Reeny Smith: Love Trumps Money
Soulful vocals and piano are all that’s needed to deliver an inspiring message.
By Kerry Doole
Reeny Smith: Love Trumps Money (Prestown Music Group): The award-winning Nova Scotian singer/songwriter recently released Love Trumps Money as a new single, and has now put out an acoustic version recorded at a session for CBC’s Diggstown.
In a press release, Smith explains that “the message of Love Trumps Money is simple and direct. Money can't buy happiness, it can't bring peace, and it can't buy love. The world is so consumed with materialistic things, and we've lost sight of the things that really matter."
"Love Trumps Money was written at my home studio with label-mate Dennis Ellsworth. A simple conversation about how money-hungry the world is turned into a song about fighting for the one thing that really matters: Love. If we put that at the forefront and everything else where it should be, the world would be in a much better place." The track was also co-written and produced by Nicolas Gueguen (Laurence Nerbonne, Laurent Bourque, Beat Assaillant), and mixed at his studio in the heart of Paris.
The new version is stripped down to bare essentials, with Smith accompanying herself on piano, and delivering the message with compellingly soulful vocals.
Alicia Keys is an obvious reference point, but Smith has long been forging her own style. She released a debut EP in 2015, and signed with Cymba Music Publishing a year later, followed by the release of a breakout single, Good Girl Swag.
Smith went on to win Music Nova Scotia’s African Nova Scotian Artist of the Year Award from 2015-2018, as well as a pair of East Coast Music Awards in 2019, and Best R&B Artist award in The Coast’s Best of Halifax Awards (2017 & 2018).
Her music has been featured in multiple television shows, including Diggstown and Workin Moms, she is the voice of Tourism Nova Scotia's newest spot, and she is currently in Music Publishers Canada's Women In The Studio program. Atlantic Canada is certainly well aware of her serious talent, and it's now time for the rest of Canada to get on board.
Links
Booking: Brookes Diamond
Publishing and Synchs: Vince Degiorgio, Cymba Music Publishing
Publicity: Brendan MaGee, Front Porch Publicity
Diljit Dosanjh photographed by Lane Dorsey on July 15 in Toronto. Styling by Alecia Brissett.
Diljit Dosanjh photographed by Lane Dorsey on July 15 in Toronto. Styling by Alecia Brissett.
Diljit Dosanjh photographed by Lane Dorsey on July 15 in Toronto. Styling by Alecia Brissett. On Diljit: Hermès shirt & pants.
Diljit Dosanjh photographed by Lane Dorsey on July 15 in Toronto. Styling by Alecia Brissett. On Diljit: EYTYS jacket