Anju Blaxx lands int’l production with Sam Smith

Grammy Award-winning producer and Blackstate record label principal Andrew 'Anju Blaxx' Myrie has landed another major production.

He is the musical mastermind behind the latest Sam Smith track, featuring Canadian singer-songwriter Jessie Reyez and reggae rising star Koffee.

The song Gimme has an authentically 90s dancehall sound with a UK R&B or first-world-type melody combination, shared the producer.

"It is undeniably dancehall," said Anju Blaxx of the song, which was released on Wednesday, January 11, and will appear on Sam Smith's anticipated album Gloria. Anju Blaxx believes it brings a rare momentum to dancehall culture.

He said, "We can't complain that dancehall is not going anywhere. It is visible. It is happening. And with this song having the original dancehall sound, the 'boop boop' drums and bass, it is different from what persons expect from Sam Smith."

Anju Blaxx was connected to Stargate, the prolific record producing and songwriting duo consisting of Tor Hermansen and Mikkel Eriksen, through engineer-producer Timothy 'Quik Keyz' Kahwa, and later received the opportunity to create a rhythm around an idea they already had.

"Quik Keyz works with Jon Baker and GeeJam Studios. He and I both attended Full Sail University in the US. He made that connection early 2022, and when they presented the demo with Jessie Reyez, a one melody and vocals, I worked quickly to create a drum and groove around it," he said. "I was inspired [so] I probably worked on it in an hour or two, and they were in awe and clearly more interested to do more work because of how punctual I was. They are very professional and top-quality producers. This is opening more doors for Jamaicans, both producers and artistes."

He said he has been doing a lot more work with Stargate and there is more to come. Stargate earned their first Hot 100 number one single with Ne-Yo's So Sick in 2006. They have worked with an extensive list of stars including Michael Jackson, Mariah Carey and Coldplay and have been a driving force behind some of Sam Smith's best work like Dancing with a Stranger.

Gimme had gained a lot of traction prior to its release as Sam Smith made bold and outrageous posts teasing the track via social media platforms. The multiplatinum-selling, award-winning soul singer, who is non-binary, modelled to the song in a T-shirt dress and fishnets in one of the visuals.

"I have not met Sam Smith in person, but nobody can judge me for who I work with or work on productions for. I do music to do music. Music has no face or gender. There is also no timing to music. That's my approach and I'm making music with the intention to leave my mark on whatever project my creativity is put into," Anju Blaxx said.