Iyaz Fever

By Diane Miller
Music Editor

For all you pop and R&B music lovers out there, here is an article about a Virgin Islands born vocalist to swoon over – Iyaz. This coming Friday, December 2nd, he will be taking center stage in Fargo at the Venue. Charming, confident, cool and collected, Iyaz is a force to be reckoned with in today’s modern, popular music world. His biggest hits “Replay” and “Pretty Girls” have once again proved that artists bred around the Caribbean Sea (Rihanna, Bob Marley, and Sean Kingston) are bound for popular success.

The stairway to climb to the top got much less strenuous for Iyaz after Sean Kingston discovered him on MySpace. One can call him talented and one can also call him damn lucky. “I have no idea how Sean found me,” says Iyaz almost shooting that response back at me. “I did not even plan to become big; I was just making music for people at home for fun.” Any band or musician probably wishes a big celebrity would find them on MySpace and make them famous. There have been such cases as with artists like Colbie Cailet, but it certainly doesn’t happen easily with the millions of music pages stemming from MySpace.

Since 2008, this 24 year old singer has already had the opportunity to work with some of the biggest stars on the planet – touring with Justin Beiber, performing with Miley Cyrus, getting his music produced by the same guy who has worked with Snoop Dog, J. Lo, and Britney Spears, aka J.R. Rotem. Iyaz cites the Disney sensation, Miley Cyrus, as his favorite star he has worked with so far. He made an appearance on her hit show “Hanna Montana”, and recorded the single “Gonna Get This” with her. “She is a lot of fun to work with because of her personality,” says Iyaz. If any of this does not scream “HUGE OPPORTUNITY”, I don’t know what does.

One might wonder what his advice is for getting there. Without missing a beat, Iyaz told HPR “Don’t let anybody tell you how to be yourself. You are responsible for your own craft.” Now I know there are a lot of people who dismiss pop music because it conforms to what sells, but I will back Iyaz up and say it’s possible to be passionate about popular music for reasons other than making money and gaining popularity. It clearly shows that Iyaz makes music for the enjoyment of it. Having a mass amount of people liking it is arguably the greatest added bonus one can get out of it.

Iyaz has released four singles since 2009, but has yet to put out an album.  “We are in the studio now and hope to get a full length album out early to mid next year,” he says. It is expected to be similar to his other works, but now fans will get the chance to explore the artist even further with a deeper amount of music to listen to. With Iyaz, one can expect smooth R&B sounds, “poppy” stylistic features, danceable beats, and pleasant singing voice leading the melody. Although he is not the only songwriter and musician creating the work on this album, Iyaz plays a large role in the creative process of the songwriting. He ultimately wants the recording to be a reflection of who he is. “I’m a total perfectionist. Each note needs to sound just right,” says Iyaz in response to a question about what kind of musician he is. Releasing this full-length album will be a true test of the artist’s skills.

Another reason why I want to promote this show is because of the two other big openers - DJ Unk and Huey. Both artists were big names in hip hop for their humongous dance hits in 2006. DJ Unk is known for “Walk it Out” and Huey is recognized for “Pop, Lock, & Drop It”. For someone like me, who loves hip hop dancing, these songs make me wag my tail – not so much for their integrity or lyrical content, but for the purely for the sound of it – the sound of attitude, hip poppin’ grooves, and swagger. Each tune has simple yet big and bold dance moves that go along with the music, but the fun part about the dance moves is that you can make them your own.

Again, the show is on December 2nd at the Venue at the Hub. It will be a birthday celebration of the local rap celebrity, Big Reeno, who will be hosting the event. Be there for the bash! It is going to be off the hook!

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