Self-described soul/R&B artist The Merindas are fusing styles in the way that hardly anyone else in the game can.
The two-piece, who sing most of their music in beautiful harmony, channel the aesthetic and style of Destiny’s Child and Salt N’ Pepa but do so whilst singing in the language of first nations people, resulting in an explosion of colour and culture, all set to a backdrop of quality beats and production that’s hitting some of Australias biggest stages.
“We do really wanna try and create that fusion of sound, and really relay a message through our lyrics as well,” says Candice, one half of the group when we chatted with them ahead of their forthcoming debut Australian headline tour.
“We represent our mob and want to keep people connected with culture…our culture is about celebrating who we are as people….there’s a big sense of inclusiveness…we sing all our songs in harmony, it’s very rare that we sing something just solo.”
READ: The story behind Australia’s first Aboriginal protest album
Heading to catch the Merindas live is far more than just experiencing quality music in another language – there are all the touches of full production, with choreography, charismatic costumes and a heavy emphasis on dance.
“Dancing around the living room…and around the campfire with family as well…artists that had dancers on stage inspired us – which is something that we wanted to do for our young mob too, inspire them, give them a dream”, says Candice.
Her musical partner Kristel expands on this, revealing that “we wanna do fashion and music shows, make our own costumes – we want to empower other women to feel confident with what they wear and do what they want on stage…there’s so much to do and so much that we can do!”
Love Hip Hop?
Get the latest Hip Hop news, features, updates and giveaways straight to your inbox Learn more
Check out ‘Before Daylight’ by The Merindas:
From day one thing’s have always been about empowerment and bringing first nations culture to a broad audience.
“Candice really laid it down when we first started,” reflects Kristel.
“It made it easier moving forward with other producers that we work with… but getting to the point where we felt ready to put this album out, it was a long process, but a lot of these people that we worked with ended up understanding what it was that we really wanted.
“It’s a matter of connecting mind, body and spirit.”
“If it doesn’t have that element that we can connect to spirit and ancestors, then it doesn’t feel grounded to the earth,” adds Candice.
“We feel lucky that we didn’t release anything earlier, because there was something not sitting right in our gut…it wasn’t until we felt 100% about it that we were then happy to release something.”
The Merinda’s have been around for nearly nine years, an impressive feat for any band, let alone one that is yet to release their debut album. However, with their first LP, We Sing Until Sunrise around the corner, the years of experience are beginning to pay off.
“We’ve got a great creative team around us…producers, designers, choreographers, managers….we’ve got a great chance to market what we have this year to Australia, and then to push for international markets next year,” says Candice.
“We got told a lot that our genre is tricky, it’s not really something that sits in the market at all – that makes it hard to get onto triple j, but we’re hoping that maybe the UK or the US might be able to pick it up.”
Check out ‘We Sing Until Sunrise’ by The Merindas:
It’s frustrating to hear that in 2020 some groups are still discouraged from doing their art based on what’s ‘in’. However, it’s something that Candice and Kristel don’t plan to dwell on.
“We measure our success by the fact that we’ve moved to a major city and work full time in music,” says Candice matter of factly.
“We’re doing the tour ourselves, we’re promoting it ourselves and we’re focusing on some regional areas like Broome and Darwin.”
“I’m hoping that we can have that story; ‘someone told us this wasn’t the song that would cut it’ – that just pushes us more – I love it,” adds Kristel.
“We’re doing some workshops along the way too, and working with more regional communities.”
Thing’s are beginning to fall into place for The Merindas, but despite their bold goals and an imminent headline tour, at the end of the day it’s all about helping other people to dream big too.
“We want first nations people to be able to see what we are doing, and to inspire those people,” says Candice. No doubt they’re doing just that.
Check out The Merindas in Perth:
