Tarrus Riley & Shenseea’s ‘Lighter’ Tops iTunes Charts, Romeich Eyes Billboard
Lighter has been blazing up the playlists with over 5 million views on YouTube and the No. 1 spot on several regional iTunes Reggae charts! The chemistry-filled track is a Rvssian-produced collaboration between Reggae singer Tarrus Riley and Dancehall princess Shenseea which was released on August 28. The song appears on Riley’s 12 track album, Healing.
After initial criticism that the Blessed singer used autotune to enhance her infectious vocals on Lighter, Shenseea, in an effort to prove fans wrong, posted a minute-long clip where she hit the notes of the song flawlessly. It was then that she challenged her fans to share their renditions of the song with the #LighterChallenge hashtag. “Calling all a mi singers dem, hit this note, post it on Instagram and tag me so I can repost you guys,” she said.
This saw many Jamaican fans and even some artistes, including Protoje, Wayne Marshall and Tami Chin, participating in the challenge.
The song has had everyone firing up their lighter but wishing Xtreme Arts produced video, released on September 6, was longer.
In addition, to racking up almost 6 million views in 10 days, the song has been atop of the iTunes Reggae Song chart in Jamaica and several Caribbean territories, including “Cayman, Dominica, Belize, British Virgin Islands, Grenada, Antigua, and Barbados” as noted by Shenseea in a celebratory Instagram post yesterday.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CFLPYmoBCk7/
Riley, too, has been celebrating the success of the track by sharing several of the fan-made entries in the #LighterChallenge on his Instagram page.
Shenseea’s manager, Romeich Major, sees potential for the song to be an international hit and perhaps even snatching a spot on the Billboard charts.
“I see it being the next big international crossver song. We see it and hear it, and it a go happen because we affi put it out inna the universe. And we a go do weh we need fi do fi make it reach a Billboard man,” he told the STAR today in an interview.
Major also praised Shenseea’s marketing genius in coming up with the #LighterChallenge. “She know weh she a do when she a dweet and she have timing lock and so mi affi gi she props pan the whole challenge idea. Mi only see it take off and we never expect that none at all. The only thing me ever see pan Instagram big like that a when dem say black lives matter. Mi nah go round nuh corner,” he said.
“A thousands a people enter the challenge. It’s ridiculous but it’s fun too because some people weh me see a sing, dem lighta outta gas but the vibes just nice,” he added.
“That song is really a team effort. All of us together made it happen because from we hear it and hear the delivery of it, we know it did a go win. (Noted producer) Rvssian build the bad riddim, Shen and Tarrus deliver the bad song and Romeich Entertainment take it and a take over the campaigning and the promotion and the people take it over naturally and loving it,” Major, who also manages TeeJay and Ding Dong, added.