LOCAL artiste Melissa ‘Vanilla’ Roberts is bringing her ‘A’ game for Mashramani 2017, by releasing new music and a music video for the Mashramani season. Today, Vanilla will launch the video for her single, Mash up de Place which was released earlier this month. According to a release, Mash up de Place has been quite popular on the airwaves, having been featured as Song of the Day, Song of the Week, and Booming 9.
Vanilla also launched a second Mashramani tune, We run Tings, yesterday, and she will continue to serve the local airwaves by releasing a third single later in February to add to the road march soundtrack.
According to the release, though the artiste has been taking a step back on the music scene, several factors have spurred her creativity, which led to these new projects, including calls from fans and support from her producer and writer, Mr. Burchmore Simon, to release new music.
She also made the observation that the airwaves needed local music to support the Mashramani festival.
“So, Mash up de Place kind of revived it, and now I have noticed more songs are being released for the season,” Vanilla said. The artiste also credits the efforts of Hits and Jams Entertainment with helping the song to catapult to popularity, and admits that this is the first time she has received such avid support for her music from the company.
Noting that she looks forward to their continued support, the release goes on to say that this is especially notable, since Vanilla has been among the list of local artistes calling on radio stations and promoters (including Hits and Jams) to give more support to their work.
UPCOMING ALBUM
Both Mash up de Place and We run Tings will form part of of her upcoming album, which, Vanilla said, is “coming along beautifully”. Set to be released this year, songs for the album will be recorded in the Sound Garden Studio, and will be a product of Kross Kolor Records. The finished product, she said, will see a fusion of sounds, and a step away from her old material.

Referring to it as “an experiment”, Vanilla said that the album will also feature some crossover work, including from fellow Kross Kolor Artiste, Gavin Mendonca.
“I’ve been working to build the brand, Vanilla and so these mixtures of things will look to make the brand stronger; and that includes crossovers and mixed genres,” she said.
With regard to her brand, the release says that Vanilla is also working to expand other aspects of her image, which fall within the film and fitness industries. Vanilla is currently working on some new film projects, while continuing to build her fitness portfolio.

FITNESS ENDEAVOURS
Vanilla currently serves as an instructor at Space Gym and Fitness 53, and also leads the annual Digicel Mash Fit event. This is the third year that she will be hosting Mash Fit, the six-week-long fitness extravaganza that allows gym buffs to work on that ‘Mash’ body, or just lose some weight through an intense daily workout.
“We get a lot of success stories every year; the first year we had about eight to 10 persons losing between 15 and 20 pounds. Last year, our aim was to get one person to lose 50 pounds, and we got very close with 49 pounds,” she said.
Focus is also placed on providing nutrition and other health tips during the six-week stints to help get persons on a healthier track. Seeing the way Mash Fit has impacted people’s lives, Vanilla lauds Digicel for hosting the event annually. Moreover, she commends them for still providing the opportunity for persons this year, despite not having a 2017 Mashramani band themselves.
Fans can look forward to many more projects in the pipeline from Vanilla as she continues to expand her brand with her musical, fitness and filmmaking talents.