Royal Blu packs heavy ‘Artillery’ in new music
Published:Sunday | January 15, 2023 | 1:27 AMStephanie Lyew - Sunday Gleaner Writer
Royal Blu is focused on his target and aims to hit hard, while hitting home, even with sights set on the road ahead. “Real life we struggling, but living it up online,” are the lyrics of the first verse of Artillery, the latest song from Royal Blu distributed by Easy Star Records. It is the second track coming out of the artiste’s relationship with Denver-based production group The Autos, notorious for embracing the collaboration culture of 1970s reggae. It also features Roe Summerz, another whose name should not be slept on.
“I received the track with Roe Summerz’s chorus on it. This is what I used as a guideline to really give the different contrasts of life in Kingston, in a way that’s kind of exposing the sordid underbelly of what’s happening in our country,” Royal Blu told The Sunday Gleaner.
The connection with The Autos was first made on social media during the pandemic, he said, and while their style follows the tune of a different generation, “it feels new and familiar,” and Royal Blu is immersed in their lessons on the business.
“Especially as it relates to reggae music in America and the way bands and artistes are booked for festivals, I have learnt a lot from them. It’s been an amazing process from start to finish, and to have Easy Star Records [on board], which is currently distributing most of the music, it has been great because they focus on a release, they give it their all, and it is centred around the artistes.”
Artillery is a fairly new release, and there has not been much feedback from his fanbase just yet, but it is bound to make more than a few ears sing. The first project he worked on with The Autos, dubbed Dancehall Session, was a similar blend of authentic and modern sounds but was a more upbeat rhythm which the artiste said inspired a big music festival in Europe type of feel.
Royal Blu’s spirits are even higher since being named one of the reggae-dancehall acts on the line-up for BoomYard on the three-day music festival, California Vibrations (also known as Cali Vibes Fest), which will take place next month at Marina Green Park in Long Beach. He was to make his debut at the festival last year but was grounded due to documents not being ready. Cham, Demarco, Yaadcore, Yaksta, Runkus and Lila Iké are some of the other artistes who will perform on the BoomYard stage.
“I was looking forward to my first time in California, being on the festival, from last year, so that initial anxiety has passed. It’s just about preparation now for me, that is more mental than anything else. To prepare for being in a new environment, in front of fresh faces and to be aware of the space I’m going into,” he said.
“The Cali scene for reggae music is like a whole, unique ecosystem, almost as if they have their own genre, and to be identified as someone they want to integrate into it makes me feel good. I think my performance on this platform is going to do amazing things for my career. Adding to that, there are a lot of big names on the bill.”
Next to wanting to see some of those ‘big names’, like reggae star Damian ‘Jr Gong’ Marley and hip-hop mogul Snoop Dogg perform on the Cali Vibes stage, the up-and-coming artiste and songwriter is preparing to roll out the musical cannons for Cali Vibes Fest.
The Divine Timing artiste shared, “I’m looking forward to seeing Common Kings and potentially working with them and Snoop Dogg. The hip-hop icon’s Beautiful collab is my all-time favourite of his work because of the nostalgia he inspires and the overall production of it, including the video being shot in Brazil, which I loved. Personally, I feel like my whole life I’ve been recording; now it’s time to roll out the heavy artillery, as you call it, the songs I’ve been working on and just hit the stages.”
Reggae and dancehall are crucial components to the framework of the festival, which reportedly attracted an estimated 75,000 patrons to the venue.
“I’m not taken aback by that; me living out of a suitcase for a couple [of] days in a hotel room concerns me more because I’m the type of person who likes to organise and have my clothing laid out so I can visualise the look. Performing is second nature to me, even when I have not performed a song in a while. From the image to my performance, I’m going to make sure all the elements are aesthetically appealing, engaging and immersive,” Royal Blu said.