So Rihanna's no longer the only Barbados beauty on the pop charts, though some of you may have heard Shontelle-ella-ella-ella-a's hot track "T-Shirt" on the air and thought it was Chris Brown's boo.
Rihanna's "Disturbia" is No. 1 and Shontelle's "T-Shirt" just moved up from No. 30 to No. 26 on the Top 40 chart.
We are premiering today the video for Shontelle's "T-Shirt," a sweet ballad about missing her man so much that she adorns herself in nothing but his T-Shirt to find comfort.
Wow, what a dedicated honey? Chris Brown should be so lucky.
In some of the video clips Shontelle also resembles Rihanna and it's mainly due to styling. Any opportunity to piggyback on Rihanna's marketing is a good one, right? You really can't be mad at Shontelle's people.
Ironically, Shontelle and Rihanna aren't strangers. Shontelle is from Saint James while Rihanna is from the neighboring northwest parish of Saint Michael. About two years ago they were featured on a song and video together. It was their fellow Caribbean artists J-Status' song "Roll It." J-Status was discovered by the same people who helped Rihanna get her start.
The "Roll It" video signals a couple interesting things.
1) Shontelle is the main feature. She's got the marquee spot, coming on in the beginning of the song and delivering a longer verse than Rihanna, who is featured at the end.
2) Shontelle's vocal style is much harder edged on "Roll It" than on "T-Shirt." She didn't appear as ferocious as Lady Saw or Patra, but Shontelle can bring the edge that Rihanna is missing.
If Shontelle has a Jay-Z in her corner, as did Rihanna, she should be able to bring some good solid competition to the marketplace, not that there isn't room for both.
Shontelle is backed by Steve Rifkin, the man who kicked open the doors for Akon. So Shontelle is in a good place. Let's see if she has more hits coming. I'm watching with interest.