Bounty, Beenie score ‘Touchdown’

Amassing more than 100,000 views in a week, the single Touchdown, which features dancehall veterans Bounty Killer and Beenie Man, is poised to generate even more buzz for dancehall on the international circuit.

A collaborative effort between Grammy-winning Haitian producer Michael Brun and Colombian superstar J Balvin, the single had its premiere on ESPN recently. Touchdown, which was conceptualised at the onset of the pandemic, is being hailed by Bounty Killer as a "huge" opportunity for dancehall to gain even more eyes internationally.

"I didn't even remember about this track, because we did it after the whole Verzuz clash between myself and Beenie Man. As you know, that was a global hit during the pandemic, with millions tuning in, and the producers of this song wanted to capitalise on that. We did the track and I never heard back anything about it, until recently, they said they were ready to drop it," he said.

"When I saw the big promotional idea of the NFL and ESPN, it was very exciting for me. It felt like something close to the Super Bowl, and you know that is huge," he added. Bounty Killer further shared that having discovered who his fellow collaborators were, and their global appeal, he knew the single had immense potential.

"I didn't know much about J Balvin. I didn't know his music, but when we did the song I looked him up and realised he is a huge Latino reggaeton artiste; and you know reggaeton has been linked to reggae and dancehall over the years as relative music," he explained.

"So for a Bounty and Beenie and Balvin to be on the same track, we knew it would be something exceptional. It's already done great things with the NFL-ESPN connection, and I am looking forward to seeing how much further it will go." Touchdown was featured on the official promotional itinerary for the NFL wild card games at the start of the play-offs. Aside from Bounty Killer and Beenie Man, Touchdown also had Jamaican influences from Grammy-winning producer Andron IzyBeats, whose works include Koffee's megahit single, Toast. Touchdown was also executively produced by Ron Telford of Creative Titans, who collaborated with Julian Jones-Griffith of Popstyle Music on the project.