Rising singer, Courtni, is well underway to making her mark in the music industry. After working as a background vocalist for several popular reggae and dancehall artists such as Runkus, Ras I, and Roots Percussionist, the singer/songwriter decided to step into the spotlight and forge her own path on the entertainment scene. Her single Sekkle, released in February of this year, made it to the hit parade for many of her new fans, and even caught the attention of reggae powerhouse Protoje who added the track to his Spotify playlist, ‘Reggae: Fresh and Clean’.
OAJ got a chance to catch up with her.
1. What first got you into music? How did you learn to write songs?
I’ve loved music for as long as I can remember. I come from a family of musicians so I’ve been to many, many, many shows and rehearsals and I have so many fond memories of just being surrounded by music and getting such a euphoric feeling from it. I always loved singing along to my favourite songs or just songs I found to be catchy at the time but I didn’t consider myself a songwriter until high school. I still wasn’t sure of my sound or the message that I wanted to bring across but I just wanted to write something that I would listen to lol. Actually I started writing My Type in high school.
2. You’re still pretty fresh in the music industry but what is the biggest lesson you’ve learnt on this journey thus far?
The biggest lesson I’ve learnt that I think will stick with me for the rest of my life is it doesn’t matter where you are in your development of your career, put out the art, show your work off, you never know who’s watching. I cannot tell you how many opportunities I’ve gotten just from putting myself and my art out there and I know I have a lot more growing to do in my craft.
3. Music can be a healthy distraction, especially now during a pandemic. Describe what it was like while creating your recently released single Sekkle; from writing the lyrics to creating the music video.
Well, one day, JLL (the producer of the song) and I were at my house with the idea to create another groovy song. He started playing some sounds he had on his drum machine and he played the sound that plays at the beginning of “Sekkle” and I shouted “Keep dat!” lol. He looped that sound and we worked out a drum pattern and I just remember being so so soooo excited because I loved the groove. A few days later he sent me the riddim and I listened to it on repeat for the whole day, I started writing the next morning and by the afternoon I was done! A few weeks later, he came over again, we recorded it and by the end of the session we knew it was a banger. Some months went by and I approached some friends of mine, Cesar and Toni (ALT Multimedia), with my idea for the visualiser and they liked it. I asked my friend Alex Chin (director), to help me bring my vision to life as well and it was just amazing how everything came together. I sent the song to Amanyea (choreographer) and let her work her magic on me. All the people who worked behind the scenes on set are creatives and very dear friends of mine (Shae Osbourne, Ovasha Bartley, Tori-Ann Ivy) and they all made the shooting process so fun and easy for me.
4. What are the top 3 songs that you would use to motivate you daily?
i. eMcimbini – Kabza De Small and DJ Maphorisa
ii. Be Somebody – Sevana
iii. Move – Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley
5. If the pandemic were to end in a second, name the first artiste you would do a collaboration with and the first place you would perform.
Wow! I have so many but the first one that came to mind is Shaneil Muir, I really love her tone and sound, so fresh. I would definitely want to perform at Emancipation Park, it’s one of my favourite stages.
Written by Courtni and produced by recording producer JLL, Sekkle caught the attention of reggae musician Protoje and dancehall artiste Devin Di Dakta, who added Sekkle to their respective playlists, ‘Fresh and Clean’ and ‘Dancehall You Should Know’. Check out the video below.
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