Koffee Reveals The Lessons She Has Learned From The Pandemic
Koffee is a household name in Jamaica after becoming the youngest to ever win the Best Reggae Album award at last year’s Grammys. The singer, whose real name is Mikayla Simpson, has continued to pursue her craft diligently and keeps finding the winning formula with her music. Even the current coronavirus pandemic couldn’t hold her down as she recently gave fans the mega-hit Lockdown.
The Toast singer was also recently featured on former US president Barrack Obama’s Summer Playlist, for the second time in two consecutive years, which is a great honor considering the quality of musicians that usually make it on to that list. She made the list this year for her collaboration with American singer John Legend titled Don’t Walk Away.
The Jamaica Observer caught up with the female sensation at the Fig Tree Deck of the reopened Stush in the Bush. They spoke with her a little before she got on a flight to the United Kingdom for a shoot.
Koffee first addressed what she thought about the current coronavirus pandemic and the lessons that she’s learned from the chaos that it’s caused so far. “This pandemic has taught me that self-care/self-reflection is necessary and is essential to healing, joy, and success,” she told Style Observer.
She added that the closing of the borders helped her to find a new focus and approach to her career. Many Jamaican artistes have had to find new ways to ply their trade, and she is no exception.
“I think I was able to find peace in a new reality and embrace my potential to change my course of action.”
On Lockdown, which has an astounding 12 million-plus views, Koffee explained that she didn’t feel any pressure to create the song but rather that it came naturally to her.
“The lyrics for Lockdown came very naturally to me as did the ideas for the video, and my team and I were able to bring everything to fruition and produce this bop with no pressure whatsoever!”
Lockdown was followed two weeks later with the official release of Pressure, which implores strength to mitigate the pressure caused by everyday stresses like the pandemic.
She also spoke about turning 20 this year on February 16 and revealed that she hasn’t quite figured out yet what it means to transition into being a young adult. She did have some advice for her teenage self, though, which was to: “do your thing.”
For someone as popular and successful as Koffee, it’s always interesting to find out what they do to relax, and the young songstress has a simple enough method.
“I unwind by listening to my favorite music, being in nature, and sometimes going to the beach,” she said. Her favorite artiste these days is Popcaan, who made a cameo appearance in the video for Lockdown and recently released his FIXTAPE album.
Not surprisingly, she also revealed that her favorite parish in Jamaica is St Catherine, where she “was born and raised.” What was surprising, though, was her favorite pastime when no one is around her, and that is to: “read up on zodiac signs!”
Her strong bond with her mother, Jo-Anne Williams, who is also affectionately called the Koffee Maker, is also common knowledge to fans and so it also came as little surprise that Koffee’s favorite food is her mom’s cooking.
As the world continues to battle, the coronavirus pandemic Koffee had one simple wish for the rest of 2020, and that was “peace and happiness for all.”