Kiwi R&B singer Erakah hopes newcomers will become infatuated with her début album. By Paula Yeoman.
Erakah Bennison has the voice of a smooth soul sister of yesteryear, the sassiness of a street-smart urban diva and the look of a sizzling-hot pop star. But she hasn't had it easy. As one of only a handful of female singers R&B in the country, the bar is set high as she puts out her début album Infatuated and takes on the big hitters from overseas.
"It's hard being one of only a few because my competition is Beyonce and Keri Hilson," she says.
"I'm hungry for some other local artists to come up, so I can switch to a level playing ground," laughs the singer, who performs under the name Erakah.
On the flip side, she is operating in a local urban music scene crowded with talented male singers such as J Williams, Stan Walker and Vince Harder. "I used to complain about it, but you just have to get on with it."
Frustratingly, Bennison says there is a lot of female talent out there; it just goes largely unnoticed.
"There are heaps of really amazing underground [Kiwi] R&B singers who just haven't been given the chance yet."
But Bennison isn't complaining about the company she keeps. She has known most of her male contemporaries for years and says their support has been amazing.
She has just completed a nationwide tour with Walker and turned to Harder for advice when writing songs for Infatuated, which also features good friend Williams.
The 25-year-old from Auckland's North Shore views her album - a mix of R&B and pop - as her first step into more commercial territory.
She hopes the record pleases the fans she already has, but she's crossing her fingers it also reaches new ones. She says she'll do that by focusing her energies on where it really matters.
"The way I have to try and do it is to win hearts first." And with a voice like Bennison's, the hits are sure to follow.
Erakah's début album, Infatuated, is out now.
- View/Herald on Sunday
