Tami Chin-Mitchell has proclaimed her freedom and said she is not interested in the music industry anymore.
Her parents were in a band called The Carnations and her younger sister, Tessanne Chin is known globally for winning Season 5 of the US singing competition The Voice as part of Adam Levine‘s team.
Tami shares some sobering gems on the realities of the industry when we conducted this interview a few years ago. Her work in the industry has given her a wealth of knowledge even as she focus on being a wife to fellow reggae/dancehall artist Wayne Marshall whom she marry in 2009. The couple have four children including a new born daughter.
Do you think you would have survived if social media was around back when you were in the music industry?
OMG, I am telling you straight I would have been a mess on the floor in the bathroom somewhere. Ten years ago, how I represented myself was different from how I represent myself now. Even now Facebook memories make me say ‘what the hell was I thinking?’
How do you feel about girls now who are now the age you were ten years ago?
I leave everybody to do what they want to do but I do wish sometimes I could let them know it’s not that serious. I don’t do music anymore as an artist but part of me knows their position and I have been in their shoes but at the same time this is not the complete picture of your life. Like everybody going through something, you think that’s what life is until life shows you its just a chapter.
How did you get into music?
Music had always been in my family, I was always at rehearsals. I did ballet to pursue dance more than music. Last year in high school my mom suggested I try a performing arts college. I did that and loved it and wanted to be an actress. I ended up going to Florida to meet with Washroom Entertainment when I was seventeen. I met Alaine who wrote songs for me and helped me to vocally produce and by my twenty-first birthday I was about to sign a deal with Universal.
What’s your greatest achievement musically?
I never looked at my musical career as a great achievement but I feel proud I was able to break some barriers as a young female trying to bring the genres together.
A lot of people thought I didn’t belong and that music wasn’t putting food on my table so it didn’t matter. I didn’t feel accepted then but now I feel the acceptance from people. There were always people saying I only got signed because I was a light-skinned Jamaican girl. It was a lotta pressure and when things didn’t work out the way people thought it would, they’d hate on that too.
The same thing happened with Tessanne, she won The Voice in season five and the same love turned into venom the minute things don’t turn out the way people expect. If you don’t have a good sense of self you will carry that around. It took me years to figure out that was other people’s problems and I can’t believe that about myself otherwise I’d feel like a failure.
Do you ever compare yourself to your sister or peers?
Oh yeah. It’s a natural thing to do in any field. Comparison will steal you of everything you have. But your path is your path and your journey is your journey. You are either learning to be better or learning not to make a certain mistake. We all can win and I am the first to encourage every female artist.
If you were 17 again and just coming into the music business, what would you do differently now?
I don’t know. I probably would have gone to school. I probably would do a different genre of music. I don’t know. I’d like to think I would make music that connects with who I was. I would focus more on making music that I truly loved and not for a label. I would probably be like Sade.
The 17-year-old me wasn’t allowed to do that because that didn’t make sense. People like Amy Winehouse, who didn’t give a fuck about what all of the other people were trying to do and just did her. I think there is something about that authenticity that comes with age and wisdom in your youth.
You were signed to Universal records, would you advise young artists to take a record deal?
That’s totally up to them. Every deal is different but for me, it was never the right thing. Even for Tessanne, and I don’t like speaking for her but it wasn’t the right thing.
Nowadays you don’t need the label, you have the internet which is the biggest tool.
You may not have the marketing but you can build up so when you get to that label situation you have a leg to stand on. If you are not a strong business head, find somebody who you can partner with because it’s 95 percent business and politics.
What were your spiritual contributions to Wayne Marshall’s Glory To God hit?
Wayne and I met years and years ago. We were friends before becoming a couple. We had a strong spiritual bond. We speak the same spiritual language. He was the first to challenge me on the Bible and Christianity. Spirituality we are entwined and we understand where each other is coming from.
This Glory To God thing is coming out of his valley. Every person visits the valley where they have a down time. He honored the valley space to get to this space. You can’t fight the time and space that ask you to be still and be quiet and do nothing. In the moment it feels like you don’t know what is going on because you can’t see it. My role as his wife was to say “honor the valley”.
Also in truth when he came to me with the song I said nope, cause I was worried he was gonna be closed in to one system. But he was so steadfast and he told me everything the song will do and I lived to tell you that it really happened. I am so glad he is so strong.
As you maneuver your next steps and progress how do you see yourself assisting with the greater development of the world?
I really love people and helping people and I love these conversations. This conversation feeds my soul so I want to do things that feel my soul.
If you should write a book what would be the theme?
Service. In every way. To my family. A lot of people undermine the value of being able to serve another person and what joy that can really bring you. I talk to so many women every day and I am able to go through and figure things out with them and service in that way will mean so much to me for the rest of my life.
I want to come back as one of my kids. Either Jackson or Atlas. (Laughs)
Tami thank you so much.
