Capella Grey’s Dancehall-Flavored Hit ‘Gyalis’ Certified Platinum In The US
Capella Grey‘s Gyalis is now certified Platinum in the United States.
The single was certified on Wednesday (November 2) by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) after it reached the sales and streaming equivalent of 1,000,000 units sold in the US.
Grey, 27, who was born in New York to Jamaican parents, had also produced the track, which was released on January 4, 2021, via his own Allepac The Family imprint and Capitol Records.
Over Dancehall-infused melodies and a sample of Juvenile’s Back That Azz Up (1998), Grey croons in the track about how hard it is to stick to one female and remember all their names.
During the Summer of 2021, the tune received an official music video (now at 20 million views on YouTube) as it rose through the ranks on both the radio and other streaming platforms.
It eventually peaked at No. 38 on the Billboard Hot 100 in mid-October 2021, following the release of the first official remix with Dancehall deejay Popcaan and Chris Brown earlier that month. Billboard reported that since the original version provided the majority of the song’s chart activity, neither Brown nor Popcaan was listed on the song’s chart billing.
There was a string of unofficial remixes released by several artists, including A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie, French Montana, Tory Lanez, and even Dancehall stars Jada Kingdom and Kranium.
In May 2022, he teamed with Have Mercy singer Chloe Bailey for an official “shemix”.
Grey told Billboard that the unconventional structure of the original song, which was less than two minutes long, just felt right.
“I was in L.A. at the time. I made the beat and got in the booth real quick, and after I recorded on it, I added a little more to the beat and then recorded on it some more and mixed it on my laptop. It just popped in my head, it wasn’t too much of a buildup or anything like that. When the “Back That Azz Up” sample plays in the club, it’s a big moment. Turning that into a whole uptown type of feel, I felt like that really shook the room. Once I got the inspiration for it, I just went for it,” he said.
“When I make music, I try to just do what feels good. Once I’m done on [a] topic, I’m out.”
He continued: “With Gyalis, there’s no hook, no bridge, no verse, no nothing, just vibes. It’s just a series of moments — I kind of produce like a DJ. Some people’s favorite part is the two and a half bars where I was rapping. Then it switched into this Caribbean vibe. The lingo switches to whatever. It just sounds like uptown. There are no rules to it.”
In August 2022, Grey joined Karlie Redd and Queen of Dancehall Spice on the track Werk.