If you’ve been following my blog then you’ll know that my girl and music journey partner in crime, Francesca, has been bringing me in to events and introducing me to some super talented creatives in the industry!
We met up at Old St Roundabout, went for a quick bite to eat at this little Italian cafe that I’ve never noticed next to the mini cab station…
It was quite nice out, a bit windy and cold in the shade so we strolled in the sun down to Lighthouse, Shoreditch.
Fran was taking me to one of Nina Rose’s events ;
Creatives Connect Universal – ITS A UK TING!
“A hub for excellence and transformation”
When we got there I was slyly already buzzing to meet Nina Rose who has an infectiously good vibe! and Shakira who runs Girls of Grime & is a Resident Panelist at the monthly event.
#creativesconnecting ⚡️
We arrived at Lighthouse with a bit of time to spare before it started so we went round the venue talking to people and making acquaintances. Running around doing last minute bits, Host Nina Rose and Annie were lovely, helped me find a pen and didn’t mind me jotting down my notes…
(sometimes I get funny looks from people… have you ever seen Green Street Hooligans and what they think about journos? Essentially thats something I am, but yeah, sometimes my mind goes there…)
Soundcheck was still taking place so Fran took me over to meet Shakira, we were both actually really excited to meet each other! She was a DREAM. We all had a glass of wine together and the conversation flowed so easily!
W A T C H – T H I S – S P A C E
Lighthouse had pretty, soft, neon lights around the place, happy hour had just started (2 cocktails for a tenner, don’t mind if I do #winwin) and our beautiful host Nina Rose took stage to introduce us to Zoe Dakini. She opened up the night with a sultry, original R’n’B song called ‘Pacify’ she told us that her inspiration for this song was ‘vybing with that 1 person you can just chill with, and it has a strong neo-soul influence’
Before coming to the panelists thoughts, Nina Rose and her Co host Ree were giving me the most jokes, its hard to explain, their personalities literally bounce off each other, to the crowd, to the ceiling, to the bar and back again. lol
On the panel was;
Resident Panelist – Shakira – Girls of Grime
Resident Panelist – Alex – Parlophone Records
Guest Panelist – Jacob – BMG
Guest Panelist – Kadz – Da Come Up
Next up, was a soulful trio called ‘Imminent‘ I really liked their song ‘B.U.T’ that went “who told you to hate yourself?” It struck a chord with me. I could see the panel were enjoying the R’n’B vibes that Imminent were providing us…
(8) Where are you, I’m tryna reach you…(8)
Who remembers what the (8) meant on MSN? looool.
KXNG The Artist was up next giving us a taster of his talents with his warm up freestyle rap, then performed ‘Things change, Things Change’ which I really liked, from his upcoming mixtape; Trials & Tribulations. He has a painful rawness in his voice, which reminded me of Dizzee Rascal in his earlier days…
After the first couple acts had been on, Nina announced break time and reminded us it was happy hour! So we all had a 10 minute breather, I was whizzing around as I do, talking to people, I spoke with Xavier who had been DJing, he really liked the acts that had been on so far and was mixing with everyone.
Coming back into the event, Nina and Ree were doing their ‘OK, INSIIIIIDE‘ lol and everyone settled down for the next couple of acts including Muli and Sip eezy.
Micah Music stepped on the stage with his futuristic vibe, some SERIOUS ski glasses and his energy lifted the room as he showcased his afro trappy sound.
Next up – Pnut, she had me with her ‘I’m an artist let me show you what art is.’ and another song with the backing track – Aaliyah – rock the boat. Panelists one and only criticism was that, the backing track was louder than her. She was great and looked the part with her funky waves, on trend chequered mini skirt and Tommy crop windbreaker!
Es Monroe made the stage hers as she walked on with confidence and a bit of a BOUJEE BAD BITCH VIBE. 💅🏽 She performed ‘No Pasa‘ which she described as ‘a feeling song with no bad vibes.’ I was standing next to her management while taking my notes and they were really so supportive of her, its a gift to have great friends and people around you, and they were rooting for their girl!👏🏾
It was break time again and the open mic session had closed and another cocktail called my name lol
Unfortunately I had to step outside to sort something so I missed most of Da Come Up Family but walked in to see a young mediterranean looking (I think?) girl belting out a tune, it was really good vibes! She had such a good energy about her and confidence was on 100!! – Romz – one to watch.
ACE MOTIF though… and guitarist Titus. Jeeeeeeze. The vocals on this man. I’m no Simon Cowell and I definitely was not sitting on the panel, but he had it all. Strong voice. He sang some original songs and did a cover of bruno mars’ ‘Thats what I like’. His voice was unreal. Honestly!
At this point, I was asking myself, how did Nina source this talent? I didn’t know how the bar could be raised at this point. There was so much amazingness going on if that makes sense?
BLACK ROSES – The last act before the headliner, a group of 3 young beautiful ebony ladies, all sisters. No word of a lie, they gave me a hair standing on end, Destiny’s Child vibe, LOVED IT! They sang us 2 songs from their upcoming ep;
‘Tears’ which is about situationships and reciprocation, and ‘Need Nobody.’
The creatives connect team had an amazing headliner;
JESS B
Jess B came all the way over to London from NEW ZEALAND for one month to showcase her music, collaborate and do music with us brits!!!
SICK FEMALE RAPPPPPERRRRR
Jess B humbly took stage and got straight to it with her freestyle over Missy Elliot’s ‘COP THAT SHIT‘ and another one of her tracks ‘Set it off‘
She was just cool, you know when someone just has that cool, edgy aura? I couldn’t imagine people in New Zealand listening to music like hers, but thats down to my little knowledge of what music is popular there. She came off stage and stuck around to talk to people, actively engaged with the listeners and the panel and was genuinely interested in what happens over here. I really liked what Jess was about, her positive outlook, wavey flow and the instrumentals really drew me in, she got shown a lot of love and I hope she continues to do well!
I had a really great time and connected with some great people, Thank you to Francesca, the Creativesconnectu team & Chantelle Simpson Photography <3
SGX
