New Music: Kwaye - Little Ones

I’m half wondering if all round cool dude and wearer of the braided man bun Kwaye is eventually going to open some sort of musical school for children. After all, his debut track which was featured on Breaking More Waves back in March was called Cool Kids and now he’s singing about Little Ones. If his next tune is called Children In The World or Stay Young we’ll all know for sure.

The good news is that Little Ones won’t find Kwaye in after class detention for crimes against pop. Mixing future soul with something that hints at 80’s / early 90’s r ‘n’ b, the song deals with putting people in boxes through prejudice, something that’s learnt through socialisation rather than something that is inherited; hence the references to the innocence of the little ones in the lyrics. It’s a classy tune with Kwaye demonstrating some impressive vocal chops, from stern soul to funky falsetto.

The photographer really needs to try harder on the promotional picture though. Where’s his head at? I want to see that bun.

Kwaye - Little Ones

New Music: Introducing - Kwaye

Here are 5 reasons why newcomer Kwaye could be a pop star in the making.

1. The guy is clearly a dude. I mean look at him. There’s not many people than get away with a pose like that, whilst wearing red, dancing amongst the concrete tower blocks of London and still look cool. 

2. Talking of cool, his ‘debut’ tune is called Cool Kids. Which is the sort of title Saint Etienne would come up with, and Saint Etienne know their pop. (Ok, yes I realise that Bob, Pete and Sarah have more or less used that title with their song Cool Kids Of Death – so no need to tweet me about it, thanks). Oh, and it has this lyric: “We don’t need to sit at the back of the bus, if we decide what’s cool,” which he sings in a slightly echoing vocal tone that reminds me of 80’s synth pop star Howard Jones (go ask your dad kids - he's the dude who made a song called What Is Love? that's better than the Haddaway one). 

3. Quite often a pop star in the making has already done a lot of the 'making' bit before they become a pop star, and since Kwaye first appeared on a bunch of blogs 2 years ago with a version of this song (not this one though, it’s not cool enough) the suggestion has to be that since that time there’s been a lot more ‘making’ and now he’s ready to deliver, or ‘impact’ or whatever it is the music industry calls it these days.

4. He’s got a fun back storey. Every pop star needs one of those. Apparently he got signed to LA’s Mind of Genius (Gallant, Zhu) after he got chatting to a taxi driver who asked him to play one of his songs. Then subsequently the driver introduced him to the founder of Mind of Genius who gave him the opportunity to release his music through his label. Although I am slightly confused that the reference to not sitting at the back of the bus in the song actually means don't use buses at all - use a taxi. But irrespective of this, it shows you what can happen if you talk to strangers rather than just staring at your phone all day.

5. Then there’s the music itself. That’s important as well, right? OK. Well, Cool Kids has an appealing soft-pop funkiness. File under soul, boogie and groove. It's a fine start.

Kwaye - Cool Kids (Video)