For Rogiérs, observing the landscape of popular music during the last few years has brought both incredible hopes yet despair-not just as an artist but for the entire field. There was hope that the promise of his “sexy-soul” voice, “expressive” playing, “deliberate” lyrical viewpoints and yes, good looks-could be a revitalizing ingredient which the industry and so many listeners seemed to long for. But it also brought despair that maybe these values had been overstated. “I haven’t been ‘excited’ about a new artist in years…I can think of three or four artists in the last five years that I’ve actually been ‘excited’ about; two out of four either never came out or sold less than 250,000 records,” says Rogiérs of the genre’s monotonous trend. It’s a trend that has sedated music lovers and yielded many acts to obscurity after months of costly marketing campaigns.
It was these internal conflicts that conceived Rogiérs’ lead single “Life & Music feat. Big Tone” (produced by Dré Bowman, Rogiérs and Big Tone). Since its initial release, the single’s gained airplay stateside, Europe and abroad- most notably in the UK’s top R&B/Soul/Hip-Hop radio formats over a 6 month period. Born of an insightful conversation with close friend and EMI writer, Makeba (who penned hit singles for Beyoncé, Rhianna, J-Lo and B2K respectively), “Life & Music” explores the very real convictions of a do or die passion and an anxious desire to enjoy life’s necessities and simple pleasures.