When Keshia Chante was 10-years-old, she made a list of things she wanted to accomplish in life and posted it on her bedroom wall. The first goal was get a record deal at the ripe age of 14. Check.

Next was to win an award for her first single. “Shook The Answer” won the Urban X-Posure Award for Best R&B/Soul Single last summer. Check.

Now Chante can cross off another goal. Her debut self-titled album comes out Tuesday across Canada. Check.

Not bad for somebody who just turned 16.

Chante made a huge impact when her first single was released last year. The song was a response to “Shook” by Shawn Desman, who shares the same label and manager as Chante, so it was instantly recognizable.

“With Shook coming out,” Chante tells andPOP, “that definitely had a lot of people talking about ‘who is this person singing the female version?’” People were amazed to learn that the seemingly-seasoned vocals were coming from the mouth of someone not even old enough to drive.

The Ottawa-born Chante followed that up with hit singles “Unpredictable” and most recently, “Bad Boy.” Preparing her album, she made sure that every song had potential to become a hit.

“I understand that people my age work at stores and they work for minimum wage, and two hours of minimum wage is an album. And there’s no way I’m going to have one of my fans work two hours for an album they’re not going to love!”

Miraculously, she is able to balance her music commitments and her school schedule.

“There’s a whole bunch of different stresses being a teenager and going to high school and then you have to let that all go and talk about something else in the studio. It’s like two different worlds.”

But what happens when she needs a couple days off from school? (Picture her coming to class and telling the teacher, “I won’t be able to come to class today because I have to go to the Junos.”)

“My mom talked to them so they were cool with that.”

Chante has a very optimistic attitude when it comes to almost anything. On balancing the two schedules, she says, “It is hard but I don’t stress about it too much.” On unwelcome rumours: “It doesn’t really bug me. I just don’t care at all.” On her plans to eventually release the album in the U.S.: “I want to be able to be heard all over.”

Before releasing the album, Chante tested it out on her toughest critics: her friends.

“My friends criticize everything and they listened to it and they can honestly say it was a good album.”

The next single will be “Does He Love Me,” which features Foxy Brown. Chante sings about someone trying to pick her up, but questions his genuineness.

“A lot of guys when they like a girl, they sweet talk. But sometimes the girls are not too sure if he’s being honest with them or if he’s trying to get with the girl for any other particular reason.”

Her magical list, which is dwindling down fast, still sticks up on her wall with a lot more goals still to be accomplished.

She wants to start a business. (”Actually, I want to start lots of businesses. I don’t want to start just one. Like fashion, accessories and whole lots of different stuff.”) She also wants to become an actress. (”I can take on any role. I want to take on a character that’s not me. I want something really challenging.”) Call her the female Donald Trump of the Canadian entertainment scene.

Chante had better slow down, because at this pace, her list will be all checked off before she finishes high school.


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