Tarrus Riley’s ‘She’s Royal’ Certified Silver In The UK
Reggae singer Tarrus Riley‘s 2006 hit She’s Royal has been certified Silver in the United Kingdom 18 years after its release.
According to the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), the song was issued the Brit Certified Silver Award on Friday (February 16) after selling over 200,000 units in the UK, as measured by The Official Charts Company.
It’s Riley’s first song as a lead artist to be certified in the country. Powerful, his 2015 collaboration with Major Lazer and Ellie Goulding, was certified Silver in the UK back in 2021.
She’s Royal was produced by legendary saxophonist Dean Fraser for Riley’s Parables album on VP Records.
“[The song] came about as a self-esteem booster. At the time, I knew some girls who needed a confidence boost. I wanted women to feel confident about themselves,” Riley had told the Jamaica Observer.
In another interview, he disclosed that She’s Royal was a “reality song.”
“I wrote the song just to let women feel nice,” he told unitedreggae.com. “Because… we must talk ‘bout slavery [and] a lot of conditioning from slavery still resonates today and the women still lack self-esteem. They need some music to make them feel good so I thought ‘Let me sing a song to big up the girls and say she’s a queen and she’s royal.”
The singer also revealed that his identity as a Rastafarian factored into the song’s creation: “As a Rasta you have to look to yourself as kings and princes, and because a prince must have a princess and a king have a queen… this is a song that makes the woman feel nice. Because if a woman feels nice, the youth feel nice.”
The song almost had a different name – a story Riley shared with the Sunday Gleaner. While waiting out hurricane Emily back in 2005 at a friend’s house, the singer, who also bears the nickname ‘Singy Singy’, shared an early version of the song’s chorus with his friend, and revealed his initial name for the song – She’s Got It’
“She’s got what?” the friend asked him. According to Riley, the question drove him to consider what he actually wanted to say. “We want the woman queen up and look up. We want them be positive,” he responded. That’s when it hit him. “Alright, ‘She’s Royal’.”
The song was tweaked to reflect the sentiments of the newfound title, and Riley ultimately moved forward with the version music lovers have come to know and love today.
She’s Royal is Riley’s most streamed song on Spotify, currently at 38 million plays. It is followed by Superman, at 22 million plays, and Lighter with Shenseea, at 19 million plays.
The music video for the song, which crossed 100 million views on YouTube in July last year, featured Riley serenading his Caribbean Queen and was directed by Rupert Campbell and Richard Delapenha.