Countdown To ‘TEN’: 7 Questions With The Queen Of Dancehall Spice
Spice’s debut album TEN drops this summer, and if her new song and video Go Down Deh is any indication, her fanbase can look forward to an insane production.
Details are scarce except for the July 30 release date but No Worries, here are seven questions with the ‘Queen inna di pack.’
1. Why TEN?
“I decided to call it TEN so it will mark the events of the last decade. My fans have been waiting for a decade, I know they’re eager and I’m eager to give them this good music as well. They’ve seen the struggle and now they’re gonna be with me in the winnings,” the Queen of Dancehall told DancehallMag.
Spice’s new single Go Down Deh, with Shaggy and Sean Paul, is a true chartbuster, debuting at No. 1 on the US Reggae iTunes chart last weekend, and sitting pretty at No. 2 in both Canada and the UK. The visual treatment also brought the Queen back to her Youtube record-breaking turf following the viral campaign of 2018’s Black Hypocrisy (1M Youtube views in 24hrs). She now shares the crown with Koffee, the first reggae artist to clock 1M YouTube views in 48 hours with 2020’s Lockdown. Go Down Deh hit No. 1 on Trending within 24 hours of its release and racked up 1M Youtube views in 48 hours.
2. Where does she find the energy
Also dubbed the Queen of Stage, Spice says the secret to her incredible stamina is a good night’s sleep. “How yuh full ah chat an cyaan keep up wid mi energy?” she spits on the new Shaggy/Sean Paul collab and DancehallMag asked how she stays so energetic.
“Ah mussi sleeping cause that’s the only thing I love to do”, Spice said laughing. “Some people may drink, smoke a blunt, people try different things but mine comes naturally to me. I think it’s also something that my fans love and appreciate when it comes to my performances.”
The Queen celebrated her hypnotic new single with an Egyptian-themed release party on Friday.
3. The Itsy Bitsy deejay has big screen dreams.
One of Spice’s dreams is to star in a Tyler Perry production. Following Grace Hamilton’s cameo in the new Pay For It video, we asked Spice if more acting gigs (she already starred in her first feature film as Candy in 2014’s Destiny) were on her list of future plans.
“You know it’s my dream, I’ve always said that I want to work with Tyler Perry,” Spice said. “Just because I know that he casts a lot of Black women in movies. And my fans know that I’m an actress as well, always pulling off some stunt, the way I talk to them, even while I’m on stage as well. It’s something that I’m passionate about, and so you never know.”
4. How did she reconcile with VP?
Spice credits Shaggy for being a key mediator between herself and VP Records, stepping in amidst their rocky history so she could finally start the recording process.
“He got me and VP records back on track. Everybody knows the story of us not seeing eye to eye for the past ten years, so Shaggy was the one who came in the middle and said ‘Ok, I will be the producer for the project, let me get this together’. I have to give thanks to Shaggy for making this happen for me,” she told DanchehallMag.
5. Old school vs modern dancehall riddims?
Old school, of course. Spice handles any beat like a boss, from Romantic Mood’s nod to the 90’s to the synthy effects on hits like Back Way. She confessed that old-school hardcore dancehall is where her “passion comes from” and recalled how she cut her teeth on Kingston’s sound systems.
“I’m a versatile artist, I like both I must say, but I prefer the old school. A lot of people don’t know that I started doing dancehall music when I was 14/15 years old so that’s where I learned to deejay. I was a young girl and that’s how I grasped the deejay craft, the raw dancehall riddims. That’s definitely my favourite, real authentic dancehall music and riddims.”
6. Any other Caribbean sounds on the album?
Spice has too many songs to choose from for her long-awaited LP. We heard her shout out on Go Down Deh – “Caribbean gyal dem ever clean an refined,” so we asked the Queen if the album included any soca tracks like her previous Destra Garcia (Trouble) and Bunji Garlin (Indicator Remix) link-ups.
“That’s a secret for now,” Spice quipped. “We’re still selecting songs cause it’s so much to choose from. I’m not sure which ones are going to make the album so I don’t want to say as yet.”
7. Working With Shaggy
Spice wowed Ranch Ent. CEO and TEN’s executive producer, Shaggy with her delivery, how quickly she was able to lay down certain tracks and how lyrical she was. Next year makes 30 years since Shaggy entered the industry, but he was still blown away by Spice’s raw talent when they started recording.
“He was like, no my girl yuh can spit lyrics, yuh bad!” Spice said. She added that although they’ve known each other for years, she really proved herself in those initial grueling studio sessions, where they were “in the studio for days putting art and creativeness together.”