Nessa Preppy – She believed, and she achieved!

BY SIMONE J. SMITH

“I will always have a love for Toronto, Canada. It was the first international country I performed in. Toronto loved Tingo, and I love Toronto!”
Nessa Preppy

“Issa, issa snack
Issa something fat
Strictly facts
From front or the back
One big girls team
Issa snack pack
Issa issa scene
Everybody bad and it’s that”

If you are a soca, or dancehall fan, I don’t even have to take you back to the first time that you were exposed to this visual masterwork. Beautiful women, empowered by their sexuality, tantalized by the rhythm, voluptuous bodies gesticulating. Oh lord! Way too much for most to handle. The one question we all had on our minds was, who the hell is this woman?

“Issa Snack,” “Tingo,” “So High,” and “Pull up,” are weapons in her musical arsenal that only give people a taste of who she is as an artist. With 231k followers on Instagram, and millions of views on her YouTube videos, a name that was unheard of a few years ago, is now on the tip of the dancehall/soca world’s tongue.

Vanessa John (aka Nessa Preppy), may seem like an overnight success, but to those who know that success does not come overnight, her story will leave you wanting more. Kind of like how you feel when you finish watching one of her videos.

Her unpredictability, risqué creative style, and love for her music and the joy it brings her fans, are the reasons why we are going to continue to see this young artist rise beyond all that is expected.

I was so excited when Adanna Asson, Entertainment Publicist with CreativA MediA PR, contacted me about some of the new projects that Nessa was working on. After a short discussion, we set up an interview so I could have a girl chat about women empowerment, her powerful ascent, and what she wants for women across the world to know. Join me as we take a look at the life and times of Nessa Preppy.

Her voice was so soft and pleasant, a little different from the boisterous energy that she displays in her videos and on stage. We had to re-schedule the interview a few times, and she graciously agreed to speak with me last Sunday. We went right into how she got into the music industry, and what her younger years looked like.

“I was going on five years old when we moved to Trinidad,” Nessa began. “It was just myself, my mom and my older brothers. My dad stayed in Germany. Living in Germany was different then it is now. It was a different culture and vibe, and my mom felt pulled back to her home.

I grew up in Arima. My mom’s family all live there. My grandmother is a direct descendent of the original indigenous people to Trinidad.

I was introduced to the culture early. In primary school, I started performing in Calypso talent shows. I would participate a lot. I performed a piece by the Mighty Sparrow “Pay as you Earn.” He was visiting and came up to me and let me know how well I had done. I didn’t win, but I was noticed.”

Music was at the back of her mind throughout high school. In her heart she knew she would come back to music. At 16, she got back into it. She bounced around from studio to studio, networking trying to find herself within the music. When one of her first recordings got some airplay, she realized that she had to take this music thing seriously.

“I was into hip hop,” she says laughing coyly. “I was finding myself. I do a lot of chanting, so it is still in my music. My style is mixed with dancehall. soca, and a little bit of hip-hop.”

“Tingo was my first song with views. I put Tingo out two months earlier than the video. I thought it was a great song, but the moment the video dropped, it went viral. It was not being played on the radio. Once it reached two million views, then it hit the local airwaves. I learned during this part of my journey that if I was going to do anything, I would have to take it there every time.

I have always had to put in the extra work. Issa Snack was overlooked. Women on the island had to call into the radio station for my song to be noticed. The ladies of Trinidad and Tobago are the ones that put me on. It is one of the reasons why I big up women so much. They have been my number one supporters.”

I think one of the most powerful aspects of her rise is the fact that she has a group of free-spirited women supporting her. Throughout the video Issa Snack, there are shots of other women, dancing, bigging her up, sprouting words of affirmation. This is girl power at its finest.

“A lot of women support my musical movement. I have seen where me doing things have other women more confident with themselves. I feel really good about that. A lot of times as women, things are taken away from us. There are women who want to do certain things, but society does hold them back. Empowering women makes me happy.”

It is great that she has so much support from fans locally, and internationally, but I was curious as to how her inner circle felt about her provocative style.

“My parents didn’t have an issue with it. I started taking sexier shots when I was of age. I moved out at 19 years old. I was the only female in the house, and I always felt protected. My brothers were very protective. I am a hot-blooded female artist. I like embracing my sexuality, dressing very sexy. I think that is just me, you know. It’s not for everyone. My family supports, and I am good with that.”

With her focus on women’s freedom to do what makes them happy, I asked her if she had any words for her Toronto admirers.

“Don’t let anyone hold you back. Believe that you can achieve anything. It may sound cliché, but take it from me, it works. I didn’t come from any special background or rich background. Hold yourself to a standard in your mind. Work towards that standard. Look at what is going on in a positive light, and by all means, educate yourself.”

If you are a Nessa Preppy fan, you will love to know that she is coming out with her new album, “The Art of Flex,” on December 12thh, 2020. In January 2020, she started a YouTube show called “Party with Preppy.” On the show she talks about music, touring, and the overall artist experience.

“There is R&B, dancehall, soca music. It is different than what people have seen of me. Recording should be what all artists are doing right now. It is hard because there is no motivation. I have been working on it for two years now. This was in creation long before COVID-19, so the vibe is different.”

Nessa’s ability to crossover into new realms of music, her down to earth nature, and her all out sexiness are what make this creative artist a rising star.