The Tribune

By LESH

Tribune Features Reporter

acadet@tribunemedia.net

BACK with not one or two, but three new songs, Julien “Believe” Thompson is all about “taking the 242 forward”.

The singer has attracted a huge following since the 2012 release of his popular single, “Caribbean Slide”. Julien had dance lovers at school events, socials, parties and even the staff at Se�or Frogs learning the moves to the energetic song.

The new singles, he said, are entitled “242 Forward”, “Bring Me To Life” and “Love You Forever”, and he expects they will have the same effect as “Caribbean Slide”.

“Lately, I have just been planning the big release of these songs and I have been writing a lot of songs and putting them all together for an album. I am just working on taking the Bahamas to the world, taking the 242 forward,” said Julien.

“Love You Forever”, he said, was created as a way to express emotions and feelings in a relationship.

“When I write songs, I write them with a vision that a guy can have this song to send to his girlfriend and be like, ‘Well, baby this is what I have been thinking about you and been wanting to tell you.’ This is what this song represents,” the singer said.

“242 Forward”, Julien said, has been a fan favourite so far. He said the song is about the beauty of the Bahamas and everything that it represents.

“The most fascinating thing about it to people is the fact that we have the motto, ‘Forward, Upward, Together’, in the song. The respect that we have been getting for having that has been crazy, and I love it. What is also really cool about this song is the Ministry of Tourism has adopted it, so it is like the new ‘Funky Nassau’,” Julien said.

While on stage performing the song, Julien said he would notice how involved listeners would get with the words as they sing along.
“We have been doing a lot of research with this record in particular, because it is a fusion. It has a lot of Caribbean rhythms as well as Junkanoo. The Junkanoo drum is really explosive in the song and it can be heard very clearly,” he said.

When asked about comparing “242 Forward” with “Caribbean Slide”, Julien said the latter “is what it is and it has its own style”, but he thinks “242 Forward” connects more with Bahamian people and people that live in the Bahamas.

“We never really had a song that also represents our anthem. We have this song that we can send to the world and we can use to market us as a people. I don’t think there has ever been a better time than now where we need it so much. We need to show people the colour of who we are and this song allows us to do that. It is going to make you proud when you hear your motto in a song that sounds good,” he said.

Julien said his fans can look forward to a lot of new songs and events from him because he is all about setting new standards, both locally and internationally.

“I got a really big surprise for a lot of my followers in the next two to three months. You are going to see things from me that you never see from any other Bahamian artist. The goal is to do it big and to take the 242 forward,” he said. T

“There is a remix to the song that has D-Mac and Puzzle on it. The way that it is looking, it is going to have even more people on it.”