It’s a weakness for sweetness that just won’t quit.
Natalie Natahlee Burke teamed up with Leston Paul for the track nearly two decades ago, but the cravings remain at an all-time high as her musical career matured to adulthood this year.
It has been a quiet celebration of the 20-year mark, but not purposefully so. Natahlee released one song this year – I Own It, written by Jason Shaft Bishop out of Trinidad and Tobago and produced by Vincentian Alex Kubiyashi Barnwell.
“I have been performing it in De Big Show and have been getting a good response for it,” she told EASY. “It did not pick up as well as I would like for it to do [on the radio], but music is very unpredictable and you never know what will happen. It might happen. It is a song, it won’t die or get stale or grow old,” she continued with a laugh.
Crop Over followers would have caught Natahlee on De Digicel Big Show stage providing backing vocals or at the VOB 40th Monarchs In Concert show at the National Stadium recently, rendering her 2005 Party Monarch-winning Colours, sung in collaboration with Shontelle.
“I entered my song [I Own It] in the Sweet Soca competition this year, but I did not make it to the semi-final round,” she explained during a backstage interview at LIME Soca On De Hill. “But doing background vocals is something that is not out of sorts for me. Most semi-finals and finals nights I do backing vocals but this year I decided to work with more people than I normally do . . . .There were only two backup singers [in De Big Show] and they needed strengthening so I joined them.”
It was a returning to her roots of sorts. Natahlee got her start in calypso as a backing vocalist in the House of Soca tent and studio vocals with producers like Eddie Grant, Chris Allman and Nicholas Brancker. She moved to the forefront with songs like Ah Gotta Dance, Whole Day, Sun Til Sun and What We Do, which all did well locally and regionally.
Along with her successes, Natahlee also felt blessed to have a “safety net” around her, protecting her from the some of the challenges which may befall those who decide to pursue a career in music.
“. . . I felt protected but it has not been without its humps and bumps that I had to deal with. I would say that if you get into it, know that it is going to be a lot of hard work. Understand that you may do a song this year and people may love it, but you have to come and top that the next year, or you would find yourself relegated to some place that you never dreamed you would be,” she advised.
“Remaining humble is also very important . . . . I have seen a lot of people come and go in these 20 years. Some of it may have to do with their attitude; some of it may be that they became so comfortable that they didn’t think they had to work hard to get to the next level.”
And despite what the rumour mills may have churned out, Natahlee has never taken a break: “There was a year I didn’t participate much because I really wanted to get a rest, and that was in 2007. I did a chant on a song with Tara and ended back up at Party Monarch. It is what it is; you can’t run!”
And there are no plans on stopping.
Despite her successes, the singer still longs for a Sweet Soca win – an achievement she narrowly missed out on twice to close friend Terencia TC Coward.
“In Sweet Soca I have a second and I want something more now. I have the Party Monarch and Road March, and I want a Sweet Soca.”
Natahlee has plans on entering both Sweet Soca and Party Monarch competitions in the future – and who knows, next year might even bring a bashment soca tune from the singer who got her start in dub music.
“I believe I can do anything I put my mind to. 2015 might be a year of surprises, you never know. I am a very impulsive person, so whatever moves me I do at the point in time,” she added with a smile.
