(February 6, 2025) In the early days of SoulTracks, Motown Records sent us the biggest package we had ever received. It was a crated 4’x4’ framed poster of The Bridge, the 2009 debut album of Canadian-born songstress Melania Fiona. It showed that record company budgets were a lot different in 2009, but it also showed the Melanie Fiona was rightly viewed as the next big thing.
Fiona has always had the whole package: An attractive singer with a powerful voice and a clear sense of music history, all of which made her the ideal artist to “bridge” (get it?) classic soul, hip-hop and rock at that transitional time in music history. And The Bridge worked on many levels, getting us excited for this rising star and what she had to say.
Sadly, The Bridge became an unexpected commercial peak for Fiona, as the delayed follow up, The MF Life, stalled quickly and a third album, Awake, never reached completion. Despite some excellent collaborations with artists like John Legend and Cee Lo Green (for which she won a Grammy), Fiona faded from view, retreating from the music business for the better part of a decade.
So it is particularly gratifying to hear Melanie Fiona’s return via the new single “Mona Lisa Smile” from an EP planned for this Spring. “Mona Lisa” is vintage Fiona, boasting hip-hop phrasing that leads into a doo-wop inspired refrain – the kind of amalgam of styles that made her stand out among her peers a decade and a half ago. And her vocal performance is as strong as ever, as she tells the story of a woman who refuses to let the man in her complicated relationship see her vulnerabilities.
“Mona Lisa Smile” is certainly making us smile, and is the signal of a welcome return of an artist who was greatly missed. Glad to have you back, Ms. Fiona.
By Chris Rizik
