WITH a career spanning more than 20 years, Jamaica’s lovers’ rock singer Singing Melody reintroduced himself to fans with the premiere of the first official single Collide, on Wednesday, from his soon-to-be-released album They Call Me Mr Melody. Produced by Lynford “Fatta” Marshall, the new single will lead the way for the 13-track album, which the man best known for hits such as Want You Back and Say What has been working on since the start of the year.

According to Singing Melody, the song — which was demoed two years ago — was a perfect fit for the album and will be a wonderful gift to the fans who will buy the album. “Collide is an amazing song that tells a story of a couple who are in love but have problems communicating and that drives them apart, but eventually they reunite. Two years ago, Fatta came to me to do that song and I ended up doing a demo for it, but never completed the project until recently. Initially, I didn’t want to put a cover song on this album but I have some of the most loyal fans in the business… so I decided to give them a gift in the form of a free single, thus ‘colliding’ or reuniting with my fans.”

A reoccurring choice amongst invited guests at a private listening session for the album held in August at the Mixing Lab Studios in Kingston Jamaica, Collide is testimony to the new image and sound Singing Melody has been developing with the help of his management and marketing team, which is committed to making They Call Me Mr Melody one of the best reggae albums of 2012. According to Ruby Robinson, president of Shem Music Productions, “we are really happy with the product and so too are many industry veterans who have openly lauded the efforts of Melody on a job well done”.

With plans to shoot a video for Collide, Singing Melody is now gearing up for a rigorous promotional campaign aimed at rebranding his image. Singing Melody wishes to target a younger audience while maintaining the sophistication of being a true pioneer.