Sister act
Cherish crunks up a precious legacy
Girl groups are still a wooden nickel a dozen in the American pop music supermarket. Yet the true and talented sister act — and we’re not talking Whoopi Goldberg and Lauryn Hill here, mind you — remains a rare piece of produce. (Even though two of them practically grew up in the same household, Destiny’s Child doesn’t count.) Luckily, Atlanta’s Cherish is poised to become the largest exception to that standard since the Pointer Sisters ruled the ’80s airwaves with fly metallic dresses and gravity-defying hairdos.
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Some 20-odd years after the delicious burn of the “Neutron Dance,” Cherish, comprised of 18-year-old twins Fallon and Felisha King, and their older sisters Neosha (20) and Farrah (22), has emerged as the country’s most recognizable ambassadors of Atlanta’s catchy snap dances with their song and video for “Do It To It.” They are also turning heads for their honeyed vocal tones and youthful, crunked-up vibe. They first appeared on the industry scene three years ago thanks to the mogul moves of Jermaine Dupri, an early co-signer of their undeniable talent.
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“Do It To It,” which features an appearance by Sean Paul of ATL rappers Youngbloodz, has all the hallmarks of a one-hit wonder — massive radio and video spins for the last several months, awesome viral marketing, fresh-faced vocalists singing their hearts out — yet Cherish comes prepared with other clever tunes in the arsenal to justify a further look beyond a song that’s become almost inescapable.
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On the cusp of Unappreciated, the group’s surprisingly well-rounded sophomore album and its real mainstream debut thanks to being taken under the wing of local hit-maker Jazze Pha, it only seems fitting to survey how Cherish stacks up in the platform heels left for them by everyone from the Mandrell sisters to the Sisters of Mercy. Well, maybe not that last one.
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Skill: Choreography
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Exemplified by: The Andrews Sisters’ — LaVerne, Maxene and Patty — pre-booty shake bump and slithery wiggling to the strains of “Rum and Coca-Cola” back in the steamy ’40s.
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Cherish score: 10. So far, Cherish leads the pack when it comes to setting a new standard for sisters on the dancefloor. Others will have to twerk very hard indeed if they ever hope to beat these gals in a You Got Served-style dance-off.
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Skill: Style
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Exemplified by: The Pointer Sisters in their hallowed Beverly Hills Cop phase, when the ozone layer was damned and AquaNet sales skyrocketed.
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Cherish score: 7. While it’s refreshing that the King sisters haven’t given in to materialistic label-whoring and sport a realistically natural and age-appropriate style, we’d still admittedly like to see them in a few Swarovski crystals or at least some feather headdresses once in a while, if it’s not too much to ask.
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Skill: Sassy suggestiveness
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Exemplified by: Those darned Andrews Sisters once again, since everyone totally knew what those brazen hussies were implying with insatiable lines like “Don’t sit under the apple tree/with anyone else but me.”
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Cherish score: 8. The extended slow-grind of “Chevy,” built around a metaphor any Southern boy could appreciate, features lines such as “I know you wanna taste my candy paint.” Hopefully they’re covering their mama’s ears when that one comes on the stereo.
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Skill: Kinship
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Exemplified by: Sister Sledge’s public declaration of unbreakable love in the perennial bar mitzvah disco favorite “We Are Family.”
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Cherish score: 10. Even though there are only two twins (and they don’t look as identical as they might be), listeners often mistake Cherish for one harmoniously multitracked R&B singer. That kind of seamless blending only comes from true sisterhood—and, OK, maybe just a little ProTools.