Evolution – ‘A process in which something passes by degrees to a different stage (especially a more advanced or mature stage)’
Just twenty-four years old, Brahim already has quite a past behind him. It’s also a past that has, to a large extent, been played out in front of the television cameras. He became known on Idol and made an eye-catching appearance at Eurosong.
And these are not things that he regrets. Better still, they actually mean that these days we no longer have to explain who Brahim is and how his charisma is able to fill a hall and the drive he brings with him when he stands on a stage. Only, in the long run, people used to have the impression that Brahim is heard of mainly when there is a talent quest on television.
But that was then.
And that time has gone.
On his third CD, Brahim gives us a more grown-up, more international sound. The boy of yesteryear has become a man. Someone with new goals and different aspirations. “In the old days, I allowed myself to be led by others too often,” he says. “And I did what I was told because that’s what I thought I had to do. Now I realise that I don’t need any gimmicks or a whole circus to be who I am.” And it’s true: anyone listening to Evolution can hear a performer who now has sufficient self-confidence to be able to sail the course he has set himself without being complexed about it. And this takes him resolutely towards soul and R&B, genres that he has always enjoyed since he was knee-high to a grasshopper. The fact that the legendary Marvin Gaye once lived a stone’s throw from his home in Torhout naturally has something to do with it, and the influence of that other great master – Stevie Wonder – hangs like a shining blue sky over the album. Brahim’s outstanding version of Wonder’s ‘Do Like You’ stresses the path on which he embarked a few years ago.
And you can’t get away from it: the soulman from Torhout has become a genuine singer who has no trouble letting his silky voice glide all over the sultry melodies of ‘Take You Home’ and the jazzy ‘Won’t You Stay’ as if he had been doing it all his life. Which is true to a certain extent, because as a child of five Brahim could already play the guitar and he was barely twelve when a clip of Lenny Kravitz showed him how music was to define the rest of his life. And this time around, Brahim puts his mark on the album as a composer, lyricist and musician with equal ease.
‘What I Like About You’ – the kind of hit that not many people have managed in Belgium before – allows us to hear Brahim as a man who feels comfortable with himself, enjoying stepping out with the ladies who would like to trap him in their web. Because there is no doubt about it: in his new songs, Brahim celebrates lurve. Often – as is the case in the light-hearted Motown-pop of ‘Sweet Charity Case’ and ‘Dance All Night’, which is driven by radiogenic funk-beats – they show their most carefree side.
Then there’s a boogie to dance to and the music just oozes the joie de vivre of someone who has just found out that the love of his life also thinks that he’s the bee’s knees. Yet the path of a pop star is not all a bed of roses. In ‘Never’, Brahim describes the disillusionment of a relationship that has come apart at the seams. “We recorded that number on impulse, and it was never really our intention actually to release it. But everyone who heard it loved it and now I’m happy that it’s on the album. Because it’s a song that comes straight from my heart.” ‘My Last Goodbye’ is also about a parting of the ways, but with the message that even at the end of the darkest tunnel there is always the glimmer of a new beginning.
One of the outstanding guest artistes on Evolution is composer Alan Glass, with whom Brahim does six songs. Glass is a household name for anyone who enjoys figuring out the small print on album sleeves. He earned his stripes with Earth, Wind & Fire, has worked with soul icons such as Aretha Franklin and Luther Vandross, and has recently written hits for performers such as Mis-Teeq and Liberty X. Producer Yannick Fonderie – someone else with plenty of experience under his belt – has also made sure that the result exceeds everyone’s wildest expectations.
To sum up: by recording Evolution, Brahim has produced a CD that can stand proudly alongside any of the dazzling names from other countries. It’s a feel-good album, for sure. Anyone who has ever met the singer knows that there are not many people doing the rounds who have such a positive outlook on life. But it’s also a feel-good album that has solid content. Because anyone who wants to stand up and be counted for anything also has to be able to talk about it.
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WHO DOESNT DANCE IT HOLDS THE CHILD
