Some people just have a beautiful way with words.
“Exploring music is something beyond curiosity. I dive into it, love it and live it. Each and every song is a piece of my life, a picture of the past, the present or the future, and the shades through which I see my world,” said
Dubai-based musician Wilma. This is one lady who needed to write an album. Lucky for me, that’s exactly what she did.
Mostly recognised as a jazz singer performing in Dubai’s trendiest clubs, Northern European lass Wilma, 31, took a leap and decided to take things to the next level.
Fortune Frames Of Time, produced by Joshua F, Williams (he has worked with Fergie, Bruce Springsteen, Flo Rida and Stevie Wonder to name a few) — is her debut album to be launched in the UAE this week.
Q. How does the album encapsulate you?
A. Developing an original sound was a priority. I wanted my personality and some of the most random music influences to be reflected in the songs. I grew up playing church organ, would drive my parents crazy listening to Nirvana as a teenager. I eventually joined a big band so creating a unified style of music after all that was quite a challenge.
Q. Having played in the region for so long what finally made you decide to make an album?
A. It just happened. It takes a while for the experience and confidence to come. One day you just see yourself not wanting to do what you’ve previously done, and there’s no way of turning back. Most of all, it was my friends who saw those random scribbling and the passion behind them; they kept insisting I record at least one of the songs and just see how it goes. The moment I received the master of the first song, I decided this is what I really want to do.
Q. Describe your music to someone who has never heard it before?
A. This is most probably the hardest thing to do. If the question comes up in a random conversation, I usually say: “Imagine Pink, Adele and Amy Winehouse having a child, what would it be like?
Q. Why is music so important to you?
A. It was natural to me my whole life. I gave up music altogether for a year and those were the worst times I’ve ever had. Eventually I found there’s no way of living without it and got back to it. More so, playing original tunes is more challenging as you’re more personally exposed to people’s good and bad opinions.
Q. You’ve worked with Joshua who has worked with some of the biggest and the best. Did it add any pressure?
A. First of all, that’s the reason I chose him and yes, with almost every song he kept pushing me out of my comfort zone to the next level.
Q. What’s the most important lesson you’ve learned when it comes to music in the UAE?
A. The music scene is growing and musicians are very supportive of each other because everyone knows how limited the exposure we get here is. But everyone else involved in the music business – not necessarily as supportive!
Q. How did you find making an album? What was the biggest challenge?
A. Making the album was a lot of fun. I got to meet some of the best artists in Dubai and was honoured to have them play on my record. The biggest challenge was to sound like me and not copy anyone else. I wanted my musical background to be reflected in the songs, the lyrics and melody carrying the energy in the right direction, the voice telling a story rather than proving “look, I can be really loud, high, low, sexy, sweet and everything in between”.
Q. Where did music begin for you?
A. My godfather got a blue toy grand piano for my third birthday. It’s where it all began.
Q. Do your parents support what you do?
A. My mum is a jeweller and my dad a painter, so they’re quite a bohemian bunch and have never questioned my choices
Q. Tell us the meaning behind one of your songs…
A. The title track Fortune Frames of Time is about wrong impressions, judging people without knowing the experiences that lead them to be the way they are at the exact moment you meet them. It’s about friendships that last or do not so, intuition, perception and opinions that others impose on you, about trust and deception, and after all about love.
