You never forget your firsts. Whether it’s your first kiss or your first car, it, those memories always stand the test of time. While Tebby is no newcomer to the music industry, our founder/publisher landed her first interview. Repped by the best, she is already a star and her singing career has only just begun.
You must be ecstatic over the way your single “Feel Alright” has been received. It’s all over the internet. Are you excited by its immediate success?
I am super excited. This is the first single off my project. I’m just really glad. We toyed around with which song would come out first. I am glad that we picked this one.
Having a Bahamian background, how has it influenced your sound?
Yes, my sound is being crafted and is always evolving, but having a Caribbean background definitely influences it. You can especially see it in the music video. I went back to shoot it because it’s just a huge part of who I am.
You started your music career writing for others, will you be writing your material exclusively or will you be open to collaborating with others?
Both, I love writing. Writing is my first love, but I also love singing. I think a space where I can do both forever would be great. I love writing for myself but I also love writing things that I may not want to perform myself (laughing), but I think would be great for someone else.
A lot of people can relate to that. Tell us about how you met Cool & Dre.
I was doing my thing in the Bahamas, singing and releasing my music. I had been performing a lot and we connected with their business manager through a mutual friend. They invited me to the studio and after listening to my music, they also wanted to see if I could write for others. I had worked with some local producers before but they widen the spectrum. They wanted to see how well I wrote with different tracks.
I spent two or three weeks there and at the end, Cool and Dre came in and told me that they really liked my stuff. They told me that I was an amazing writer and they wanted to produce my project.
With so much music being released these days, how do you plan to protect the integrity of your sound?
I think that it just comes with working with producers that make great beats and staying true to me. I think that as a writer, I can write to anything. I can write to country music. I can write only using my guitar. I can write to R&B. I don’t discriminate. It really comes down to my having being attracted to the sound. It must have a natural flow.
Let’s talk about your songwriting process. Do you need to have music first or do you compose the melody and build the song around it?
I started when I was really little, writing poetry. When I was around eleven, I picked up the guitar and that’s how my songwriting started. Before that, I was always wandering around the house singing, but I never put the two things together because I didn’t have a way to express my creativity musically.
I started writing while using my guitar. playing the few chords that I knew until I found a melody that I liked and built songs from there. Of course, now I work with producers in studios who create their own tracks. I will sift through tracks and whatever catches my interest, I will sit with it for a little bit to see what it’s making me feel. It’s very much about the track. I still have my little notebook and if I think of words or a melody, I will write it down, but for the most part, I write to tracks.
The single “Feel Alright” is a great song, what inspired it?
It was one of the first songs that we created when we started working on my project. I heard this track while I was in my apartment and I really liked it. The track brought to mind all of the things that I was feeling, being here in Miami, working with Cool & Dre. This was something that was bigger than anything I had ever done. It was a major step in my music career but that came when a lot of uncertainties like what kind of music are we going to create or will people like it?
Plus, I’m a girl so there is always relationship stuff happening at the same time. The song is a reminder that at the end of the day everything is going to be alright. The universe is always looking for your best interests and for your greater good. You just have to ease into it and enjoy the process. That’s what I was thinking when I started writing the single. I felt this and I know everybody feels it at one time or another. Everyone goes through things, but no matter what that it’s going to be alright.
Beautifully said. The song is a hit record. Not to mention, you have the best team on the planet working with you.
Yes, I definitely have a great team that supports me, but more importantly they believe me and my music. There are so many great things to come.
