MONIQUE DEBOSE: Choose The Experience, Vol 1: Ready For Love

Monique DeBose

Choose The Experience, Vol 1: Ready For Love

© 2005 Monique DeBose (801145900114)

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Monique's raw voice and intimate songwriting blend making her debut album of sensual soul and jazzy pop something you'll connect with and need to take home.

tracks

1 recognize
2 now that i have your attention
3 walk away
4 ready for love
5 captivity
6 promise of forever
7 where do i stand
8 taking a moment (reprise)
9 choose the experience
10 on your way
11 are you ready for love?
12 love will be there
13 ready for love (alt.)

notes

Monique wasn't always outspoken, in fact growing up in Los Angeles, she was considered shy by most. The child of a tumultuous union of two young people from completely different worlds, Monique never really fit in with what was considered the norm. A fiery Irish mother and an African American father who met in east Africa, Monique found herself without any real guidelines for how she ought to be in the world. She wasn't black, she wasn't white. For most of her life, she wasn't comfortable in her own skin.

Monique loves to perform, she lights up a room and an audience with her intimate look at life. Her songwriting skills move her to the head of the class- musically she takes us through jazz, pop, soul and rock. She is honest, she is real and she shares life's stories with the openness of a child. 'I'll never forget-once after a performance a woman was telling me what a great job I did. I could tell she was searching for words, inside I knew she didn't know what to make of it. She said, trying to be nice, but really not feeling that way, 'you just really put yourself out there. It's almost like therapy for you, huh?' She was right. 'Although she didn't find it appropriate to tell those stories that don't always make you look good, like you've got it all together, I do. Who are we if we can't be honest about what we feel? What is the point of music if it does not move you in some way?'

'What I've realized is that ultimately, I was the one person holding me back. It wasn't the boy in junior high who yelled at me to get a hair style, it wasn't my best friend in elementary school who was the object of desire for the boy I liked, it wasn't the poor people in my neighborhood, or the rich people who I went to college with. It was me ultimately holding myself from the things I loved and I realized it would be me who could make myself free.'

With her debut album, Choose the Experience vol 1: Ready for Love, Monique has followed her own advice. She has. It is masterful, soul searching, beautifully written and exciting. She starts the album with a song she's probably been singing all her life unconsciously, Recognize. It's heavy rock- yelling for the attention it deserves. Lyrically Monique presents nothing but the truth. Recognize, she's alive, and she may not be at her best now, but God knows she tries... The album has quippy, humorous interludes that help to keep you in step as she covers a great deal of emotional and musical terrain throughout the 13 tracks. She covers letting go of the not good for you love in a soul filled Walk Away, she falls so deep into lustful, passionate love with Captivity and then sets forth to cover the pains of love loss, disappointment and solitude with Promise of Forever and Where do I Stand with you?

'All these songs come from direct personal episodes in my life- often with lyrics coming straight from conversations I've had with these people...embarrassingly enough. But with each experience if you catch on to the game that is life, you learn something valuable for your next experience and then realize that life is truly what you make of it. You really do get to choose your own experience. Sure, the bastard leaves you, but does he have to be a bastard? Can't you decide that he was brought into your life to help you see your true worth and take a stand for yourself? It all comes down to choice.'

Monique finishes volume one with On your Way, an ode to a past love giving him the gift of thank you for the time we did share and then what she calls her theme song, Love will be There. Monique has introduced this song as her theme song- 'I'll be singing this song as I walk down the street, while I'm taking a shower, after I've met someone really hot.' She says it's for anyone who has ever tried to rush love, who hasn't? when the time and place is right, and your dreams are all in sight, love will be there.

Throughout her brief performance history, Monique has always attracted a diverse, multi-racial audience who are drawn by her open-minded approach to music. 'I do what I do and that's it. I can't do more and refuse to do less. I think my fan base is so diverse because everyone relates to this music. Everyone. I haven't yet met a person who hasn't had their heart trounced on. I haven't yet met someone who says they've never needed to be recognized for the beautiful energy that they are. We all relate to raw emotions because we all have them.'

She is what she is. How does she describe herself? As a recently self- discovered beauty who rises to the challenge everyday of standing up for herself and her music.

reviews

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  • Great atmospheare - great CD
    author: Markus Schirmer (Austria/Europe)

    A really individual artist who moves in perfect balance between different styles and musical platforms. Of course first of all she is a crafted well-trained jazz-singer of high calibre but just explore her skills in doing fine (neo-)soul and also rock-stuff. Monique is a very welcome surprise in today´s often rather boaring pop-market!

  • monique makes music for your soul!
    author: maya

    monique is so inspirational because she's real. the album speaks to true emotion. she rocks you, rolls you and makes you want to fall in love. all kinds of music on this project. something for everyone.

  • You'll be purring with pleasure as the LA-based, former jazz vocalist eases thro
    author: Chris Wells, Echoes, the UK's essential black music monthly [May

    Neo-addicts will find a deal to interest them on [this album]. It isn't all strictly on the soulful side- track one, Recognize, for example tries to do what Erykah did on Mama's Gun and scare the shit outta ya with a volley of rock guitar chords- but by track three, the striding, brassy Walk Away, you'll be purring with pleasure as the LA-based, former jazz vocalist eases through her paces. The title cut is a strong song too, especially in its alternative version tagged on at the end, which has echoes of Steve Harvey's early work with Brigette McWilliams. Best for me, though, is Captivity, where a bouncy Jill Scott vibe dominates and Monique sounds at her most relaxed. Maybe it gets a bit MOR in places later on, but it's easy to see why this artist is building a profile in California right now.

  • Monique has a lovely vocal delivery, highlighted by the excellent 'Walk Away', w
    author: www.soulwalking.co.uk

    I found [the album] very interesting. [the album] highlights the struggles that artists are facing up to regarding the state of music today. Firstly I must say, beautifully designed CD cover. I wish I was as photogenic! I put the CD on and the woman scared the life out of me with the first track 'Recognise'! LOL. I thought I was going to be in for a heavy metal session! Monique says herself on track 2 that, that song will have 'woken the listener up'! Provokative woman isn't she? LOL Well, once I was out of my pyjama's, this is a very nice affair. Monique has a lovely vocal delivery, highlighted by the excellent 'Walk Away', which many folks would describe as 'New Organic Soul'. Musical terms are just that. There is either good or bad music...and this is good. I really liked 'Ready For Love', 'Captivity', 'On Your Way' and the alternative take on 'Ready For Love' on this CD. Couple did pass me by, but that got me thinking regarding where music is headed right now. There are some 'very bold' steps taken here. Reminded me of the musical situation at the start of the Seventies. Folks experimented with music. Music should be for everyone. It makes us what we are. Human. An expression of ourselves. Folks will yearn for these albums in years to come (still go buy [her] album right now though). Monique [is] just doing [her] stuff. As far as 'Recognise' is concerned, well, 'Walk Away' woke up this old fool! Looking forward to your next album Sista!

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