Daddy's Little Girl

Album: Speech Therapy (2009)
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Songfacts®:

  • This song is a track from British rapper Speech Debelle's debut album Speech Therapy.
  • Speech Debelle, real name Corynne Elliot, (she got her pseudonym from her grandmother) was born to a middle-class South London Jamaican family. Debelle has had little contact with her father, who abandoned her mum when Speech was a baby and has fathered eight half-siblings to six different mothers. This song addresses his absence and neglect in a direct and honest manner.
  • One of Debelle's idols as a teenager was the rapper Tupac Shakur. She explained to The Sunday Times July 26, 2009: "Someone once said about him - and I'd like to think I have that - that he had strength within his vulnerability. And I think that's what Daddy's Little Girl is. It's a really vulnerable song, but I'm not trying to hide in the corner." Debelle added: "I didn't 'hear' the words to that until I was sitting listening back to the song. My A&R was, like, 'I wonder what your dad would say', and I listened to it properly only then. I was, like, 'Oh my God.'"
  • Debelle admitted to the Guardian August 16, 2009 that she was not sure whether to include the track on the record: "I listened to it and thought this is a bit too personal, but then I thought the album is called Speech Therapy and it is about healing – so I have got to put it on there. If a young guy is listening to this and feels I don't want to be that person she is talking about, then that's good."
  • Debelle told The London Times September 10, 2009 that she "thinks" that her father has heard the album. When asked how he must he feel about this song's lyrics such as, "Hurt scarred me so deeply/I have trouble committing to any man/Cause I think he's gonna leave me"? Debelle replied: "What does he think? Look, I wouldn't say I'm not welcoming when I see him, but I'm like, 'Awright mate?' I won't pretend. I probably don't make him comfortable enough for him to come and say something to me with regards to that song."

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