When R&B singer Case burst onto the scene in the early 90s he quickly earned praise from fans for his signature voice, Hip Hop/Soul sound and smooth delivery. After releasing several albums and singles including the noted cuts “Touch Me, Tease Me” and “Happily Ever After,” Case seemingly took a break from the scene until headlines surrounding an accidental gunshot wound broke in 2002. Nearly seven years later, after miraculously walking out of the hospital with no damage to his vocal chords, Case is picking up where he left off with “The Rose Experience,” an album he is releasing through his imprint Indigo Blue (with business partner Blue Williams) and a new start away from his previous stomping ground at Def Jam.
Speaking candidly with Singersroom, Case tells us about his first acting experience, several songs from “The Rose Experience” and even shares where his thoughts are on the heavily debated definition of R&B music today.
Singersroom: You’ve said “The Rose Experience” was the first time you felt like you knew exactly what needed to be said. What was on your mind when you started to put the album together?
Case: I think it was more, so, that I wanted to approach relationship issues but go a little deeper into them. At that time I had a whole lot going on. I was in and out of relationships. I already knew from the beginning how I wanted the album to sound, so it was just a matter of putting it together.
Singersroom: Now the single and video for “Lovely” is out and for those who don’t know, “Lovely” is a girl from back in the day, right?
Case: Yeah. I never knew her that’s why my name for her is “Lovely.” She was way older than me but she was someone I would see at the bus stop.
Singersroom: The video for that single was nice and almost reminded me of “Missing You” and some of your other videos. Have you had an itch to get into acting?
Case: Yeah, actually I am getting into it. I shot a pilot for a TV show called “ATL Homicide” down in Atlanta and it was fun. I definitely want to do some more stuff like that. I gotta make sure I do it right though.
Singersroom: That is great. Are you looking at sitcoms and films?
Case: I’ll see what opportunities come up. I don’t want to box myself into one thing.
Singersroom: Going back to ‘The Rose Experience’, I understand you had a chance to produce a number of songs for the first time, what was that like?
Case: Yeah, that was my first time. It was fun. It was always something that I wanted to do and I guess I kind of didn’t how to go about it. I had ideas in my head for the longest, so once I started working on this record I just decided to go for it.
Singersroom: With artists experimenting with all types of music now, especially the euro sound, there has been some debate over what real R&B is. How do you feel about that?
Case: I don’t have an issue with it. Once it goes Pop and it goes Euro it ain’t R&B anymore. It is what it is. I think that maybe there’s not enough people making real R&B. That’s what I’ve always done. That’s who and what I am, so I make sure that’s what I make. I’m not really going in another direction.
Singersroom: Listening to a few cuts from ‘The Rose Experience’ I noticed you kept things “authentic” with songs like “Me and You”. Did you feel like you needed to fit in with today’s trends at any point?
Case: Nah. I never feel that kind of pressure. I don’t think anybody should feel pressure being their self. I think people start feeling pressure when they’re trying to be someone else, because you have to try to figure out how to do that. You never have to learn to be yourself. It comes natural. It’s just a question of executing it, but I wouldn’t call it pressure.
Singersroom: You have an alter ego that tends to be aggressive, so to speak. Is this ego at its peak on the song “Can I Be?”
Case: That song personifies it more than some of the other ones. We are the same person but it’s like two different sides to a person’s personality. There are plenty of things out there. “Me & You” is more so, like that. He’s definitely all over the album.
Singersroom: In addition to “Can I Be” there is a track titled “Turns Me On” where you discuss the fact that a girl that makes you wait “Turns You On,” what turns you off?
Case: The biggest thing would be somebody that’s around for the wrong reasons. You may meet somebody and all they want to talk about is your last video, the new album or how they like this video or that video. It’s cool but, when that’s all a person wants to talk about that’s kind of like a sign. That’s one of the biggest ones for me.
Singersroom: Have you ever ran into a “three month rule” woman? Would that turn you off?
Case: Nah…Maybe I have. Stuff like that is dumb to me. We’re not playing monopoly here! That’s a rule I really don’t get involved with. You should do what you feel when you feel like doing it. Everybody’s grown, but I’m sure that I have. I don’t really get down with all that because when you do it’s fake. Suppose you feel a certain way before the three months. Then what? You fake it till three months have passed?
Singersroom: I respect you there. Your album hits stores March 24th. In your opinion, what songs should fans be checking for when they pick up ‘The Rose Experience’?
Case: Man I would say all of them. My favorites would be “Me & You,” “Let Me Down Easy,” “Can’t Believe” and “Place To Stay” but, actually I want them to just pick it up and play it from beginning to end and just vibe with it. There’s a lot of great songs on there. —— By: Interview By Njai Joszor
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