Canjelae Taylor Worked With Timbaland

Last April, Bermudian singer-songwriter Canjelae Taylor found herself inside Roc Nation Studios, owned by Jay-Z, staring at Grammy-award winning record producer, composer and rapper, Timbaland, from inside a recording booth. “I was waiting in the studio, and he said: ‘Alright, Miss Bermuda, what you got?’” she told The Royal Gazette after returning to Bermuda last month to begin work on her next album.

The producer — who has worked on albums with Ginuwine, Aaliyah, Ludacris, Madonna and other superstar musicians — was working on Jay-Z’s 2013 album ‘Magna Carta... Holy Grail’, and asked Canjelae to wait a minute while he finished up. But as he busied himself with the self-proclaimed King of Hip Hop, Canjelae began humming, smooth and melodic.


“Then he was like: ‘You want to go in the booth real quick?’ He told me to sing what I was humming on the microphone and the next thing I know my voice is on a song with Timbaland and Jay-Z.” “It was amazing. I’m low-key obsessed with Indian culture, I love their music. I just love the music, so it was kind of an Indian chant that I did on the record.” After that, Timbaland gave his full undivided attention to the Bermudian songstress. “He just started a beat right there, like, for me. It was amazing. It was this 80s vibe guitar loop, he added drums, and he asked if I had something and I said ‘Uh, no, I don’t have anything in my head.’ But then I started thinking: ‘Oh man, you can’t say no to Timbaland.’ I’m walking to the mic thinking ‘Screw this, what am I going to do?’

“I get to the mic and I just start freestyling, and I freestyled this thing that was actually pretty cool and Timbaland was getting all excited behind the glass saying he loves it. Then I asked: ‘Should I stop?’ And he just said: ‘Man, you just wrote the chorus. That’s awesome.’ Although the song has yet to be released, Canjelae and Timbaland left the session hoping to work together in the future. Two years on since The Royal Gazette last spoke with her, Canjelae says the experience with Timbaland and recent developments, which she said cannot speak of without giving too much away, has left her more ready for the spotlight than ever before. “I can say that now, more than ever, I know who I am. My music is more honest than it’s ever been.”

Canjelae Taylor - Healing (2012)

*royalgazette.com
*facebook.com/canjelae.taylor