Miami-born Nicole Wilkins aka Honi Lane is a singer songwriter who grew up around the music business seeing her pops, reggae artist Vblock Dutch chase his dreams. Miss Lane has been quietly honing her craft as a songwriter since the age of 9 but never showed interest as a singer until she turned 17. Honi Lane recorded her first record, which was not released but the response from family and friends were so encouraging it gave her the belief and drive to perfect her skills and make this her career. Now with her premiere project “A Taste Of Honi” almost ready to go, Honi Lane releases her first single official “Lock Me Up”.
A debut record is difficult to produce though, you have to pick the song that will best represent you and the sound you are trying to create and develop. The first thing that strikes you is that it’s difficult to keep your eyes off this feisty young female.
So we stuck her debut record, “Lock Me Up”, into our sound systems to see if she has what it takes to move into the club of one of her urban predecessors like Rihanna. Vocally, she colors beautifully within the lines of a subtly, dancehall-infused, Pop track. I haven’t seen her live ,so can only judge the audio, but from what I can gather Honi Lane is a pop star waiting to happen.
I can imagine the record label execs must barely able to contain their glee when they first clap eyes on her. Their approach will have to be clever too, in trying to drag her away from her dad’s label. With a couple of remixes “Lock Me Up” has the makings of a sure-fire club smash.
The defining feeling here is of something completely and utterly well -produced – contemporary pop, machine tooled into something so sleek and exotic it’s in danger of intoxicating its audience.
Probably far removed from the burden of any pre-established super-stardom, Honi Lane delivers the song with a sense of abandon that stacks up well to the themes of being captivated by your lover, letting your wildest emotions loose, and all the intense carnal pleasures that drape themselves over the track. Honi Lane, whose personality comes across as bubbly, saucy and effusive, shines through, dancing between the pumped-up synths and breezy dancehall-tinged rhythm.
Honi Lane clearly has the chops to be in this thing for the long term. She’s a powerhouse vocalist in a team that obviously features a production crew capable of delivering familiar and highly effective potential chart gold.
Her voice is polished, but it’s never cold or calculated: she knows when to hit the notes with all the precision of a surgeon, but she also knows when to let things get a little rougher too. All Honi Lane needs to do now is keep pushing the right buttons that channel her personal flair into its own winning formula.
