Malie Donn was sitting alone in his living room, his baby mother pregnant in the next room, when he recorded “V6,” the song that would eventually go viral across TikTok and introduce the world to one of dancehall’s most promising new voices. He had already written the hook on his notes app during a drive from Portmore to Ocho Rios, dropped it in casually, and did not think much of it. The song sat unreleased for a while before fans started pressuring him to put it out.
That kind of low-key confidence is a thread running through everything Malie Donn, born Kymalie Hylton, does. The 25-year-old from the Waterford neighborhood of Portmore, Jamaica, is now gearing up to release his 20-track debut studio album, The Golden Child, on September 4 via VP Records. It is a project he says he never rushed, pulling from recordings made across two years, swapping songs in and out until the sequencing felt right.
Portmore has produced some of dancehall’s most recognizable names, and Donn grew up watching that happen in real time. Vybz Kartel, Masicka, Popcaan, and Blak Ryno all came out of that same environment, and Donn says Kartel’s music was literally playing in his house growing up. “As a yute growing up in that era, Kartel played a big part in my views on music and how I go about making it,” he told Billboard.
Before music took over, Donn was a collegiate track and field athlete. After deciding to walk away from that path, he spent the early 2020s building a catalog of standalone singles, scoring early local traction with “Hennergy” and “Crook” in 2022. Then “V6” arrived in February 2023, and by the time summer ended, he had both a breakthrough hit and a legal ordeal behind him, having been detained in Barbados on allegations of sexual assault that were ultimately dismissed.
The Golden Child features collaborators including Byron Messia, who has charted on the Billboard Hot 100, veteran Jamaican producer DJ Frass, who helped produce Morgan Heritage’s 2016 Grammy-winning album Strictly Roots, and dancehall artist Squash, who is also nominated at the Caribbean Music Awards this year. The title track with Squash was the first song Donn knew had to be on the album. “The title has a sentimental meaning to me, because I believe it represents the struggles I’ve faced on the journey I’ve been on,” he said. “I’ve been tested because I’m one of the greats. And great man always get a fight, right?”
Donn is deliberate about how he picks what he records over. He only works with riddims that get him moving immediately, describing his approach as becoming “one with the music.” If the beat and his energy are not compatible, he walks away from it. That selectiveness has not slowed his output, with over 36.7 million official on-demand U.S. streams logged in 2026 alone according to Luminate.
The album was originally scheduled for July but got pushed to September to allow more time for promotion. Donn has been keeping busy with a heavy show schedule, which has left less room for press runs. Six music videos are already shot, with filming locations spread across Punta Cana, Santo Domingo, and Jamaica, a deliberate choice to match different visual moods to different songs.
His 2024 EP The Grand Rising taught him something he carries into this album cycle. The expected hit from that project was “Don Julio,” but it was “7:00PM,” the one nobody had on their radar, that became the smash. He says he no longer underestimates any song in his catalog. “The possibilities are endless when it comes to music,” he said.
Donn won best new dancehall artist at the Caribbean Music Awards in 2025 and only found out after the fact, admitting he had talked himself into thinking nobody had voted for him. The trophy arrived later at the VP Records offices. Now he is nominated for the Dancehall Impact award at this year’s ceremony, a step up in category that reflects how quickly his profile has shifted.
He describes his sound as “highway music” that is getting bolder, saying he holds nothing back lyrically and that fans respond to that openness more than to anything polished or restrained. His dream collaborator is Rihanna, and his studio requirements are specific: high energy in the room, no one bringing down the vibe, something to drink, something to smoke, water, and maybe some noodles. The Golden Child drops September 4, and Donn sounds like someone who has been ready for this moment for a while, even if the rest of the world is just catching up.
