Top 3 Female Artistes of 2022

1. Shenseea

More than one woman cannot be crowned queen, but hands down, Shenseea deserves one of the crown jewels or maybe a sceptre to show her sovereignty as one of Jamaica’s female acts with authority on dancehall that has crossed over and dominated international markets. In March, Shenseea released her debut album, Alpha, through Rich Immigrants and Interscope, and turned heads at the local launch. She has not only crossed over, but held her own despite criticism and competition, and has racked up a considerable number of collaborations including features that would earn her recognition at the 2022 Grammy Awards, being on three albums in three different categories, Kanye West’s Donda (nominated for Album of the Year), Major Lazer’s Music is a Weapon (nominated for Best Dance/Electronic Album), and Masego’s EP Studying Abroad (nominated for Progressive R&B Album). She is featured on singles with Calvin Harris, Charlie Puth and Chris Brown. She also received nominations of her own in 2022; she was named MTV’s global ‘Push Artiste of the Month’ in March, a first for a Jamaican artiste, then received nominations in the MTV Video Music Awards four months later, for R U That from the album, and she attended and made a show-stopping impact with her style. In November she was nominated again for Best Push Act in the MTV Europe Music Awards (EMAs) and for Best Caribbean Music Act by The MOBO Awards in London.

2. Spice

Her name has been associated with the phrases ‘Queen of Stage’ and ‘Queen of Dancehall’ possibly since her debut on the Sting stage in 2000 and receiving several encores from the audience that was present to watch her exceed expectations. Through hard work and her own manifestation, Spice was rightly crowned ‘Queen’ in 2022, a milestone year in her career and life. She was bestowed with the royal honour at Reggae Sumfest in July. The dancehall artiste, entrepreneur, and member of the Love and Hip Hop: Atlanta cast for the past three seasons, turned 40 years old on August 6, in a year which she has described as “great”. And 2022 may have actually been greater than great for Spice. She walked the Grammy Awards red carpet for the first time, following her nomination for Best Reggae Album for her 2021 album titled 10 and also released her second album, Emancipated, as an independent artiste, which hit the Billboard Charts, peaking at number seven. The dancehall royalty, who is known for tracks, such as Fight Over Man, Needle Eye, Cool It, So Mi Like It, Romping Shop, Black Hypocrisy and Tape Measure has 3,151,721 monthly listeners on Spotify, but easily garnered over 130 million streams on the single platform alone. She is also the most streamed female dancehall artiste on YouTube, which is an indication of her pulling power.

3. Koffee

This musical speed racer pulled up into the party and watched nobody and nothing, but the prize for 2022 – as she did in her debut year. Koffee wasted no time and released her first LP, titled Gifted, in March, which would land at the number-two spot on the Billboard Reggae Albums chart and by November, the 22-year-old was nominated for her second Grammy Award in two years. She was also nominated in the Best Caribbean Music Act category by The MOBO Awards in London and received the award for Best Reggae Artiste of the Year at the inaugural MECA Awards. The numbers seem to be playing in Koffee’s favour. On Spotify alone, she has almost 270 million listens across her top five songs on the platform; Toast (142,375,057); W featuring Gunna (60,952,715); Rapture (38,905,786); Vroom (13,873, 050); and Pull Up (12,643,944). Vroom, a collaborative effort with English actor and musician Idris Elba, American rapper Lil Tjay, Nigerian-American singer Davido, and Nigerian singer Moelogo, produced by FaNaTix, was part of the collection of music for the driving video game Gran Turismo 7. Koffee also landed a collaboration with international pop star Sam Smith. She has not left out her Jamaican compatriots, making it her duty to fuel up the tank of her ‘Haffi Make It’ School Tour at the start of Christmas school term.

stephanie.lyew@gleanerjm.com