REVIEW OF THE ALBUM ‘GIFTED’ BY KOFFEE

 

REVIEW OF THE ALBUM ‘GIFTED’ BY KOFFEE

When it comes to music, I’m very picky. If I am opportuned to have your number saved on my phone, you’ll have to join the multitude of people on my whatsapp contact list who I allow to feel the kind of music I listen to. My taste of music is quite versatile; and I have a handful of genres that tickle my musical buds.

One of these genres is Reggae, and today I would love to talk about the youngest reggae prodigy from Jamaica, Koffee.

Mikayla Simpson, popularly known by her stage name Koffee is a 22 year old Jamaican deejay, guitarist, and singer. She first broke through the internet when her tribute to Usain Bolt was reposted by him on his instagram page.

She went global after she released her song ‘toast’, from her debut EP ‘rapture’, the song was so sensational that it caught the attention of multitudes, and it spread across the world. Personally for me I like to think of toast as the gratitude anthem.

At first Koffee seemed like a passive artist to me, until 2020 when I heard her single ‘W’ which she featured popular American rapper Gunna. I enjoyed the rhythm of the song and I was prompted to look up the lyrics and the meaning too, because most times she sings in Jamaican Creole.

After her debut Ep, she spent her time releasing singles once in a blue moon. Her fans kept begging for an album and finally she gave them the album ‘Gifted’ on the 25th of March 2022.

Gifted is an album you would want to listen to at anytime and any day, it has a load full of melodies and rhythms that go in place. My best song so far, apart from the singles she released before the album is ‘where I’m from’.

 I like Koffee because most of her songs point solely towards gratitude, and if you’ve listened to ‘Gifted’ I’m sure you can attest to this. .

 ‘x10’ this particular song is centred on her being grateful to God “I’m glad I woke up today......Thank you father for blessing me times ten” she says. She went on to thank her mum for supporting her. It is fully packed with Caribbean melodic beat.

‘Defend’ is an interlude that talks about the situation of things in Jamaica, the insecurities and inflation and how it affects the citizens.

‘Shine’ is the fourth single from her album; it has this calm melodic beat. It serves as words of encouragement to everyone who has a thing they are keen about. “You’ve got to shine” she says.

‘Gifted’, everything about this album is centred on this song, she made mention of the fact that she has life and she is blessed, and she truly is. "I'm winning" she says, and further mentions the fact that it was all part of her mother's prediction.

‘Lonely’, this song right here has a fascinating combination, it comprises a blend of both modern and old school reggae, it is also calm and soothing. "Would you rather be lonely?" She asks, after stating the fact that it is hard to trust, but then being lonely is worse.

‘Run away’ is great too, and the beat is superb. "I wouldn't switch you for no loose change, Slide wid me, you be my boo ting".The song is great but no one really knows where she is headed with this, who or what she is referring to. Because Koffee has never openly declared a love interest in anyone.

 ‘Where I’m from’, the title should tell you what it is all about already. She made mention of her home town, Spanish town, and some other artists who played a part in her break through. She also referred to herself as an archangel.

‘West Indies’ was her second single, west indies is a party vibe. The beat is so excellent and quite captivating.

‘Pull up’, this is her third single, it is also a party vibe like West Indies. She went as far as mentioning a couple of expensive stuff she has been able to purchase, which is quite fascinating. We all know she was just a little girl riding a bicycle in toast and now she has a couple of expensive rides. "Pull up Inna the rari.... Pull up inna the Audi.....but me have the benz".

‘Lock down’, this was her first single after a year. “Where will we go? When the quarantine ting done and everybody touch road?” The song was inspired by the pandemic and it was a onetime something, she didn’t go over it before releasing it and it still made waves.

Starting from the first song ‘x10’ to the last ‘lockdown’, everything basically talks about gratitude and it’s safe to say she sings conscious music too

Koffee really is the ‘pickiny a di century’ as she said in her song ‘rapture’, because at such a young age she has been able to make a solid name and has maintained her stance as the princess of modern reggae, which is really inspiring.