A’mari shares the pain that created ‘Dutty Bungle’

An opera-infused, theatrical drama is the latest offering from A'mari DJ Mona Lisa, and fans are so loving it that the memes have appeared even before the track is officially released.

"The song hasn't even been mixed yet and it is viral. People are saying that it is going to be a bigger hit than Neko. With Neko, I got to understand success, and it is great that it is this song which has taken off. From a bad thing has come a beautiful thing. It is God's way of saying 'It is okay, my love'," A'mari said of the single Dutty Bungle, which she gave fans a taste of last weekend, complete with a dramatic, in-studio performance that "buss di place". She explained that Dutty Bungle was written out of deep pain.

"I left Africa for the US feeling spiritually cleansed, but the entertainment people were ready to attack me the minute I landed. The first interview I did went well, and then the same interviewer called me back and said a detractor was calling up my name. So I hurriedly went online. As it turned out it was all a set-up to bring me down," A'mari told THE WEEKEND STAR.

She noted that the same blogger then used his show to criticise her and noted that many of his supporters were women.

"This person went online and body-shamed me, telling people that A'mari is ugly, A'mari arms are floppy and he wouldn't want to be with me. It was really hurtful," she recalled of the incident three months ago. Out of this pain, A'mari wrote I Rise, which was renamed Dutty Bungle.

"The dutty bungle are the women who were trying to put me down. He had an entire show with a bag a woman and they all came on with 'A'mari got 13 kids' and bashing my body and my wigs. Africa gave me the confidence to be an empress and not to apologise for having 13 kids. How many women have 13 kids and are still pursuing their dreams?" she said. "I am saying to those women, rise from putting down a fellow Jamaican who is on a health journey and who just lost 100 pounds. My mother died in her sleep, she had sleep apnea and was overweight just like me. I prefer floppy hands to dying in my sleep."