#streamcaribbean "BBW" with Maurane Voyer

Shout out to Martinique. To conclude my series of #streamcaribbean reviews for 2023, I'd like to highlight Maurane Voyer and the "BBW" (Deluxe version). 

After her concert at the New Morning in January 2023, I spent the year debating with myself whether to review the album because it was released in 2022 and not in 2023... Fortunately, the Deluxe edition solved the dilemma.

The series of promo singles gives a glimpse of the album's versatility. From Caribbean pop to dancehall to Zouk, Maurane Voyer can do it all, and she does it well.  With sensuality in "BBW", “On Time” (feat. Bamby), with teasing in "Championne", “Moli”, with determination in "Trop Lent", “Waaah” (feat. W.Bricks), "Lou", with pride in "Petite Île" or "Fanm Stab", with a touch of madness in "Street Life", "Redflag" or "Foli KNL"... But it's the vulnerable Maurane Voyer in “SAKITEFO” (feat. Meryl) or "En Vrac" that speaks to my sensitivity.

In my 2023 #streamcaribbean concert review, I said that the "BBW" album would be a milestone in Maurane Voyer's career. "Bazar", her first album released in 2020, already showed her potential, but the pandemic didn't allow her to set up any real promotion... But even then, for me, "Bazar" already sounded like a bygone phase. The public has seen Maurane Voyer grow up, but the teenager with the bright smile has become a woman with artistic ambitions.

Each music video has a distinct aesthetic that visually traces this evolution. While "Moli" still has a teenage vibe making the transition with her “Bazar” album, "BBW" and "On Time" begin to play on a grown woman's sensuality that "SAKITEFO" and "En Vrac" sublimate with elegance. “KOLE KOLE" closes this transition to adulthood by mixing these two aspects. With over a million views in less than 3 months, the ZABOKA x FANM STAB (shatta remix featuring Shannon) music video seems to mark the beginning of a new era. This is the only promotional video in which Maurane Voyer ostensibly plays with the visual codes of innocent-looking sexiness. The angel in mini-shorts at a slumber party can turn into a bad gyal partying in a limousine. Whichever facet of her personality she chooses to highlight, her authenticity is in tune with what any Caribbean woman in her twenties might be feeling.

It's touching to hear her vision of romantic love evolve. The sentimentality of "Bazar" has given way to a more realistic, more frontal, more sexualized approach to a woman who knows what she wants in "BBW". Each new track on the Deluxe version is a reminder that she no longer imposes any limits on herself in terms of music or themes. The romance writer in me has a preference for "VIRE FEY" with Matieu White because the trope of a second chance for the first love is my number 1 trope. Nevertheless, on a purely artistic level, it's "ELLE", the final track on the reedition, that makes me anticipate the vision Maurane Voyer has for her career. See you on the next album...