From Spice Isle To The Global Stage, Sabrina Francis Is Redefining Caribbean Music
Grenadian songbird Sabrina Francis has dedicated the last decade of her life to carefully carving out a space for her unique style of music.
“It’s almost genre-less, but if I had to put it into a genre, it’s called Afro-Caribbean pop,” the 29-year-old says of her eccentric sound in conversation with Your Caribbean Guide.
The momentum she’s experiencing at the current stage of her career is, at its core, a testament to the value of staying the course.
For Francis, her introduction to music came as a young girl, looking on in awe at her mother whose own career as a musician would serve as a real-life, up-close example of what was possible through a life dedicated to the arts.
“My mother used to be a calypsonian in Grenada, long time ago in a different life. She used to write beautiful songs… when we were at home, we would be writing songs, mimicking her style of writing. I have four sisters, we used to sing together all the time at home,” she recalls of her formative years.
When her mother eventually retired pursuing her dream further, it would be Sabrina who would pick up the baton.
By the time she started crafting her own songs with more intention, her pen would mirror her raw and honest personal reflections which centred around themes such as female independence, mental health and exuding positivity amidst life’s challenges.
“It’s like creating life, in a sense,” she says her writing process. “Starting off with a blank piece of paper, sometimes not knowing what you’re going to create and then looking back a few months later and seeing what you’ve built.”
Francis learned at the beginning of her career, too, that she’d have to construct a communal table for her tribe of supporters.
“Soca, reggae, that’s what dominates the airwaves (here in Grenada). But I do something that’s very different. When I just started singing with a stage and a mic, people didn’t really know what to do with it. But as the years gone by and we’ve remained persistent and intentional in doing what comes naturally to my spirit… storytelling kind of music, I started feeling the love much, much more,” she recounts of the makings of her brand.
“I wrote the song, ‘This is Home’ a few years ago, it’s now considered like the second anthem of Grenada, it’s about Grenada and my love for the island and the things that make it special…that really aided in the love from my people.” After the release of her debut album ‘Think In Colour’ in 2016, Francis went on to release two other bodies of work, her second album ‘I Feel’ and an EP titled ‘Million Moments’. The well received projects opened doors to expand her talents across Europe, where there is an ever-growing appetite for Afro-Caribbean music and culture.
To date, one of her career “sweet moments” includes performing at the Royal Albert Hall in the UK where she was an opening act for Nigerian-French singer and songwriter, Asa.
Francis has also caught the eyes and ears of some of the best in the industry, working with Nigerian producer extraordinaire ‘Mystro’ who has also collaborated with the likes of Davido, Tiwa Savage, Brandy and WizKid.
“It was life-changing for me. I completely incorporated the afro-esque types of sound into my music from then on because it was amazing,” she shares of the experience.
Even with these notable wins under her belt, she acknowledges that there are still specific challenges associated with being an emerging artist based in Grenada.
“I am from an island that only has 100,000 people altogether. So that means that I have to shout really loudly, invest in setting myself apart in order to be heard and recognized. I was able to carve out a little audience in the UK, I’ve done a couple tours out there. There are 11 million artists on Spotify. It’s a mountain to overcome,” she declares, shoulders squared for the task.
In Grenada, Francis and her team have undertaken introducing a new and immersive entertainment experience for fans, under the concept, Meet Me at the Mango Tree.
“It’s a new type of performance that we’ve come up with. For the past three years I have done a show in the mountains of Grenada called Sabrina’s Tree House Concerts. We wanted to take that a step further so it’s a headphones concert, we’re around a tree, it’s very immersive and exclusive, it’s tiny. And so we wanted to reduce the use of visuals and open up your ears. We wrote some songs specifically for the show and told a story, which I think is an essentially which I think is an essentially Caribbean story, about how a young lady coped with the fact that her mom left (abroad) in order to make a way for her and she used music to carve a path for herself,” she shares of the concept.
Beyond Grenada, she hopes to introduce the concept in Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica, and eventually the UK, where she has a growing and loyal fanbase.
As she continues to chart her path ahead, she is reminded that she is walking in not only her, but her mother’s dream.
“A couple years ago when I was going on tour to Europe, she (my mother) said that she was living vicariously through me. She says she sees a lot of the things that she intended for herself but wasn’t able to do because she had kids…she says she’s seeing me living the life that she always dreamed for herself. So she’s very proud,” she ends with a smile.
