Born and raised in Spanish Town, just outside Kingston in Jamaica, Mikayla "Koffee" Simpson became known three years ago for her viral video in which she played her acoustic guitar and sang a dedication to Olympic legend Usain Bolt. Now, the 19-year-old newcomer has finally come through with her debut EP, the five-track Rapture helmed by a panel of stellar reggae producers Teflon ZincFence, Lasanna "Ace" Harris, Frankie Music and Walshy Fire.
Koffee, Rapture EP
"Koffee come in like a rapture/ And everybody get capture," she says, announcing her arrival on the opening title track. Singing in a mix of Jamaican patois and English, her crisp vocals, imbued with enviable youth swagger, shine the brightest during the track's verses. "Di God weh mi serve mi seh him timely yuh si/ Mi highly blessed and yuh cya spoil mi medi," she says, spitting out syllables like it's second nature. Already a massive hit, the next track, Toast, finds Koffee giving a shout-out to Jamaican artists Protoje and Chronixx, whom she's long idolised: "Now a pon stage wid Chronixxm I a sing/ Yeah you zimme, all Diggy soon gi di I a ring."
Produced by SOS Dynamikz and TeflonZincfence, the mid-tempo Blazin' features Jamaican vocalist Jane Macgizmo, who's joined forces with Koffee on a mission to set the world aflame ("Light me up/ I'm at di gas station waitin'/ We're the ones on fyah, got di whole world blazin"). On Throne, the songwriting is not only on-point; it's also timely and witty ("Me nu waste time with the music/ In yuh earz like any Q-tip/ Used to FaceTime with the Blues/ 'Til Reggae bassline mek me lose"). The closer, Raggamuffin, is an homage to the eponymous style of music (also known in short as ragga). "Raggamuffin reggae beat yeh/ Dancehall pan di street yeh/ Caan stall nor defeat, 2030, we still a dweet," she sings as she predicts a prosperous future for the genre.
Quotable line: "Travel go everywhere in a spaceship/ How the ghetto youths yuh fi relate wid?" (Blazin').
The verdict: A young reggae queen repping and reclaiming her sound? We stan.
Listen to this: Rapture, Toast, Raggamuffin.
THE PLAYLIST
Sufjan Stevens / Love Yourself / With My Whole Heart
Singer-songwriter Sufjan Stevens is celebrating Pride Month with a pair of brand-spanking-new tracks, With My Whole Heart and Love Yourself. As you can probably tell by their titles, the songs revolve around this little thing called love and echo Stevens' goal in "[writing] an upbeat and sincere love song without conflict, anxiety or self-deprecation". The former is a synth-pop ballad dedicated to self-love ("Love, can you love yourself?/ Show me everything/ Every reason to believe in yourself") while the latter is a tender declaration for unconditional love ("And you're all I want/ I fell in love, I fell in love the moment that I met you/ And you're all I need/ I give my life, I give my love/ Promise I will protect you"). Both tracks are included in the four-track EP alongside a 1996 demo and a reprise version of Love Yourself. Even more gloriously, some of the proceeds will go toward charities for LGBTQ+ and homeless youth.
Vilde / Oh What A Mess You've Got Yourselves Into
Listening to Vilde, you can't help but get a sense of quiet menace -- a sublime surrender to a certain doom. Increasingly, this sentiment has become synonymous with his solo releases, especially with his 2018 album Thud. The latest offering, Oh What A Mess You've Got Yourselves Into, finds Vilde, aka Thomas Savage, plunging even deeper into his brand of murky indie-rock. Set to spellbinding synth loops, the six-minute number is suffused with a surging energy that constantly builds upon itself and around the saxophone. "Don't do it/ Don't do it," Savage croons over brooding electronic undercurrents before drummer Jesper Hättander comes in with the equally solemn spoken word in Swedish.
Add Carabao / Mahat-sajan Ganja
Much like Morrissey, Add Carabao has gotten progressively problematic as he gets older. And with the release of his new tune Mahat-sajan Ganja [Amazing Ganja], it seems like there's no stopping for the once-beloved Thai song-for-life icon. Here, the singer-songwriter jumps on the country's ganja debate, giving us a lowdown on how he became "woke" about the life-saving miracle of marijuana and how he regrets that he once wrote a song about someone dying under a cannabis plant ("It's time for a revolution/ For this plant is an opportunity/ Saving lives of fellow Thais inexpensively/ Efficiently curing chemotherapy-level cancer"). While we can definitely appreciate the sentiment behind it, the track does come across sounding like thinly veiled political propaganda, which, given Add's track record, does not bode all that well.
Sueco The Child / Fishscale
On the surface, Sueco The Child (real name William Schultz) may look like your typical zonked-out SoundCloud rappers operating with too much purple cough syrup in their system. However, apart from his viral hit Fast, the rising LA-based artist proves he's more than just another cookie-cutter rapper, with his stellar second single Fishscale. Combining the heart-on-the-sleeve aesthetics of Joji and Post Malone, the track features smooth hip-hop melodies and Schultz's nonchalant flow. Meanwhile, the lyrics read like an entry in an angsty teenager's diary, because he's just not partial to a lot of things: "I don't like back talk, I don't like lip … I don't like to sit down when I could be gettin' paid/ I don't like to stone but I do it every day."
Metronomy / Lately
"I've been waiting around/ For someone like her to get in contact with me/ She could be the greatest/ I know she'd be the greatest," begins Lately, which marks Metronomy's first single in three years following its fifth studio album, 2016's Summer 08. Stylistically, this is a more indie-rock-indebted offering compared to the band's recent output. The only electronic element here comes in the form of gleaming synths, but even those pale in comparison with the chugging guitar riffs and skittering drum beats. Could this herald a new era for the UK five-piece?
