by Talented singer and songwriter Priscilla Renea delivers music that is near and dear to her hear in the form of ‘Coloured,’ a 10-song album that crosses genres like R&B, Soul, Pop, and Country. Released on Friday, the effort is fiercely political and personal.
“I grew up in the south — a very small, predominantly rich, white town called Gifford, Florida. I’ve walked into places and people have been like, “Are you lost, honey? Do you need help?” She tells NPR about the project’s title. “It’s a very real thing for me to have experienced people calling me names. I’ve been called monkey, and I’ve been called the N-word and all kinds of things. To me, when you don’t allow a negative connotation to be attached to a word … if you don’t talk about it and if you don’t put it in people’s faces, people have a tendency to pretend like it’s not happening. A lot of people say that racism is dead, slavery is over. That’s not true.”
On why she pursued Country music, she adds, “People always ask me why I chose to go down this route. I grew up on a farm. I had a pet hog. We had peacocks, chicken, geese, a pond, all types of fruit trees. This is just what comes out when I naturally go to sing … I would always have this country twang.”
Priscilla Renea has penned hits for artist like Rihanna (“California King Bed”), Pitbull (“Timber”), Fifth Harmony (“Worth It”) and dozens more.
