Koffee Working On New Album, Still Surprised By Continued Success

As much as she embodies her iconic Toast lyric, “gratitude is a must,” Grammy star Koffee is still blown away by her meteoric success. During a recent interview with Vibe Magazine, she kept it real about being a high school “bum” whose poor grades closed the doors for a sixth form education but opened those to musical stardom.

“Mi always seh how dat stuff is so crazy,” Koffee started. “When people ask, ‘how do I do it?’ mi just haffi seh God because I don’t even see it before it happens – I never ever see it. I never saw Toast; I was scared about Toast, mi think people never did a go like it. Lockdown was just a regular tune…and it just always works. That’s how mi know mi have a purpose and mi just always try fi keep it positive and mek sure people can also benefit from what I do for a living.”

Released two weeks ago, Lockdown stands as the number one trending music video in the region on YouTube, with more than six million people having watched Koffee deliver her first visuals for a love song, which features countryside vibes, drop top whips and Popcaan’s Unruly gang.

While Koffee refrained from revealing the love interest of the vulnerable lyrics, she said, “That song is so real, I meant that sh*t.”

She also shared how the disruptions caused by COVID-19 led to the track, which was produced by Dane Ray.

“Poppy (Popcaan) has a studio, I started going by his studio to record some new stuff in the meantime while everything is kinda shut down and there I met a producer named Dane Ray…” she said. “Mi set a link there and Dane Ray play mi a track which was Lockdown instrumental and mi just decide inna di moment let’s just write some lyrics to it, some nice melodies that I’m feeling… Probably a week after that mi listen to the song again and say I really like this. Mi just call mi manager, say I want to do the video and this is what I want in it…and we got it done and released it… We never think it woulda reach this fast…this is so crazy right now.”

To satiate those missing the one-drop reggae Koffee, the artiste released Pressure on Thursday, and is also working on an album to be released early next year, or when she is able to travel and promote the project.

“I am doing a little camp right now, that’s just me and some musicians and producers and a few artistes. We just a build a vibes, seeing where that vibe takes us, and hopefully we create magic. The biggest thing for me right now is this album. Of course, I’ll be releasing singles in-between to kinda keep the pace a little, but the album is really where my focus is right now,” she told the Jamaica STAR after her performance at A Taste of Sumfest.

Though she was tight-lipped about the new album details with VIBE, she did reflect on winning the Grammy-award for her Rapture EP in January.

“It was amazing for me being able to be there and represent Jamaica…” she said. “To be real, nobody knew me at the ceremony. As you know, the reggae category and some other categories are separated from big categories like rap so we’re not in the big ceremony, so my part was over the little side and not a lot of people knew me but it felt good going up on the stage and collecting something on behalf of Jamaica and on behalf of reggae… Mi nuh think anything can compare to that.”

Despite her growing success, opportunities, and income, the 20-year-old said she is yet to make a big splurge and is content with a few diamond and gold earrings, chains, and rings. She also recognizes her growing support and said she hasn’t faced disadvantages being a female in a frequently ‘male-dominated’ described music industry.

“Looking back from the start of my journey, Cocoa Tea brought me out on stage, Chronixx invited me on his BBC 1Xtra and that basically buss mi inna di UK overall… Protoje came out for my biggest music video, Toast… Coming forward now Popcaan forward inna the video and him bring out all of him friends… I’ve received so much support, mi cya complain.”

Incarcerated deejay Vybz Kartel has also shown his endorsement of Koffee on social media. The W hitmaker shared her favorite Kartel joints.

“Mi woulda seh the Kartel era, the 2014 songs. Him woulda drop like songs like High, one bout veranda and bunny (Pretty Little Bunny), House A Bun Down, dem 2014 Kartel songs deh were my jam.”