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Ms Dynamite: Handle with care
(CNN) -- R&B singer Ms Dynamite (real name Niomi McLean-Daley) won two Brit music awards on Thursday night, adding to her already impressive collection of coveted trophies. Discovered two years ago for her talents as an MC on London's underground circuit, she went on to win Britain's Mercury Music Prize in 2002 for her debut album, "A Little Deeper." Ms Dynamite then scooped three more trophies at the MOBO Awards, Britain's urban music awards. The Music Room couldn't wait to catch up with Ms Dynamite, who's four months' pregnant, when she made a recent stop in New York. TMR: Tell us about "A Little Deeper." Are there any main themes running through the album? MS DYNAMITE: "A Little Deeper" has a lot of different themes that run through it, and I don't really think there's a really dominant one. I think that they're all strong messages in there. I feel that my personal message is mainly about being positive and being more aware as a responsible person for the sake of young people, who I see as our future. I think that comes across in every song, although that's not necessarily a dominant theme. TMR: What is the song "Dy-na-mi-tee" all about? MS DYNAMITE: "Dy-na-mi-tee" is one of the first songs on the album that I wrote. It's basically about being a regular girl, just a regular person. I think that people who are in the public eye often are seen as big stars, and I just think that is so inaccurate. Everybody is a person. I feel like just a person like everyone else so that's basically me saying, "I'm just a regular girl like everyone else." TMR: And what about the song, "It Takes More"? MS DYNAMITE: "It Takes More" is quite a serious, caring song. It was basically written about my perception of how I view the world today. I think that in the media there is a negativity being promoted, a lot of materialistic values, sex ... violence or whatever, and I think that there's never really a balance. I think it's really dangerous for young people because they're [impressionable], and it's also not fair that negativity is kind of forced down their throats when they're at a point in their lives of finding out who they are, searching for themselves. I think that song is mainly about parents, people -- especially in the public eye -- anyone who has an influence over young people taking responsibility [for the messages young people are getting]. TMR: Who were your musical influences growing up? MS DYNAMITE: My musical influences are really quite diverse. All my life I've listened to a lot of reggae music just because that's my mom and dad's music. I've kind of been influenced by different genres all the way along. From people like Stevie Wonder, Patty LaBelle, Aretha Franklin, James Brown to Salt-n-Pepa. People who are an influence from my generation are people like Lauryn Hill and Mary J. Blige. TMR: How would you best describe your sound? MS DYNAMITE: Musically I would describe my sound as mainly R&B but with reggae, hip-hop and dance-hall influences. Actually, there are some jazzy sounds in there as well. Lyrically I'd say it's just me -- what I see, what I've been through, what I like, what I dislike, what I'd love to change about the world. It's just about me and my journey. TMR: What are your plans for the next year? MS DYNAMITE: Basically I will be working on a new album for the UK. I'll also be promoting the [current] album in the U.S. I'll just see how things go really. I'll also be having a baby. That should have been No. 1! We'll see how much time I've got left after all that, if any! TMR: Do you think having a baby will influence your music? MS DYNAMITE: I think having a baby is most definitely going to influence my music because I write about what I go through and how I feel. You'll be listening to the next album thinking she wrote this just after she was in labor because it's such a horrible song! Back to The Music Room main page.
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