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Nailah Blackman’s ‘mad love’ for Jamaica has her eyeing New Wave artistes

Published:Sunday | October 31, 2021 | 12:08 AMStephanie Lyew - Gleaner Writer
Jamaican dancehall deejay Maestro Don and Trinidadian soca artiste, Nailah Blackman, behind the scenes of the video shoot for ‘Senorita’ remix.
Jamaican dancehall deejay Maestro Don and Trinidadian soca artiste, Nailah Blackman, behind the scenes of the video shoot for ‘Senorita’ remix.

Soca Princess, Nailah Blackman, has previously recorded with Jamaican artistes including Shenseea and Teejay.
Soca Princess, Nailah Blackman, has previously recorded with Jamaican artistes including Shenseea and Teejay.
Nailah wasn’t shy to air her view on Caribbean men.
Nailah wasn’t shy to air her view on Caribbean men.
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Trinidad & Tobago is another Caribbean country that thrives on entertainment, but like Jamaica, the industry has been at a standstill, shared soca princess Nailah Blackman.

“The entertainment industry in T&T right now is kind of non-existent as the government has put very strict rules in place for our safety throughout this pandemic that it feels as though the entire industry has temporarily migrated to the US to have some sort of work or income happening,” she told The Sunday Gleaner.

Going into details of how the strict rules have impacted her, Nailah added: “I have been in a surprisingly really good place. This pandemic has been very transitional, detoxing, and creative for me. I’m very positive for future endeavours.

One of her recent endeavours included collaborating with dancehall entertainers Maestro Don and D’Yani on their sexually suggestive Senorita remix. On the song and in the music video, Nailah shows there are more sides to her that the international audience has yet to see. Nothing her sound and flow on Senorita, the singer-songwriter could easily fool someone that she is Jamaican, to which she said, “it definitely was not intentional.”

“This record just fell in my lap, actually, and I loved it, and I’m an artiste who just loves doing good music, so it doesn’t matter what genre it is, I intend to slay. I guess I’ve listened to dancehall music my whole life as the music is very popular in Trinidad, and so I just did what I would do on a dancehall track,” Nailah answered about not having done any pre-recording vocal training to sound like an authentic Jamaican dancehall artiste.

She added: “I think it’s my love for authenticity, and dancehall is superauthentic – from the artiste to lyrical content and the riddim. That’s why you’ll see me collaborating with many dancehall artistes. It’s definitely the vibration that keeps attracting me.”

She has recorded with Jamaicans over the past five years, including hot-topic dancehall crossover sensation Shenseea for the flirty single, Badishh in 2017, which is nearing the 10-million view mark on YouTube. In February of this year, she and Teejay released Turn Up, which has over one million views. Nailah, who is the granddaughter of soca pioneer Garfield Blackman professionally known as Lord Shorty, admitted that she has “mad love for Jamaica” and that she is already eyeing other male dancehall acts, particularly strong, emergent hitmakers to collaborate with.

“I’ve been eyeing New Wave artistes like I-Waata and Intence, just to name a few,” she said. “It would’ve been the lyrics of Senorita that made me decide to be part of the remix … I definitely do view myself as a ‘leadah’ as D’Yani sings, and I love its Spanish influence.”

The soca-fusion recording artiste has previous releases like Baila Mami, Sweet and Loco, which share a similar Spanish flavour.

“It just seemed like a right fit, and I also love working with new, upcoming artiste. This connects our islands and keeps the next generation strong and in tune with new artistes emerging in the Caribbean,” Nailah declared.

Detailing the relationship between the Trinidadian and Jamaican popular genres, soca and dancehall, respectively, she said that if the Caribbean audience would not view the music the way it does currently, it would help to make the genres more sought-after by the international markets.

`“Honestly, even though soca and dancehall are completely different genres, if the Caribbean audience would not view it so separately, meaning an artiste from any island being able to enter into the dancehall arena, and vice versa with soca, and do more collaborations, it would really make us feel like one Caribbean and not so divided. I think it would help build our audiences faster, and that way, we’d be recognised by the world more quickly and give room for more young artistes to keep emerging,” she explained.

Delving further into relationships and her love for Jamaica, The Sunday Gleaner picked Nailah’s mind about her love life, what she thought of a Jamaican man’s character and if she would actually date one.

She said, “Well to be honest, I don’t think any Caribbean man sneakier than a Trini man. So if I could be with a Trini, why not a Jamaican? Of course, I would date a Jamaican if I ever came across one that hit me on that level. I don’t watch no face when it comes to where someone is from because if I like you, I like you. Simple.”

stephanie.lyew@gleanerjm.com