Outer Banks’ Carlacia Grant Says She Listens To Rihanna, Shenseea & Skillibeng To Get Into Her Caribbean Character Cleo
American actress Carlacia Grant says she listens to Jamaican artists Shenseea and Skillibeng, Bajan superstar Rihanna and Ducking singer Fadda Fox to mentally prepare for her Bahamian character Cleo in the popular Netflix drama Outer Banks.
Speaking with Netflix’s Strong Black Lead, Grant described her character’s persona and the accent as “fun.”
“Cleo’s accent. Once I got into it, I was like, ‘oh this is fun.’ Every morning, to prepare for the character, I listen to like a lot of Reggae music. Shenseea, Fadda Fox, Skillibeng, Rihanna…I listen to that and kinda like, gets me in like, her zone,” said 32-year-old Grant, who is of Haitian and Jamaican heritage.
Outer Banks, an action-adventure teen drama series created by Josh and Jonas Pate and Shannon Burke, premiered on Netflix on April 15, 2020. The series is set in a community in the Outer Banks of North Carolina and follows the conflict between two groups of teenagers in the community. Season three of the series, which premiered on February 23, 2023, will take viewers to various locations, including Charleston, South Carolina, and the islands of Guadeloupe, St. Kitts, and Barbados.
The soundtrack for this season will feature several Jamaican songs including Dawn Penn’s You Don’t Love Me (No No No) (1994), Damian ‘Jr. Gong’ Marley’s Welcome To Jamrock (2005), and ska group The Paragons’ When The Lights Are Low and The Tide Is High, which were both released in 1967.
Grant, who joined the series in Season two, has had previous stints in Game of Science, Greenleaf, and The Resident.
Shenseea and Skillibeng are undoubtedly two of the most talked about Jamaican artists today. Last year, the duo dropped Rain along with a lyric video courtesy of ‘B The Visionary’ on July 29, 2022 and with rap beats from ATL Jacob. The official video has racked up over 3.4 million views on YouTube.
The Esyde deejay is gearing up to go on tour with Nigerians WizKid and Ruger starting March 11, while the Shenyeng princess appeared in Trinidad earlier this week alongside Tarrus Riley.
Rihanna, who celebrated her 35th birthday last week, has dabbled in Dancehall and Reggae music over the years, including songs like Pon de Replay, Work with Drake, You Don’t Love Me with Vybz Kartel, Man Down, and Break It Off with Sean Paul.
She hasn’t put out a body of work since 2016, but reportedly wants to release a new album, “this year.”
“Like, honestly, it’d be ridiculous if it’s not this year,” she told British Vogue.
Meanwhile, Bajan singer Fadda Fox, real name Nicholas Joel Sealy, is known for his songs Ducking, Staggerah, and Drinks.
