Koffee’s “Toast” is about gratitude. In the song she gives thanks for her rise in music and raises a toast to the people who helped her get there. Koffee has said the toast meaning is right there in the words.
The thing about the song ‘Toast’ is that the meaning is actually included in the lyrics so it’s basically what I was feeling. I said exactly what I felt at the time.” She gave that explanation in a 2019 interview with CaribVoxx.
The Story Behind the Song
In a July 2019 Billboard feature, Koffee said she wrote “Toast” during a visit to Haiti in 2018 where she reflected on her burgeoning success.
She tied the trip to a childhood memory: “I was in the fourth grade when the earthquake hit Haiti (in 2010) and hearing about the devastation was very powerful for us as children.”
She also said that “Visiting Haiti years later was surreal for me; I was thinking about how far I have come in music, was feeling very grateful and just giving thanks.”
She described what the song looks back on: “So ‘Toast’ speaks about the moment in high school when my life changed when I started writing lyrics; the passion that I wrote the song with is what’s translating to other people.”
Toast” was produced by Izybeats and Major Lazer’s Walshy Fire. Story of Song credits Koffee as the writer and says the music video was directed by Xavier Damase and uploaded to Koffee’s YouTube channel on 16 November 2018.
A 2026 Caribbean e-Magazine report also notes that Spotify lists the single’s release in November 2018. CaribVoxx wrote in 2019 that the song blew up at the end of 2018.
The track later appeared on her debut EP, Rapture. Wikipedia gives its release date as 14 March 2019 through Promised Land Recordings and Columbia Records.
NPR, writing in 2022, said that Koffee by February had dropped her debut EP, Rapture, so sources disagree on the month.
The Lyrics Explained
The song is built on humility. Reviewing it for The Singles Jukebox in 2019, Vikram Joseph said the lyrics are steeped in religion, but uncomplicatedly so, using it as a medium to express humility and gratitude for her success.
In the chorus, Koffee thanks God for the journey, treats money as a bonus rather than the goal, and says gratitude is essential. Billboard described these lines as an anthem of appreciation for life’s blessings.
The title comes from a line in which Koffee raises a toast to the friends who eased her burdens. The verses look back on bored days in class, a friend named Oli telling her to get going, and her decision in third form (a year of Jamaican high school) to try making music. These details match her account of her life changing in high school once she started writing.
Koffee also says she now performs alongside Chronixx, and she describes a friendly message from an artist she calls Diggy and Proto.
Both are known aliases of Protoje. Reggae Translate’s English version reads the line as even Diggy will be calling soon. The references matter because she began writing lyrics inspired by listening to reggae singer Protoje.
In a 2022 Mixmag interview she said, “I would say Proteje is my biggest musical influence, even today.” Her first video for ‘Toast’ featured Protoje and Chronixx.
Reception and Milestones
The song reached well beyond Jamaica in 2019. It was featured in the 2019 American horror film “Us”, which was written and directed by Jordan Peele.
In August 2019, Barack Obama’s summer playlist included it: the list, which includes 44 songs, saw Koffee’s Toast coming in at number 28. The song won the Single of the Year Award from the Jamaica Music Industry Association.
“Toast” became Koffee’s first charting single, reaching No. 70 on the UK Singles Chart and No. 47 on Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart in the United States in 2019. Story of Song’s page says the track did not chart, which conflicts with these later reports.
Rapture won the Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards, making Koffee both the first female and youngest artist (at 19 years old) to win the award. NPR dates the win to Jan. 26, 2020.
“Toast” was previously certified Gold in Canada and earned Platinum status in the United Kingdom in 2023 after surpassing 600,000 units.
In September 2026, France’s SNEP certified it gold after it accumulated more than 15 million streams in the country.
Reports disagree on the exact day. Kaboom Mag says the certification was awarded on Thursday, September 3, while Bytes Europe gives Monday, September 8, 2026.
Streaming totals have grown over time. NPR reported in March 2022 that the song has earned more than 122 million streams on Spotify.
A September 2026 report put it at more than 291 million views on YouTube and over 233 million streams on Spotify.
