Aurra Soul wins Popeyes talent search

Aurra Soul is the winner of the Popeyes Music to Your Mouth Song Competition which was launched in February to celebrate the original flavour of Jamaican music through the vibrant spirit of Popeyes and open to young and upcoming artistes between the ages of 16 and 30 years old.

Aurra Soul, whose real name is name Marianna McPherson, was among the top three winners who were awarded prizes, including song and video produced by industry players (first prize winner) as well as cash prizes courtesy of Popeyes.

Sabrena McDonald Radcliffe, head of marketing at Restaurant Associates Limited, applauded all the contestants, noting that “it’s not easy to put yourself out there to be judged”.

In February, Popeyes invited young artistes to upload an original song of their making to Instagram, using the hashtag #MusicToYourMouthJA. From these uploads, the top 10 entrants were chosen from 60 and announced on Saturday, March 12 via Popeyes’ social media platforms. These entrants had until Thursday, March 31 at 4 p.m. to gain as many votes as possible. People were allowed to vote once per day for their favourite contestant until the deadline.

The final five were determined by voters on the landing page from 10 finalists while the final three were selected by the judges.

Alkaline turns up the volume on ‘Valum’

With the recent announcement of New Rules returning to Jamaica on July 2, fans over the weekend were in for another treat as Reggae Sumfest announced Alkaline a part of this year’s staging. Dubbed ‘The Return’, it is befitting for the artiste who has not performed in Jamaica for almost five years.

This year’s upcoming performances which mirrors the artiste 2017 appearance will demonstrate not his reign in the highly competitive streaming era but his dominance in the streets, reflecting and cementing him as the #1 artiste in Jamaica and the genre.

Alkaline’s latest single, Valum, which was released on April 25, can be considered a summary of his modus operandi and where he’s at in the entertainment landscape. The high-tempo single, which has been making rounds, is paired with the artiste cryptic post on Instagram with fans fuelling varying speculations.

Within hours of the release, Alkaline comfortably became the #1 trending artiste on Audiomack all genres chart as well as Caribbean; #17 on the US iTunes reggae singles chart; #13 in Canada; #34 in Japan, all iTunes sales driven charts.

With rapid movements on other notable charts/digital service platforms, Alkaline had the number #5 video on YouTube Trending charts in Jamaica.

Since the start of the year, Alkaline has also released the singles World Domination and Weekend.