Shingai Shoniwa has dropped an inspiring new video for the remixed version of Too Bold, the title track from her 2020 debut solo album. The Too Bold Diamond Remix sees the Noisettes singer and bassist join forces with a host of exciting artists for a fresh take on the moving track. Among the array of up-and-coming talents on display are punk rock two-piece Nova Twins; Battersea soul vocalist Tawiah; jazz guitarist Jelly Cleaver; New York multi-instrumentalist Celisse; blues-influenced troubadour Ala.Ni; Birmingham-London neo-soul duo MVM; and Nashville-based, multi-genre musician Megan Coleman.
The video – directed by award-winning filmmaker and previous Shingai-collaborator Sheila Nortley – also features a montage of famous faces; with childhood photographs of Superstar singer and TV personality Jamelia; Peterborough-born actress Jodie Turner-Smith; Lancastrian wordsmith Yrsa Daley-Ward; and Zimbabwean-British model Nyasha Matonhodze. Meanwhile, the lyrics attest to a positive, empowering vision of black womanhood: “Too dark, don’t let them tell you you’re too dark/Don’t let them tell you you’re too dark/How great thou art.”
In posts to followers on her Instagram page, Shingai called the track and video “An inspiration for girls to defy all limitations put on them and affirm their right to be bold, bright and beautiful.” The South Londoner added: “‘Too Bold’ is the bravest song that I have written for a long time…we have the collective responsibility to insure that prejudice and fear DO NOT continue to blind our hopes and dreams.”
That empowering message is something Shoniwa had repeatedly drawn attention to ahead of the release of the Too Bold LP last autumn. In an interview with Zimbabwe’s News Day in October, she said: “The message on ‘Too Bold’ is that of positivity and encouragement in the face of great challenges. A lot of us from the diaspora and marginalised communities in the West face a lot of discriminations every day. This often starts when you are kids and I wanted to put out a song which was just speaking of the challenges that women and the black community face.”
She added “I wanted to send a message out there that no one should dim your fire, so that is the message…I have gone deep into some of my personal experiences like childhood grief and how we had to recover from the post-colonial world. ‘Too Bold’ will give people a message of hope and it is an album that I hope will be appreciated by all generations…I put my heart and soul into it.”
Shingai established her musical credentials with the Noisettes over the course of three well-received albums; the most recent being 2012’s Contact. Whilst the band’s commercial successes coincided with the mini-revival of British indie music in the charts in the mid to late noughties, the London outfit were never part of a scene, and defied genre labels. The stylistic juxtaposition of their two biggest hits – the disco-rock groove Don’t Upset The Rhythm (Go Baby Go) and the melodic, Motown-influenced pop number Never Forget You – displayed a musical dexterity that Shingai has continued to demonstrate in her solo work.
Over recent years, the singer has dipped her toes into modelling, voiceover work and acting – making a notable appearance in Netflix romantic comedy Cook Off, the first Zimbabwean film to premiere on the streaming network. That arresting on-screen presence translates successfully into her musical output, and with 2019 EP Ancient Futures and Too Bold in the bag, Shingai has more than proven she can flex her muscles as a solo vocalist in her own right.
