Around three weeks after the birth of her first child, Neneh Cherry was in front of Jean-Baptiste Mondino’s camera lens for the legendary album cover of Raw Like Sushi. The musician who experimented with punk, hip-hop, trip-hop and electro was about to discover that her blend of pop, rap and soul would soon rocket to the top of the charts and offer the perfect soundtrack to the end of the 1980s.
For the greater public, the story of Swedish trumpeter Don Cherry’s step-daughter began with this album released in June 1989. Until then, Neneh Cherry had been lending her voice to the London punk scene, with iterations such as The Cherries, The Slits and most notably Rip Rig + Panic. The Deluxe 30th Anniversary version of Raw Like Sushi brings together the remastered original albums, B-sides as well as an avalanche of remixes, allowing listeners to dive back into the underground scene of the time, which played on the interchangeability of styles. Indeed, the tracklist of this first solo album features Tim Simenon aka Bomb The Bass but also the Wild Bunch/Massive Attack clique (Mushroom, Nellee Hooper and Robert “3D” Del Naja).
Neneh Cherry - Buffalo Stance (Official Music Video)
NenehCherryVEVOThe two hit singles Buffalo Stance and Manchild sum up the panoramic vision of the singer, then only 25-years-old. The former is carried by an in-your-face rap and some good old record scratching, integrating pop music elements that are unmistakably 80s. The latter blends the beauties of soul ballads with the premise of trip-hop, the result enrobed in a pop sound reminiscent of a Like A Virgin/True Blue/Like A Prayer-era Madonna.
Neneh Cherry - Manchild
NenehCherryVEVOBut thanks especially to her voice but also to more rebellious beats and tones, Neneh Cherry differentiates herself from others from the start of this first album. Five years later, 7 Seconds, her duet with Youssou N’Dour, would go on to propel her career even further.
Neneh Cherry - Kisses On The Wind
NenehCherryVEVOIn 2018, while Cherry was in Paris promoting Broken Politics, Qobuz got the chance to discuss this with her, along with broader topics on the role of artists in the industry today.
