Shakes it off, but she's got it going on<
One to watch
By Oluatoyin Alleyne
Stabroek News
February 3, 2007
Recently a music video burst onto the television screen that has caused everyone to stop and take notice. If you have not seen it or you did not take a second look then you are just not into music. Anyone who is into music and dance moves would have had to stop and check it out.
The video is filled with some impressively choreographed dance moves, not to mention some hot looking chicks who are dressed in outfits that are to die for.
But the video is nothing without knockout singer of the song "Shake It Off" for which it was made, 18-year-old Typheon Abbensetts who has put the country on notice that she is a force to be reckoned with.
This young woman, who is a pleasing sight, to say the least, may have stamped her authority with this one song but everything is not perfect and we at The Scene feel that she may have been singing through her nose as the lyrics were difficult understand.
Typheon says she does not sing through her nose but she has taken note of the observation and promises that her next song will be different.
After all she and her producer, Wildfire Productions manned by Jonathon Beepat, are not only aiming to take Guyana by storm but they are looking at international acclaim and maybe one day winning a Grammy.
The song is about Typheon and her girlfriends heading out to a party and approaching the disc jockey (DJ) and asking him to play the number "Shake It Off" so that they can shake their stuff and be the centre of attention.
Typheon admits, with a sneaky smile, that she likes to be the centre of attention. But then qualified it by saying: "…well sometimes, not all the time…" As of right now, she has certainly achieved that, with everyone wanting to know, who's that girl?
The singer knows that it is a long difficult road with many twists and turns to the big time, but she is not daunted as she says she has talent - and we agree with her - and will work hard to achieve what she wants.
Recently she told The Scene she knew she wanted to sing from an early age even though she was not singing at Sunday school or anything. She listened to herself as she sang in front of the mirror. "I basically kept it a secret…," she said and it was not until she was 14 that her mother knew her burning ambition from a composition she wrote at school.
And Typheon does not only like to sing she also writes her own lyrics, the first of which was entitled "Let Me Out". She said it is about life; about knocking on the door asking to be let out:
"Let me out, let me see what the world's got to offer.
Let me see what my future holds.
Let me see if I am more than a conqueror
Le me see if I can make history."
Typheon said she retains everything she writes and even though she wrote the song years ago, it was that same song she sang when she met Beepat through another artiste, Gialiani, who is also managed by the same production company and whose video was launched along with hers. Beepat was taken by the lyrics and her singing voice.
But rather than release that song first, Beepat said, they decided to go with "something for the club" to introduce her to the public as they knew that it would be an easy hit.
Typheon said she felt the same way too and she quickly wrote the song and moved to the studio.
She said after she wrote the first song her mother encouraged her to focus on her studies first as a good education is necessary. After leaving secondary school she went to university where she did a one-year programme in industrial relations. She said she is now taking a break and she will be writing as many songs as she could until September when she plans to return to her studies and do something in the business field as she one day wants to manage her own business. While she is confident that she will one day make it big she does not think it is wise not to have something to fall back on should she one day hit hard times.
At one time she hosted a television programme and it was while doing that that she met Gialiani who she followed to the Wildfire Production studio and was noticed by Beepat who gave her the opportunity of a lifetime. She does not plan to stick to one genre of music. Prior to "Shake It Off" she was writing pop, something that many Guyanese do not get into, and she will go back to that soon.
Typheon said she will be writing about life's experiences and while she quickly admitted that she is not a "full woman as yet" she has experienced a lot and she can draw on those and those of others.
Beepat told The Scene that the feedback to Typheon and Gialiani's music videos has been unbelievable and he hopes it continues that way as bigger and better things are in store for all Wildfire artistes. The production company also has popular singer Marlon 'Malo' Webster on its list of artistes. Beepat said there are two other singers who will be unleashed on the public with "country" hits and he knows those will be well received as well. samantha_alleyne2000@yahoo.com