite interesting um and they're just four tracks that i like as well so it's it's tracks three to six so the first track is money um which obviously we're talking about this whole thing's about love and uh the rest of it is the rest of the album is more about relationships with people but this is the only song that's kind of separate it's about relationship and love of money um which i found really interesting uh she had she said towards the end of her time at motown she was getting more money than she'd ever seen and she said it wasn't even it wasn't even a crazy amount but it was more than i've ever been exposed to and it just dried up at one point so you can see that's that's kind of a moment that's kind of stuck with her as she was building this album and so much so that she wanted to dedicate a whole song to it um some some of the quotes from the song itself is like money talks and money walks if you don't treat money right um and i'm still trying to figure out how to love you i'll have you if you have me i'm ready so it's kind of yeah saying that she's had these struggles as she said um but she's turned a new leaf and she's trying to not not be responsible but trying to have a different relationship with money going forwards which i just found i just found it was interesting it was like it was just it's in terms of the lyric it's very different to the rest of the album yeah yeah instantly as well and the way the production is it's just literally just like in a guitar in the background and it's her kind of with like whispery vocals yeah yeah so it feels like it is a personal like note to self very thoughtful so i just thought that was quite cool track four is fight with uh three eyes in the middle yeah it's a funny one for spelling i'd like to learn i'd like to learn about like the decisions of how people make make uh song names and stuff but yeah so that song is about uh kind of being mature, not wanting to waste time in fighting in a relationship and kind of being like a bigger person almost.

52:27Tiana Major9:And then track five straight away goes to Shook One, which is essentially a heartbreak diss record, right? And it's like the opposite of what she was saying in fight. So it's showing like the yin and yang kind of vibes where she's saying, on one side she's saying, yeah, you know, let's be grown and not have these fights. And then straight into Shook One, she's like yeah nah these these guys these people are all you man are just shook and you're you're you're scared of confrontation yeah yeah so um a little bit note a note on shook one it's uh if you've heard it it's the sample from 1995 mob deep shook ones part two which is

53:10Tiana Major9:it's a big big tune when i heard obviously you hear um the start of the track and you hear the song straight away and i'm like where's this going yeah yeah yeah what are we doing here but uh it's yeah it's very it's very well done she said she kind of approached it as a rapper would in terms of lyrics interesting kind of just sang sang to it that song is produced by um progression as well so he kind of basically produced the whole thing i think he did some of the writing as well yeah and then tiana put her own twist to it yes um oh yeah i'll put a little i'll put a little note about mob deep obviously we've got tropical quest in q-tip was the person that discovered mob deep i swear yeah yeah mob deep what they would do uh like a lot of 90s artists and stuff they would like have loads of cassettes and they'll just keep on like giving them to people in the radio station they'll be like oh listen to this yeah listen to the listen to this and obviously they bumped into q-tip at one point he's like oh listen to this and then he was like oh yeah damn this is this is decent so then he took it to um his manager an agent and they he managed them and then that's how they came to be so you know full circle you know wrapped it around so but i'll give you i'm giving you the facts man i've given you the facts uh and yeah so she said uh on on shook one as well she wanted to kind of further show that she was into she's an international artist obviously using an american sample because it's a very new york sample at this time she would be living in new york at this time as well oh interesting i don't know if that's kind of made her kind of get into the new york vibes and stuff as well but um yeah she says i think that the song is important because i don't think my music just sits in England I think I'm a global artist and using that sample solidified it for me so that's what she's doing with intentionality I need to show that I'm out here, I'm not just this UK like soul, I'm everywhere, I'm a global star and I can perform this and people around the world will recognise this song, so we go from track 5, Shook 1 to say these guys are too shook for confrontation and they're not about this life uh to track six which is grace which is again we flip to the other side as the title says it's a departure from fight and conflict and she talks about giving herself grace uh patience and choosing her words wisely and like the main line in the chorus is it's all good so it's like a nice yeah in terms of sequencing it's nice like conflict and fight and then it's all good man relax you've got you gotta relax sometimes give yourself some patience and like yeah just chill out uh a note on this the outro of the song is uh showbiz mum herself tiana's mom oh is it is yeah is on the song and kind of just talking and i think she's like reciting verses from from the bible yeah i thought that would have been her that's nice uh and it yeah it's this is that halfway point of the album so it's like kind of a really grounding moment yeah uh i thought it kind of shows the importance that her mom still has yeah from being like number one supporter from back of the day to to now uh and yeah having to recite um a verse in the bible as well kind of goes back to her beginnings from being in the church when you fell in love with music she says although i'm not christian i came from the church i fell in love with music in in church it's such a ritual thing praising singing and using music as a way to minister and express gratitude so like yeah that's a part part of her yeah which is quite cool as well um i think it alludes to kind of the international artist thing because her mom is obviously british jamaican as well and she's got that that jamaican twang right so it really really kind of gives an ode to where she's from yeah yeah so she's got she's got the uk she's got the american global now she's got the the caribbean in there as well without having to say i've done a reggae song in the album kind of thing yeah And it gives it context without needing to explain it.

