“People never expect me to be able to sing the way that I sing.”

What?

“That’s what I love about doing the music that I do — they never expect me to sing the way that I sing.”

These are words from Melanie Fiona, a name that doesn’t ring bells in many circles — yet. But how can she imagine what people expect from her if they don’t know her? Apparently she’ll cross that bridge when she gets to it.

But have you seen her? Seriously, have you seen her? Forget that, “Oh, she looks just like what’s-her-name…doesn’t she?” Just take a good look. Long, wavy hair, curves in each of all the right places, full lips, and a sultry smile that would make Ron Jeremy blush. She’s like the model type rappers horde in their music videos. And you wonder why people don’t expect that of her.

What you can expect from the self-proclaimed tomboy is a little different. Outside of the box. Say, a little north of the border.

“People are used to seeing artists that look good, but don’t necessarily come with the weight of their artistry,” says Fiona.

The seemingly humble yet talkative Torontonian’s parents hail from Guyana, West Indies. Dad used to play the guitar; mom used to sing to her as a little girl. She was getting her weight up at an early age: “I was actually singing before I could speak.” You ever hear baby talk in three-part harmony?

Growing up in the mash-up of Caribbean islands that is the T-Dot — better known as Toronto, Ontario — allowed for a wide variety of influences: from the reggae, Soca, and calypso of her heritage, to the Motown and Philly International soul 45s mom and dad were playing. But in between playing sports, working in the mall, and hanging with friends on the weekends, young Melanie got a lot of her swagger from a hip culture burgeoning her big bro’s Walkman.

“He had friends who were DJs when I was still a little girl,” she says of her older sibling. “I remember being exposed to an era of music that wasn’t very popular in Canada because we didn’t have very many urban radio stations.” She goes on to reminisce about MuchMusic (Canada’s answer to MTV, started in the mid-‘80s), and how it was quite some time before hip-hop culture garnered much, if any, support from her native’s media outlets.

“[It] was something that developed very much later on where I’m from, but it’s very much something that I absolutely love to listen to.”

Evidently, the culture was shocked throughout her city, as the Toronto area has spawned two hit-makers out of Melanie’s rolodex.

“Kardi and Drake are both two amazingly talented artists and both friends of mine,” she says. Cool friends to have, considering Kardinal Offishall was signed to Akon’s Konvict Music, and Drake’s major label debut on Young Money, Lil’ Wayne’s label, is one of next year’s most anticipated releases. Aside from having the same area code, she says they each knew the length of each other’s struggle to burst into the already-flooded American marketplace.

“Kardinal said it best,” Melanie says of her prophetic fellow musician. “He said, ‘You don’t become an international artist by staying local.’” She continues, “It’s the fight; it’s the knocking on the doors and saying: look, pay attention — I got something going on!” It was with this determination that the aspiring artist took her developing sound to penetrate the States.

Now, when you hear this sound, you’ve got to really listen to it. And forget about that, “Oh, she sounds like what’s-her-face, right?” That’s out the window. You’ll hear soulful grit within those seasoned chops; so spicy, you get that down-in-the-Delta aftertaste. It’s got to be good for such a new jack to tackle a classic.

Complete with full band, including a horn section, the Melanie Fiona live show has seen her cover Gladys Knight’s “Midnight Train To Georgia,” and do it well. She’s also put a dusty blues twist to one of the most high energy originals in her set. Musical territory is covered from so many realms, the young woman decided to use her debut LP to bring it all together.

“For me,” says Fiona of creating her album, “it was really drawing from those inspirations to kind of make something unique that’s not necessarily one genre of music. It’s not just R&B, it’s not just soul.” She continues, “There’s pop, there’s rock, there’s hip-hop, there’s reggae. Every song is just so different in its own right, but there’s one consistent theme of the feel of the music.”

What is most consistent is the growth of her fan base amongst her peers. The aforementioned blues twist to “Monday Morning” from her debut The Bridge was one of a half dozen tunes remixed by ?uestlove of The Roots. An ensemble of studio musicians known as The Illadelphonics, including ?uesto on the drums, produced a live session recording of tracks from her album remixed, with a Sam Cooke standard cover thrown in for good measure.

Added to the list of famous folks cosigning the proliferating talent is Kanye West, who brought the unknown artist with no album on tour as his opening act. She’s managed by Jay-Z’s ROC Nation management company, plus a new face in marketing for Rocawear. Also, on the designer tip, she recently teamed up with Steve Madden for a night of fashion. And, Melanie is featured on the duo of KRS-One and Buckshot’s release, Survival Skills (“9th Wonder hit me up on Twitter, he was like, ‘Yo, that track is crazy!’”).

While she did not pen the entire album, Melanie was instrumental in its direction: “Whether I wrote, wrote with someone, or someone wrote for me — it was very important for me, I had complete say and control on what was on this album and what wasn’t.” She looked at her relationships with her collaborators as extensions of herself, stating, “I can talk about what I want to say and they can help me say it best.”

Most of all, she felt that camaraderie with Andrea Martin, the mastermind behind the hit debut single, “Give It To Me Right,” and Melanie’s musical soulmate. “I tell you, the first day that we met, I cut three songs with her!”

When you take Melanie Fiona in, and you don’t worry about who she looks like, what artist she sounds like, or even what you expected, you’ll notice she’s pretty much just Melanie Fiona. Maybe a little bit country, or a little bit rock ‘n roll. Okay, not even a little bit country.

“You can’t just put it into one box.” Think outside of the box. Just north of the border.