Meet Sevyn Streeter, a singer-songwriter from Florida. In her early teenage years, she found joy singing and performing in front of others and joined her local gospel choir. Streeter’s biggest idol at that time was gospel singer Yolanda Adams and when she turned 15 years old, she eventually signed a record deal with Chris Stokes and T.U.G Entertainment and joined girl group T4K. Unfortunatley this did not work out as expected and soon the group separated.
Following that, Streeter got discovered by producer Rich Harrison who wanted her to be part of RichGirl. Even though the group, consisting of three other girls, managed to build a fan base, the success didn’t last long due to the group pursuing different goals and endeavours. But sometimes the ladder to success just has to be rocky in order to gain the wanted acknowledgement: Sevyn’s career finally turned for the better when she started writing songs for big names such as Tamar Braxton and Chris Brown, collaborating fairly often with the latter.
In 2013, Sevyn released her debut EP Call Me Crazy, But…, and earlier this year, she appeared on the soundtrack of the Fast And Furious 7 movie with “How Bad Do You Want It”. She has finally unveiled a brand new project, titled Shoulda Been There Pt.1. According to Streeter, this release is just “an appetizer before the main course”. With 13 tracks, this EP is much longer than usual, but nothing is perfect, right? Half of the songs are only interludes anyway. On this EP, Sevyn Streeter is sharing her emotions of the past few years with her listeners, and has only invited Chris Brown, Hit Boy and B.O.B to feature with her, the latter is also her current boyfriend.
Shoulda Been There Pt.1 kicks off with an introductory interlude, where she states: “If I experience it, I write it and I make a song out of it / And that’s what these records are… so I just kinda want to let ya’ll into the last year-and-a-half of my life and let’s talk about it”, which is followed by “Don’t Kill The Fun“, featuring Chris Brown.
This one is a typical party tune, since it’s all about having a good time and living life to the fullest. If you’re ruining the good vibe, then you gotta go home. Streeter and Breezy are willing to continue the party by making love to each other and definitely “won’t stop rocking ’til they call the cops”. Even though it perfectly fits into the R&B genre, it is also totally made for mainstream radio stations.
After another interlude, the singer is being played games on in “Consistent“. However, she doesn’t care about her man’s behavior as long as he is giving her what she wants (“I love it when he comes when I really want him to, oh/though when I really want him to work/This stupid sh*t we got though, it don’t mean a thing when we do it”), meaning that it is all about relationship without feelings anymore, but still with the special benefits. Her lover is obviously always available to fulfil her needs, hence the title “Consistent”.
The EP’s lead single and title track, featuring Atlanta-based rapper B.O.B, is a catchy tune, albeit a ballad instead of a turn up anthem. Streeter accuses her ex-boyfriend of never having been there for her and letting her down, with lyrics like “I’m gon’ regret to you / I’mma call my ladies / And tell them how you drove me crazy”. Ironically enough, her boyfriend is the guest artist on this one, but according to Streeter, she planned it to be exactly like that. While the talented songstress shows off her amazing vocals, B.O.B is adding his usual rap flow and it soon gets obvious that they also make a good duo on record and not just in public.
This EP is not everything we’ll be hearing from Streeter this year, with a sequel to the EP also announced. The R&B artist is also currently working on her debut album On The Verge, which will be released via Atlantic Records. According to her, it’s going to be her personal masterpiece, describing everything she has experienced on her way to fame and success within the music industry. However until then, fans have to keep up with Shoulda Been There Pt. 1 which is definitely not bad either. Sevyn Streeter’s EP is out now via Atlantic Records, purchase it here.
Words by Antonia Kunzel
