Andreena: Through The Mill

Toronto has a hearty heritage when it comes to R&B. Throughout the years, there has always been a plethora of talented R&B singers coming out of The 6, including the likes of Deborah Cox, Melanie Fiona, Keshia Chante and Jully Black. One of the strongest names in the conversation for local R&B dominance is Andreena. Formerly known as Andreena Mill, her voice could be heard on Kardinal Offishal and Drake deep cuts, but she seemed to disappeared from the public eye soon after she was dubbed the "first lady of the ATF" by Drake (ATF was the collective than was then transformed into OVO). Now, after packing up and moving to the West Coast, she's ready to make a bigger mark on music than she ever could have in Toronto.

Andreena’s musical ability was discovered at a young age. Her father, a musician, realized she had a musical gift when she was three years old. He enrolled her in piano lessons the following year, and by the time she was 11, she started recording and writing her own material. The beginning of high school was far from normal for Andreena as she dove head first into the music industry, becoming a member of the Canadian female R&B trio X-Quisite, alongside Nicole Holness and Melanie Fiona, in 2001. One of her career highlights was in 2002, when the group achieved success with the release of two singles, “No Regrets” and “Don’t Say.” The songs resulted in a Canadian Urban Music Award and Juno Award nominations in 2003. The experience was bittersweet for Andreena, as she went through more lows than highs when the politics that come along with the industry reared their ugly head. She dealt with bad deals and bad management, until finally deciding that it was time to try and break out on her own.

Andreena’s pursuit of a solo career began in 2004, and by late 2010 she had signed a publishing deal with Universal Music Publishing in New York, leading to collaborations with artists such as DMX and Drake. Presently, she's buried herself in the woodwork as she perfects her songwriting talent while singing occasionally. She released her latest album Naked last summer, which led to a positive critical reception.

We to spoke to Andreena on the day of her show in Albany, Georgia, about the R&B scene in Toronto, her hatred of the Junos and advice she has for aspiring female R&B singers.

Noisey: You shortened your music name to Andreena as opposed to Andreena Mill. Why did you decide to do that?
Andreena: My last name is Miller, it’s not Mill. And Mill was kind of, a decision that was just made by old management, cause everyone always used to call me Mill. And when I stopped working with that management, I just wanted to do a whole revamp of everything, and just wanted to do things my way. So, I dropped the Mill, cuz it’s not actually my last name, and I wanted to go by Andreena. You know, everyone always gives me nicknames. So, I just wanted people to call me by my actual name.

Describe the R&B scene in Toronto.
There are a lot of R&B singers in Toronto. The R&B scene is actually pretty dope. There’s a lot of people that are doing R&B in Toronto, there’s a lot of producers that do R&B in Toronto. I just feel like its identity as a whole, when it comes to the Canadian industry, is not as accepted as I feel it should be. Especially by now. But there’s a huge R&B scene in Toronto, it’s just taking some time for us to really get it off the ground.

You describe your sound as “Electric Rock’n Soul”. Could you expand on that?
At the end of it all, the root of my sound is soul music. If you listen to my album there are definitely influences and different types of music and sounds that are not necessarily a staple in the R&B world. For me it’s just taking something that is usually standard, piano, drums, guitar, bass, and just expanding on it with different sounds. That’s really what this music is.

Whatever happened to you being the “first lady of the ATF” with Drake?
When we did “Closer To My Dreams,” I was nine months pregnant. When we did “Last Hope,” my daughter was three weeks old. From there, he continued to do what he does and took the bull by the horns. But me, my priority became my daughter. So I stayed in Toronto. And that’s really what I had to focus on. She comes first, she comes first before me being the first lady of anything, you know? She’s my first lady.

Are you still in contact with Drake?
Yeah, him and I are still cool. But at the end of the day I feel like, everybody has their journey, and everybody has their path. For me, I don’t want to do anything anybody else’s way. He definitely has created an amazing blueprint for anybody coming out of the city. For me it’s like, now that my daughter is much older, I’m able to take the time and really refine my craft. And do what I do, and do it the way that I wanna do it, you know?

The visuals for “As Deep As Your Love” have gotten a lot of love on YouTube. How gratifying is it to know that the video has reached so many people?
I think it’s great. Working with BLKDMNDS (the video media company), they’re the ones who released the album. Rez, the director, we came up with the concept together based on the lyrics of the song. And I feel like it’s something that people really need to see. I feel like R&B now, there is no realness behind what love is and what heartbreak is. It’s kinda just like, “Whatever, you hurt me. Whatever, I don’t care.” But these things happen, these types of situations happen. And I feel like sometimes it’s just better to be honest, so that people can actually relate to it. So I’m definitely happy that people are watching it. And it will grow, and people can kind of see that things like this, you don’t have to be ashamed to know that you go through things like this.

You released your debut album Naked last summer. What has the response been like?
It’s been great. Naked was the first record that I put out, separate from my old management and from everything I was doing before. It was definitely an album that took me a year to create. I was really going through a rough time when I began creating Naked, so to hear the great responses after it came out is a blessing, when you put so much effort and work into something, and then you’re not sure if people are actually gonna like it. And people actually do like it. It’s really amazing. It’s been amazing. It’s kinda hard to put into words sometimes.

You have collaborated with a slew of big name artists in the past. Do you have any upcoming projects with other artists?
I kinda have a few things up my sleeve. But, for the most part, I’m working on another album, and I’m mainly focusing on songwriting. I’m just trying to get in the studio and write for other artists. But in regards to collaborations, on the hip-hop side, not really. I really wanna expand to different worlds. Get into the house world, the EDM world, and all that kinda stuff. I’m kinda straying slowly away from the hip-hop, even though I love it. I’ve done it so much. I’ve done a lot of it.

What did you think of the nominees, and the winner of the award for R&B at the Juno Awards?
I don’t know who won the Juno Award, but fuck the Junos! Straight up.

Why do you say that?
Cause they don’t care, they don’t care when it comes to the R&B scene, and they don’t care when it comes to the hip-hop scene! They don’t care! Fuck the Junos, straight up! They don’t care. I’m not gonna play nice and be like, “Oh, well congratulations to the winner.” I don’t even know who won, cause I didn’t watch that shit! It’s all bullshit! I don’t care about the Junos. They use people, they pretend that they wanna expose great talent when they don’t. That’s why the R&B and hip-hop scene in Canada struggles. Cause they don’t accept, they don’t really pay attention to who’s really working. They don’t really pay attention to what’s really going on in the industry. Fuck the Junos! I don’t even wanna talk about them.

What advice would you give to a young woman who is thinking about pursuing a career as an R&B singer?
As an R&B singer, I would definitely tell young woman to keep their integrity. Always stay creative, try to break the boundaries when it comes to R&B. I think sometimes people think that there's a certain type of sound that needs to stay pure. I feel like it can be expanded. So for a female, it doesn’t always have to be about sexuality and showing what you have. If you really say something, and stand for something more than just that, you'll be fine.

Ian McBride is a writer living in Toronto - @E_Double36

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