Jada Kingdom looking to ‘switch it up’ on local stages

Dancehall heavy-hitter Jada Kingdom spent a lot of her childhood putting emotions down with a pen.

Years later, the writing talent has transcended into her recording songs which have catapulted her into the spotlight on the local and international scene, the latter seeing more of her lately.

Known to pull the occasional disappearing act from social media, she has managed to maintain an air of mystery and continuously sparks curiosity among her fans. She has also been more absent than present on local stages, but, in a recent interview with THE WEEKEND STAR, Jada Kingdom revealed that "I'm around and I'm ready" but that it all depends on her compensation.

"It depends on my country. The promoters have to book me and them know where to find me. I'd love to," she said, adding that, for her latest booking on West Igloo: Euphoria, "dem [the promoters] come proppa."

The Heavy artiste-songwriter continued, "At the end of the day, if dem cyaa take care ah wah dem supposed to take care ah, it's just a big no. You have to set certain standards, that's how I grow, and Spice, she teach me that, say yeah ... dem haffi come good."

Jada Kingdom also plans to 'come good', as she looks to add new and different elements to her stage performance. Following her appearance at Sting last December, she said that she feels there is a need to redeem herself. Not one to have a set complemented with dance choreography, she may just surprise fans this time around.

"For sure, I'm trying to do something new and can't disclose much as yet, because I'm trying to execute everything and do something different. I wasn't to perform on Sting, but ended up performing and things never happened how I wanted it to," she said, noting that it was not a bad performance, but there were no rehearsals. "So, for West Igloo, I'm trying to make that happen for sure."

She added "I have performed in Montego Bay about three or four times, but at like Margaritaville and other places, but I don't remember the names of the events. I want to switch it up a bit, because I didn't get to execute my last performance how I wanted to. I'm trying to get some dancers ... . Y'all know I don't use dancers at all, so let's see how that goes."

She said that she does not usually put much thought into the music she does, and that "it's easy". What has given her the most joy, in terms of her musical achievements, is just being in the studio creating and writing songs.

Jada Kingdom, who is currently signed to New York City-based Republic Records, which is owned by the Universal Music Group, hinted that she has just wrapped [up] the production for her upcoming album.

"I've been working, staying focused. I have new music coming real soon and I just finished my album, so that's something to look out for. My sky has no limits," Jada Kingdom said.