namalee: welcome to namazonia.

NAMALEE 'N THE NAMAZONZ's is quite obviously fronted by a girl named "Namalee".

She appears to have an unhealthy obsession with Spongebob Squarepants, rarely seen in photos without a necklace bearing a plastic figure of the character. She claims to be the child of Jerrica Benton, Jem of the similarly named Jem and the Holograms*. She even has a song called "I WANNA B A KARTOON". It's safe to say that she has some sort of preoccupation with cartoons.

Her song "U GLO GRRL" features a video in which she writhes sexually in a bathtub, whipping around her wet hair. Later in the video, she appears in the same tub with pineapple shaped sunglasses, fanning herself with a Spongebob fan. Apparently this video (1 of 3) was filmed in her native land of "Namazonia". Namazonia is a land characterized by an overdose on color and children's toys. It has its own national anthem with the surprising title of "NAMAZONIA". Upon hearing the first twenty seconds of this song, I was a bit hesitant to instantly proclaim my love for Namalee...

"Namazonia! (It's the place to be!) Namazonia! (You can climb a tree!) Namazonia! (It's the place to be!) Namazonia! (Let yourself be free!)"

Then the song became awesome after that. Around 1:50, it gets even more awesome. This is grime-y electro-pop GOLD.

"I KNEW I WAS RIGHT", a punky girl-power anthem, doesn't even sound like it's by the same musician who created "NAMAZONIA" or "U GLO GRRL". This quick ability to change genre is reminiscent of Peaches ability to go from electroclash goddess to punk-rock bitch. But it doesn't stop there. Two-thirds of the way into the song, Namalee adopts R&B vocals for a breakdown preceded by the ever-so-wonderful "And now it's time for a breakdown" [popularized by En Vogue's 1992 hit "My Lovin' (You're Never Gonna Get It)"].

With these beats, vocal versatility, and sheer craziness...I don't think Namalee's music can be contained by the boundaries of the UK much longer. Her album will be released next year, and a tracklisting can be found on her space.

dl: NAMALEE N THE NAMAZONZ - I KNEW I WAS RIGHT (YSI)
dl: NAMALEE N THE NAMAZONZ - NAMAZONIA (YSI)
(crazy British electro-pop)
- space it -

* In a snippet of an interview on her page, she also states that her "mum's Sri-Lankan". I never knew Jem was Sri-Lankan.

WEBBYVANDERQUACKIN': (the return) You're in luck. Missingtoof has an mp3 of "U GLO GRRL", which you should definitely check out.