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A suite of songwriting nominations

A number of prestigious international songwriting competitions have nominated various tracks from Shameem’s latest EP, Time Does Not Reverse. This is in addition to Shameem’s recent grand prize win of the John Lennon Songwriting Contest with the track Pass It On.

1) The Independent Music Awards has nominated Time Does Not Reverse as a finalist in its Urban EP category. The final winners for this competition are yet to be announced.

2) The UK Songwriting Contest has nominated I Love You, But and Just A Show in the finals of the RnB / Urban and Adult Contemporary categories respectively. This means that these tracks were in the top 1-2% of entries from all around the world in their categories. Additionally, Pass It On and Moderation were named in the semi-finals, which means that all four tracks of the Time Does Not Reverse EP were nominated in this competition!

3) The USA Songwriting Competition has nominated Moderation as the finals of its R&B category.

This means that, while the Time Does Not Reverse EP has remained unsung in any songwriting competition in Shameem’s home of Australia, all four of its tracks as well as the EP itself have either won or been recognised as finalists in one of four different international competitions.

I Love You, But – live at The Ellington

I Love You, But, live at the Time Does Not Reverse EP launch show at The Ellington Jazz Club.

Sounds So Beautiful – Shameem – Live And Learn, Knowing That Time Does Not Reverse

Another write-up from French blog Sounds So Beautiful, this time reviewing the entire the Time Does Not Reverse EP.  Click on the image below to read the full article.

 

The Music – EP review: Time Does Not Reverse

Another review of my EP, this time from The Music.

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Shameem offers up an electro soul concoction for Time Does Not Reverse.

With a generous sprinkle of synth and a handful of harmonies, the key ingredient here is the lead vocals. There’s some hot ad-libbing that would be elevated by some live instrumentation, rather than the generally electronic approach which dominates the majority of this release. Just A Show is a standout, with some cool chord choices to pull the melody in unexpected directions and colourful guitar fills to add a bit more texture. This is closely followed by I Love You, But with a chorus that’ll be on rotation in your head for hours.

– Natasha Pinto

Southern Gazette – Giving Voice to Issues

Just a little something from the Southern Gazette a few weeks ago…

SoulandJazzandFunk – NO REVERSE!

An honest review of my EP from boutique UK blog SoulandJazzandFunk – these guys are soul purists!

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SHAMEEM (TAHERI-LEE) is an Australian soul singer/songwriter based in Perth. She impressed the soul world with her 2014 long player, ‘The Second City’. Connoisseurs grew particularly fond of her Alicia Keys-flavoured ‘Beautiful Soul’.

Shameem is now set to follow that up with a four track EP, ‘Time Does Not Reverse’ that wins release at the end of July. The lead single, ‘I Love You But’ has just become available and if you can get past the odd electro intro you’ll discover a fine contemporary soul tune with great lyrics about loving, but not liking someone!

The EP’s other tracks are the lazy, jazzy ‘Just A Show’, a quirky ‘Moderation’ and ‘Pass It On’ – a lovely, simple, sweet. old school pop-soul ballad with a killer hook in the chorus.

Shameem launches her EP with a show in Perth on July 29th. People in the rest of the world can learn more @ www.shameemmusic.com

Sounds So Beautiful – Shameem Taheri-Lee – Inspirational Songwriter From Australia

Got a nice write-up about my single I Love You, But from French blog Sounds So Beautiful. To check it out click on the image below.


I Love You, But – inspiration

The lyrics for “I Love You, But” are here.

This song is the latest in a string of songs that I wrote about one life experience – from “Disappointed” to “Impostor” to “Give Me a Reason“. I guess there are good things that come out of every hardship that you go through: you become stronger as a person, and you become very prolific at writing tragic songs. So basically there was a person in my life who I was super close to and really looked up to, and they did something that was really out of character and that really hurt and shocked me and many other people. I almost feel like these songs represent different stages of grief that I went through, because that’s what it was: I lost the person. They are still here, and they are still in my life, but something was broken and I’m not sure if it can ever go back to being the way it was before. In “Give Me a Reason” and this song, you might pick up that I’m at a stage where in my heart, I’ve forgiven this person, but I’m not convinced that I can ever trust them again. I think it’s possible to love someone with all your heart, but to really dislike a lot of things about their behaviour at the same time. In fact, part of my ongoing spiritual journey is learning how to love people who might do terrible things, because we are all human beings and have the potential for good within us, even if we our actions say otherwise. It’s something I’m still working on, and I think I’ll be working on it for the rest of my life.

I Love You, But – lyrics

We were much more than friends
A higher connection
You were my love, my trust, my blood

But then a shadow crept across your face
You chose the way that led to your disgrace

Chorus:
So tied up, don’t know what to do ‘cause I
I love you, but I really don’t like you
Said sorry, but you know it’s true that I
I love you, but I really don’t like you
I love you, but I really don’t like you
I love you, but I really don’t like you
I love you, but I really don’t like you
I love you, but I really don’t

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Brand new single – I Love You, But

Shameem is excited to announce the release of her new single, I Love You, But. I Love You, But is now available for purchase on iTunes, streaming on Spotify, and viewing on YouTube.

I Love You, But has an ear-worm hook with a heavy urban beat and a deliciously dark, brooding quality. Shameem not only wrote but also co-produced the track, playing keyboards and contributing to the drum programming, in addition to her emotional, gravity-defying vocal performance. The song is one of four to be unveiled on Shameem’s forthcoming EP, Time Does Not Reverse, which was recorded and co-produced with Rob Agostini (Rai Thistlethwaite, Tim & Jean) at Soundbaker Studios in Perth.

While the song is personal to Shameem and the lyrics stem from a broken relationship, the music video produced by Alucinor Productions boldly takes on the topical issue of problem gambling. Shameem says, “I’ve never been personally affected by gambling addiction, but I love using my music to raise consciousness about social issues that are prevalent in the world, and I’m glad to be able to speak up about what is a tricky subject for a lot of people.”