57:24Yeah. Because I feel like sometimes, especially when you play with like Caribbean sounds, people will be like.

57:32Tiana Major9:Yeah. It's like, what are you doing? Yeah. So it's like, you don't need to explain it when you give that. Yeah. It's like, this is my culture because these are the people around me. This is what I've been brought up into. some of the lyrics that she mentions uh in in some of the songs is like alludes to like corn beef and like corn and stuff like that which are like obviously typical jamaican um foods that that we have a lot so yeah i just thought it was like a cool like little subtle put it in put my mum in there and it just works and yeah it's nice sometimes i'm not really here for just talking like you know sometimes like oh yeah get get someone to on the phone and they're recording like oh hey i'm just calling i'm not really here right yeah but unless it has like a good purpose yeah especially when it's staged i'm like yeah because it just feels so gimmicky and then but whereas i thought this was this was quite cool it felt quite quite personal so i appreciated it uh so yeah they're the four songs that i wanted to talk about nice um in terms of collaboration there's only two name features on there yeah uh yeah but mm-hmm serious what i'm mucking about what i'm mucking about here uh and uh keon harold who's like a trumpet player who i've never heard of to be fair yeah i've never either but he goes in on it as well one of the things she says about collaboration is basically the salt the song is the most important thing yeah so she won't have features for the sake of it um and she's not afraid to have like songwriters if if like the song is the song is key right so like as long as that comes out great she's happy so that's kind of my tidbits and my facts nice nice oh what are you thinking that's not too bad yeah i'm here for it i feel like i've learned some stuff i like that little um expansion of those those tracks there have you got a favorite song in the album what we're saying yeah i think my favorite is actually shook one really personally yeah yeah okay so the way that you yeah the way you shared about that was super interesting in in the sense of the chosen sequencing yeah i'm a fiend for sequencing especially if it's an album i'm like you have to think about everything i feel like this there should be so much more and there is so much more of thought behind it and it's like this was you can tell this was kind of like years in the making right like this has always been on the cards which is really cool my favorite song is energy okay yeah i just like the tune because it's one of the three adjectives you chose yeah maybe that's why maybe i'm an energetic person and that's why and it's probably like the more energetic song out of the album um and she kind of mentioned in interviews like well in that interview she said that was her favorite song at the time uh but she said it chops and changes to yeah depending what how she's feeling um and that she kind of yeah she's trying to get into like more energetic music and stuff as well just to have something else in her repertoire basically um yeah and i like it and i like the video the video the visuals for that i enjoy the visuals for this whole campaign it's all like kind of red and luscious and stuff but yeah man i think this whole album was kind of yeah i guess building her team and as you said the resources like get getting like my feet on the ground again post post label and now we've got the ball rolling yeah rhythm yeah and we'll see man now she's got that energy diva soul energy bro this is what i'm saying very nice very nice well if anyone hasn't listened to november scorpio defo defo check it out very very good body of work definitely man definitely and yeah man let's wrap up there then i guess let's do it let's do it episode 11 done peace

1:01:38below him you