Muve Music from Cricket Wireless caught up with Grammy winner Melanie Fiona to talk about her recent wins and the new single with J. Cole, “This Time.” Download “This Time” exclusively on Muve Music now!
The Canadian songstress also recently spoke with AOL’s TheBoombox in depth about her new album The MF Life, her new duet “L.O.V.E” with John Legend, having Adele like break-ups as inspiration for her writing, working with Drake, her dream collaboration – Thom Yorke and much more.
Read some of the clips below, and check out the full interview here.
‘L.O.V.E’ with John Legend, who produced it and wrote it?
No I.D. produced it and John and I wrote it together. I love this record because I feel it’s important to have a socially conscious record on every one of my albums. On my first album, I feel that ‘Ay Yo’ is that record. For ‘The MF Life’, it’s definitely ‘L.O.V.E;’ it’s all you need — pretty much — and I do believe that in all regards. It’s all you need to get by in life and to keep that at the forefront of respect for one another as humans interacting everyday, being responsible for each other as a society. It’s actually the last song on the album so it’s a nice positive ending as well.
Did you and John have any chemistry in the studio — any ‘L.O.V.E’?
Well, no because I love his girlfriend [laughs] but we absolutely do have a love for each other musically. We met just before we did ‘Wake Up’ for his album. When I got back to L.A., we wrote a few songs together, just to jam out, but this one made the album. I love that we were able to do ‘Wake Up,’ which was a socially conscious record for his album and do one for mine as well. John Legend is actually one of the most talented people that I have ever worked with. He can just get behind a piano and create. It’s so organic for him so just being around that is an inspiration.
You write a lot about heartbreak. Did you have an Adele-like breakup that really impacted you?
Yeah, for sure. It’s interesting because on the first album I experienced a really bad breakup and on this album I experienced a really bad breakup. I actually wrote all the songs that I ended up living, before I lived them, which is really crazy. I found myself with all the records that I wrote in succession and they actually told the story of what happened in that relationship. I was in the relationship and at the time; I didn’t foresee it ending.
So, how is it that you were writing from a place of heartbreak when you were in a happy relationship?
I think that subconsciously our emotions get the best of us even though we consciously don’t necessarily recognize them. For me — frustration, sadness, despair, anger — these are the things that help me write my best music because I feel that I’m a positive person overall. My outlet to express that darker side of me is through my music. I don’t necessarily have to live that everyday but it’s therapeutic for me to get it out. Oddly enough, it’s not just me, the singles that become the hits are the ones that people choose. It seems that there are a lot of people going through heartbreak and just need a voice to help them say it. You live and you learn. I moved on from ‘It Kills Me’ and now, we’ll get through ‘The Wrong Side of a Love Song.’
