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‘Sweet Emily’ is back with a new anthem to inspire travel

By ALESHA CADET | Tribune Features Writer | acadet@tribunemedia.net

SINCE returning to the world of music, Emily Monique Williams, better known as “Sweet Emily”, has recorded almost 20 songs, including a number of collaborations.

Her latest single, “Find a Way to My Heart”, for example, features the Mzansi African Singers, Herbert Swann Jr and Dillon “DMac” McKenzie.

“Find a Way to My Heart”is a cover song written by the legendary Phil Collins, who originally was a singer/drummer for the band Genesis before becoming a multiple Grammy Award-winning composer and solo music artist.

The inspiration to record the cover version came from Herbert Swann Jr, who presently resides in Providenciales, Turks and Caicos.

“Mr Swann contacted me in the earlier part of 2021 with a view to do another song, but he also mentioned in our conversation that he always wanted to do this ‘Find a Way to my Heart’ song,” said Emily.

“He sent me the song to listen to, and after I listened, I was inspired to do it as well because of the lyrical content. We both felt as if we could pitch this song as a tourism product, (through which) we would encourage persons to start travelling again.”

For the past 16 months, the COVID-19 pandemic has made it, if not impossible, very challenging to people to travel like they were used to.

Emily and her team believe in the potential of the song and the way in which it could inspire others. Accordingly, with the accompanying music video, they hope to take Junkanoo around the world.

“We felt that this song and video could also assist both Herbert and I to catapult our musical careers beyond the borders of the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos, while showcasing our beautiful shores to the world,” the singer said.

“We were able to get sponsorship from family, friends and a few businesses in both Turks and the Bahamas, which enabled us to hire a videographer to do a video for the song.”

Both the single and the video were released on July 1. Thursday, July 1, 2021.

The song features the Mzansi African Singers, a choir from Soweto, South Africa; Herbert Swann Jr on lead and solo guitar, and Dillon “DMac” McKenzie, who produced and mastered the single.

She is looking forward to worldwide feedback, especially from Africa. She also expects a great response from the people of Turks and Caicos and the Bahamas in particular.

“We are aiming to get the video to go viral. We also plan to release a ‘Find a Way to My Heart’ challenge video to help push the song to the larger markets around the world. Also, I want people to know that Sweet Emily is really back after almost 20 years of sabbatical,” she said.

“Many people still do not know that I am back in the field of entertainment, so this is also a comeback for me. We intentionally wanted to release the song around the Independence Day holiday because we know that many people still need to be inspired due to family members and friends they have lost as a result of COVID-19. We want to bring that patriotic spirit once again into the homes and lives of Bahamians in particular.”

Emily recorded her first album entitled “Sweet Emily” in 1996, which made her into ‘The Bahamian Queen of Junkanoo’.

At the time, she was the only female artist recording Junkanoo music. She then recorded her second Junkanoo album, “Queen of Junkanoo”, on which she collaborated with local music icon, the late Ronnie Butler. They came together for the famous duet “Look What Ya Do.”

Over the years, Emily has been invited by many educational institutions, including the University of the Bahamas, Omega College and others, to speak about the music industry and to encourage the youth of our nation by reminding them of their great potential.

“People look up to me in the business, and I see myself as a bridge between the more seasoned entertainers and the new and upcoming ones. I want to spend the next two or three years just meeting and getting to know more of the newer artists and entertainers. I also want to help mentor whomever is willing in the process, because many older entertainers have passed and they did not do a great job of properly bridging the cultural musical gap,” said Emily.

Most of her new music can be found on iTunes and other streaming platforms like YouTube and Spotify. For the older and songs, fans can check out recordings on YouTube.

“Some of my older songs I do not have the legal rights yet to distribute as a result of a copyright technicality, but hopefully I can soon get the rights to my older music sorted out so that I can place them on digital downloading sites for them to be purchased,” said Emily.

Fans can also reach out to her on Facebook if they wish to purchase her songs.

SWEET Emily

THE MZANSI African Singers HERBERT SWANN, Jr