the year was 2003 beyonce was crazy in love monica was so gone and maya's love was like whoa
early 2000s r b was making its mark and taking over where 90s r b left off fifi dobson though
wasn't about that live she was a rocker chick and had no intention of allowing record label execs
to pigeonhole her into the r d box they assumed she belonged in toronto born felicia lily dobson
grew up in a quote very angry household with a single mother and three siblings all of whom are
white her parents split before she was born i was trying to find my identity while realizing i was
different in my own household there were moments when i felt like i didn't fit in or i felt like my
color wasn't being celebrated in my home i didn't feel beautiful i felt like i was comparing myself
all the time i don't blame anyone in my home for that but that's how i felt her artistic journey
began as a small child performing at home in front of family members she would later enroll
in a local music school to improve her singing skills when asked about her musical influences
growing up fifi's list is long and diverse her older sister listened to many different genres
and introduced fifi to everything from nirvana to smashing pumpkins her mother on the other hand
preferred artists like phil collins and donna summer one person fifi admired more than anyone
though was michael jackson she even believed that she was him for a period of time and was
devastated when she found out that she wasn't fifi's eventual gravitation towards and love for
classic rock actually came from herself she would begin listening to the likes of jim morrison
and stevie nicks all on her own fifi's tastes and other aspects of her life were full of variety as
well she would often wear her mother's bell bottoms and other vintage clothing to school
her fashion statements definitely made her stand out amongst her peers she
began making demo tapes at the age of 11 after receiving a home karaoke machine for christmas
then at the age of 13 she started playing the piano and writing lyrics fifi's spoken openly
about the fact that before she was signed she struggled with being stereotyped as a
contemporary r b or pop singer instead of the rock musician she always wanted to be
she has her white mother of english irish dutch and first nations ancestry mixed with
her father's black jamaican heritage to thank for her striking features and caramel complexion
it's the latter attribute that the music industry decided should dictate what genre she belonged in
eventually phoebe's talents caught the attention of zomba records which would later be renamed jive
as she was trying to find her sound and footing in the industry she would constantly be described to
producers as brandy spears a cross between the r b diva brandy and pop princess britney spears
who jive had actually signed a couple of years prior fifi revealed that she and the label didn't
have the same vision then after fifi met the producer that she would go on to work with on
her debut project the label really dug their heels in and gave her an ultimatum drop that producer or
the deal was off fifi chose to walk away from jive she her producer and manager who also happened to
be fellow canadian artist nelly furtado's manager forged ahead on their own scheduling showcases for
several recording companies the president of universal music canada showed interest in her
and persuaded island def jam ceo and a r exec to come to toronto to check her out during
another showcase 30 seconds into the first song fifi played she'd have multiple labels dying to
work with her sixteen-year-old fifi then signed her very first record deal with island records
as the time neared for fifi to make her mark on the music scene another young canadian artist
with similar pop rock energy popped up and blew everyone away avril lavigne dropped her
debut single complicated in march 2002 it shot to number one on the canadian hot 100 and captured
the number two spot on billboard fifi admits that the competition did worry her i was like damn it
because i thought that the vibe was similar it was just like man i'm not going to compete with
this girl she's blonde she's pretty she's skinny i got booty i got my muscular legs i thought do
my dickies even fit me that way like they fit on her the following year all those worries
would be put to rest when fifi launched her career with a sound and style all her own that her fans
immediately embraced her self-titled debut album was released in december 2003 four singles also
dropped take me away everything don't go girls and boys and the hit breakup anthem bye bye boyfriend
another poignant track that deserves some recognition is unforgiven in which she tells
off her absent father for a childhood of broken promises she would tell refinery 29 in 2021
that she was an expert on two of the most typical kinds of teenage angst heartbreak and parental
frustration i was pissed off for a lot of things when i was younger i still have a lot of rage
a lot of rage i never did anger management because i wrote music that was my anger management and at
that age i had to let it out during much of the next year fifi promoted the album performing live
on trl appearing on numerous magazine covers and sitting down for many in-depth interviews
she was also the opening act of justin timberlake's european tour in april 2005 fifi
was nominated for two juno awards in the spring of 2006 fifi performed several shows around the us
and began promoting her second studio album in anticipation two singles don't let it go
to your head and this is my life were released but neither charted the album was originally
scheduled for release sometime the year before but after complications during production along with
the poor performance of the singles its mainstream release was cancelled and fifi ultimately left the
label due to creative differences the decision to show the project devastated fifi who'd also
recently gone through a bad breakup she felt like a failure and opted to move back to toronto her
look had changed significantly too she cut her hair into a choppy pixie cut that new do would
later be a focal point for rumors to swirl about a never-proven beef with rihanna over the beijing
beauty allegedly jacking fifi's style during her good girl gone bad era eventually the album titled
sunday love was released independently in 2006 and later made available for digital download in 2012.
fifi eventually got her mojo back after hearing artists miley cyrus and selena gomez cover a
couple tracks from sunday love it triggered something in her to start riding again those
creative differences that interfered with her last project seem to have worked themselves out since
fifi re-signed island during the production of her third studio album joy fifi's official second
album but technically her third was released in november 2010 the album was preceded by
the release of two buzz singles which were then followed up by the three top 20 official singles
ghost stuttering and can't breathe three years later fifi announced that recording had begun
for her fourth album a couple of singles were released but no album ever came to fruition
fifi's personal life at this time was in a very good place she would get engaged to her boyfriend
american rapper yellowwolf in 2013. after a long-term on and off relationship fifi and
yellowwolf finally married in september 2019 in nashville tennessee where they reside today over
the next couple of years they appeared to have gone through a major rough patch and there was
even talk of a pending divorce for now it seems like they're sticking together and continuing to
work on their issues in early 2022 fifi confirmed her official return to music with the single
in love which was released in february it's a song fifi says she wrote 10 years ago and is super
excited to finally be able to reveal it to her fans she promises that a brand new album is soon
to follow this year as well thanks for watching please like share and comment also don't forget to
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