Review Fix Exclusive: Fantine Talks ‘What A Day,’ Working With Wyclef Jean and More

Review Fix chats with singer/songwriter Fantine, who discusses her new single “What A Day,” featuring Wyclef Jean, as well as her goals for 2016, which include more single and a full album release.

Review Fix: How was “What A Day” written? What inspired it?

Fantine: “What A Day” was written in the most chilled ways possible. We were stirring in Clef’s (Wyclef Jean) home studio just catching vibes seeing what sticks. Now, I have this tendency to just sing random tunes at random times. I’m sure that’s an affliction a lot of singers have. So I’m sitting there singing Tina Turner’s Private Dancer.

All the men come in these places and the men are all the same… Clef and I both agree that that’s an awesome tune, and I admit wanting to cover it someday. That’s when he says why don’t we just write our own. So that’s how it started.

Review Fix: How do you think your unique background affects your music?

Fantine: I suppose my background and my musical style are now inseparable, but it took a little bit of a while of trial and error to get the perfect blend. I’m happy to say that these days my music truly represents me. It’s true that every now and then I will write songs that will lean more in one direction or another, take on more of one aspect of my background that some other, but even so, they rarely fall squarely into any particular genre.

Review Fix: What inspires your style?

Fantine: My musical style is inspired by my background, but also by my musical influences, peers and fellow writers. It’s amazing how much I’ve learned about melody, harmony, instrumentation and so on, from co-writing with other creative people or listening to the music of artists who’s work I esteem.

Review Fix: How did it feel to work with Wyclef?

Fantine: A lot of times meeting new people and being thrown into a room to write together can be daunting. Especially someone as well know as Wyclef. But I’m glad to say that it was incredibly easy. The melodies and lyrics came quite naturally and I was given ample room to make my own suggestions and bring forth my own ideas. I’m really pleased that Wyclef made it so simple for me.

Review Fix: What was filming the video like?

Fantine: One word: Hectic! I think that making music videos in general can be intense. But this was really something else. The director Connor Van Vuuren and I spent weeks in preproduction getting the concept of the video down, then we sat down with the team and discussed all the moving parts, from location to props, to costumes/hair and makeup. It was quite crazy really. Between all the costume changes, hair changes, makeup change, all the different scenes and the amount of props. Thankfully we had a fantastic crew who made sure everything ran on time and in its proper order. Overall a high-energy, intensely entertaining couple of days in Miami, and one more day in Sydney (Australia).

Review Fix: What are your goals musically?

Fantine: My goals musically are quite simple: keep doing music for as long as I possibly can. Keep writing with and for as many artists as possible. Continue to be inspired to create on a daily (or weekly, let’s be real ) basis. I suppose my overall goal is longevity and the ability to perform live to an audience.

Review Fix: What’s next?

Fantine: What’s next? More of the same, please. More singles, a full album (some time in spring 2016?). And then more singles, and albums, and tours. It’s the circle of life. Haha

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 13819 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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