Complex Ricki was not trying to go viral. She was rehearsing for upcoming shows, working with her vocal coach, and experimenting with covers she could slip between songs in her set, when she decided to share a clip of herself singing Sizzla’s “Give Me a Try” online.
The video took off anyway. It racked up close to 100,000 views across TikTok and Instagram, with users reposting it and borrowing Ricki’s vocals as the soundtrack for their own reels, the kind of organic spread that no marketing budget can reliably manufacture.
Ricki says the reaction genuinely caught her off guard. “I just wanted to show a bit of my process because I was working with my vocal coach, and it turns out everyone liked it,” she said. “I wasn’t really expecting anything from it, but I love the support I’m getting.”
What makes the moment feel layered is that this is not the first time “Give Me a Try” has opened a door for her. A previous Instagram performance of the same song reportedly caught Sizzla’s attention directly, with the veteran artist reposting her rendition to his own page, a co-sign that carries real weight in reggae circles.
Her relationship with the song stretches back to her childhood. Ricki was born in Jamaica and grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, where both Sizzla’s original and Rihanna’s version of the track formed part of her early musical memory. Sizzla was one of the Jamaican voices she credits with shaping how she developed as an artist, which gives the current moment a certain personal weight beyond the view count.
The attention has moved past social media metrics in a real way. Ricki says her follower count and streaming numbers have climbed since the clip spread, and her inbox has started filling up with messages from people in the industry. I’ve had labels reach out, producers and artistes have also reached out, and I just see more and more people paying attention, especially internationally,” she said.
A few of those messages have come from artists she actually admires, which she describes as a separate kind of validation from the general public response. That distinction matters to her, and so does the specific thing audiences have latched onto.
“What I love about this moment is the fact that people are actually supporting my natural, raw voice,” she said. In an era where production can smooth over almost anything, a stripped-back rehearsal clip cutting through the noise is a genuinely telling sign of what listeners are hungry for right now.
Ricki’s sound does not fit neatly into one category, which is partly by design. She moves between R&B, reggae, dancehall, trap and Afro-fusion, a blend she traces back to a life split between Jamaica and the United States. That hybrid identity is what she is now hoping to translate into a sustained audience rather than a single viral spike.
She is currently rolling out a reggae EP and has a new single called “Too Sweet” slated for release next month. Collaborations and music videos are also in the pipeline, and she has an upcoming performance on the calendar.
The industry has noticed her at exactly the moment she is building toward something, and the next few months will show whether the momentum holds.
