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Shakaya.
Are you ready for a new, funkier, more confident Shakaya? They're
back with their new single Are You Ready, a vigorous, playful
party anthem demonstrating time well spent in the studio. Are
You Ready shows off a Shakaya that we have not seen before.
Maintaining a more solid identity, Are You Ready inspires
you to shake what your mama gave you with a thumping beat and
a delightfully repetitious chorus that will keep you singing
long after the track has ended.
The first thing I noticed about the enthusiastic Naomi Wenitong was just how excited and grateful she was for her and fellow Shakaya member Simone Stacey's success. Honest and down to earth, yet astoundingly bubbly, she displayed this excitement by continually repeating: "It is so amazing to be working with such great people!" It's genuinely refreshing to hear someone gush so sincerely over their dreams. "We used to stand there going 'and the winner is...' and when we actually got nominated for an ARIA we were blown away!"
Shakaya have been in the studio for the last two years preparing their second album. "We really wanted to spend more time on the album. We were really happy with the last one, but this time we wanted to work with different producers so our management and our label hooked us up on a tour around the United States to work with a variety of producers. That was amazing! We worked with Madnotes and he ended up coming over to Cairns to recording five of the songs on of the album."
Since the girls are known for their songwriting talent, Wenitong
and Stacey were a little hesitant before listening to Are
You Ready for the first time when they were offered the
song. "We try to write as much as we can. We aim to have the
whole album an original album. We'd hear other people's songs
and we'd say 'we really like it but we really want to write
our own stuff."
So is Are You Ready written by the duo? "No it's not.
That was written by Madnotes, and after we'd done the other
stuff with them, they were like 'we've got this song and we
want you to hear it,' and usually we say no. But at the same
time we know it would be stupid to say so because we know we're
not the best songwriters in the world or anything, so if there
is a good opportunity we're definitely going to take it. That
got me! We hooked up Nate Wade to do the rap which was good
because it adds another element to the song. I love it. It made
me want to dance!" Wenitong gushes.
Wenitong clearly appreciates and credits the people she has worked with, but also specifies how much input the pair put into the production of their music. "Working with a lot of producers gave us an international feel, but we are from Australia so we also want that to show through our music, and they were really supportive, saying 'go the Aussies!'" she laughs.
"They were really excited to be working with someone who wasn't from America."
After much effort, the album should be out by late Spring. "We're aiming for the release in October, but we'll be releasing a couple more singles before then."
As always with a second album, it is hard to predict which way
a group will turn. How will it match up to the success of the
first, and after releasing Are You Ready, does this track
give a good estimation of what is to come?
"I definitely think it is different from first album. The first
one was lighter. From this album Are You Ready is probably
the lightest song. When we wrote the last album I was only 17
so I was trying work out who I was let alone what music I was
about. And now I've learnt so much more and I'm 22 now. I've
matured.
"This album is about what we have been through in the last two years. There are a couple of slow songs, party tracks and a love ballad. We also wrote a song strictly for the chicks, which we haven't done before, so we though it was time to do that. It's about keeping it classy and being confident in yourself."
Sherree Woodmore
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Are You Ready is out now through SonyBMG.
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