Kierra ‘Kiki’ Sheard

Some artists exude an energy and natural love of performance that makes their work infectious – they can be so entertaining and charismatic that they elevate the material that they’re given. It might be early to say this, but Kierra ‘Kiki’ Sheard just might have that special quality.

It can’t be easy growing up in the shadow of a Gospel music legend like Karen Clark Sheard – now multiply that at least three times and you’re up against the mighty Clark Sisters themselves! A musical legacy like that is a wonderful thing until you have to live up to it on stage, but in the case of Karen’s little girl, ‘Kiki’ – the legacy continues full-strength. From the first time Kierra stood on stage next to her mom (matching Karen’s vocal riffs note-for-note) it was obvious that there was yet another Gospel powerhouse in the horizon. Grandma’ Mattie must be proud…

Today, with three full-length albums and one set of remixed tracks under her belt, Kierra gives us something old and something new – Kiki’s Mix Tape: an 8-track (a pun that hopefully will still work with some of you, even though the cover art shows a cassette) project that features songs going back as far as her 2004 debut but also includes the newly-written tracks, “Teach Me” and the high-octane praise anthem “Sing To The Lord.” Another delightful surprise is Kiki’s duet with Marcus Cole on the Donny Hathaway-penned “This Christmas,” brilliantly produced by the amazing Tommy Sims and featuring an amazingly mature vocal performance by Kiki.

Kiki’s Mix Tape is certainly a well-mixed bag of styles. I hesitate to use the term ‘old school’ talking about an artist that has such a firm grip on contemporary sounds, but this set of songs does have everything: from the relatively old school Clark Sisters-influenced “You Don’t Know,” with its brief homage to the Clarks’ crossover hit, “You Brought the Sunshine,” to the dance groove of “Wave Your Banner (Monsta Mix)” to the CCM rock sound of “Sing to The Lord,” to the sophisticated jazz of “Teach Me,” to the light, funky groove of the Ella Fitzgerald-tinged “Why Me” to the surprisingly well-realized, should-become-a standard, “This Christmas.”

Despite the wide range of styles, multiple producers, and the fact that this is largely a compilation, Kiki’s Mix Tape, in the space of eight tracks, manages to sound like a cohesive project – no doubt in large part to the amazing vocal abilities of Kierra ‘Kiki’ Sheard. Kierra’s voice soars and riffs with the best of them, displaying an uncannily mature grasp of vocal phrasing. She can go from a whisper to a shout, a full-throated tone to a funky, jazz-influenced rasp – all done as if she’s still exploring the outer limits of her vocal range while staying firmly in control of where her vocals are going to end up at the end of any given phrase.

Where Kiki will go next is anybody’s guess, but given the right material, there seems to be no limit to her potential. Seemingly equally adept at R&B, Urban Contemporary, Jazz, or Hip Hop, and delightfully transparent about her faith lyrically, Kierra ‘Kiki’ Sheard certainly has a wide-open future as a Gospel artist and has the energy and charisma to cross over into the mainstream, much the same way her mother and aunts did two and a-half decades back.

Kiki’s Mix Tape is an excellent way to get introduced to this talented artist. This is a mix that’s certainly worth getting into.

Tagged as: Kierra 'Kiki' Sheard, Kiki's Mix Tape

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