Billboard, an American music and leisure journal printed weekly by Penske Media Company, on Jan. 9 listed 10 Caribbean artists who it says followers should “be careful for” in 2025.
The checklist includes: Joé Dwèt Filé (Haiti); Likkle Addi (Jamaica); AnnaleaX (Jamaica); Bamby (French Guiana); Umpa (St. Lucia); 1SkiMask (Jamaica); Shemmy J (St. Lucia); Akeen Fennell (Jamaica); Leighanna (Trinidad and Tobago); and Renecia Bernard (Jamaica).
Billboard mentioned Haitian zouk-konpa singer Joé Dwèt Filé has “put out at the least one new album (or a deluxe model) yearly since 2018, so there’s no motive to count on he gained’t sustain that tempo in 2025. And he has all the rationale to.
“After scoring a viral second on TikTok final yr, ‘4 Kampé’ has shortly grown into one among Filé’s largest hits but, reaching No. 8 on Billboard’s France Songs rating on the high of the brand new yr (chart dated Jan. 11),” it added.
Billboard mentioned whereas “Likkle Addi could have began placing out music together with his brother Likkle Vybz over a decade in the past, not each artist is an in a single day sensation.
“Between a 2022 joint album together with his brother and 2023’s Thugz R Us EP, Likkle Addi has been diligently build up his catalog — and his new collaboration together with his father appears to be like to be the hit that can convey him to the subsequent stage,” Billboard mentioned.
“Likkle Addi’s father is, after all, Vybz Kartel — who introduced each him and Likkle Vybz onstage to carry out at his blockbuster Freedom Road homecoming live performance on New Yr’s Eve (Dec. 31, 2024),” it added.
After signing to Miami-based document label SoBe Leisure in 2021 and breaking out with that yr’s “Wavy (Y U Playin’ Me?),” Billboard mentioned rising Jamaican reggae singer AnnaleaX “steadily dropped a set of singles that ultimately turned Alter Ego, Vol. 1, her 2024 debut studio album.
“With extra dwell reveals on the best way and her first Spotify million-streamer beneath her belt (2024’s ‘Don’t Fear’, a canopy of Bob Marley’s ‘Three Little Birds’), AnnaleaX is ready to considerably stage up in 2025,” it mentioned.
Already an award-winning powerhouse in Guyana and throughout the French Caribbean, Billboard mentioned to “count on extra main strikes from Bamby in 2025.
“A singer who traverses throughout dancehall and shatta, Bamby burst out into the scene in 2016 with hits like ‘Run Di Place,’ and by 2018, her debut studio album Bambyland took the French Caribbean by storm,” it mentioned. “That album has not but seen a launch within the US although; a large launch of Bambyland or a brand new mission on the heels of her ‘Guyane’ momentum may facilitate an actual international crossover second for Banby in 2025.”
Billboard mentioned “as St. Lucia’s dennery phase — a style characterised by its fusion of soca, zouk, kuduro and Kwéyòl-sung lyrics — continues to develop in recognition, count on Umpa, one among its reigning kings, to stay on the forefront.”
Billboard mentioned that, final yr, Umpa collected over 2.63 million international streams on Spotify, “a formidable quantity for a rising artist from a distinct segment style and not using a correct studio album.
“2019’s ‘One Drop’ and 2021’s ‘Plat’ proceed to be a few of his most recognizable hits, and each had been winners when he carried out them throughout his set at Miami Carnival’s ‘No Borders’ occasion in October 2024,” it mentioned. “A brand new calendar yr means a brand new carnival season, and it’s virtually a provided that Umpa will quickly ship some new highway anthems for 2025.”
Billboard famous that, final yr, 1SkiMask signed a take care of Epic Data — in partnership with Towards Da Grain Leisure — simply over a yr after he rebranded from social media comic and actor Valdomore.”
Billboard mentioned that 2023 breakout hit “Dawkniss” caught the ears of Epic vp of A&R Tyshawn “Fly Ty” Johnson, and, by October 2024, 1SkiMask “had himself a deal.”
Final yr, Billboard mentioned Shemmy J earned a greatest new soca artist nod on the 2024 Caribbean Music Awards, “and he’ll possible spend this yr proving why he was simply as deserving of the win as Yung Bredda.
“Beloved for his amalgamation of soca, Afrobeats, bouyon and different conventional Caribbean music types, Shemmy J has been cranking out hits since 2018,” it mentioned, including that, “in 2023, ‘Ms Grippy’ might be the most important hit of his profession up to now, and his 2024 debut album, Dutty Papi, flaunted his well-manicured musical persona: a slick, globe-trotting Lothario who isn’t above life’s extra susceptible moments.”
Billboard mentioned that album additionally featured a collaboration with Umpa (“Prime”), “cementing the pair as two of St. Lucia’s defining voices.”
The leisure journal mentioned Akeen Fenell ended 2024 because the “twentieth victor of Jamaica’s Digicel Rising Stars competitors — a platform that has spawned award-winning reggae superstars equivalent to Romain Virgo and Christopher Martin.”
Billboard mentioned he “shortly adopted up that victory with a pair of singles that previewed the totally different locations his new recording profession may take him in 2025.
“Whether or not he’s going for easy anthems of encouragement or mature fusions of R&B reggae, Fennell now has all the precise instruments to spend the subsequent yr cementing himself as one of many foremost voices in grownup reggae music,” Billboard mentioned.
Again with a brand new workforce and a transparent imaginative and prescient after some post-pandemic profession reassessment, Billboard mentioned rising Trinidadian soca star Leighanna is kicking off 2025 with a brand new single titled “Flowers.”
“Sung over Bodyroc and Shot Grasp J’s ‘Eyeland’ riddim, ‘Flowers’ is Leighanna’s dedication to the attractive range and resilience of girls — and a reminder to males to cherish and respect them,” Billboard mentioned.
“Partially impressed by her soca foremothers like Patrice Roberts and Fay-Ann Lyons, ‘Flowers’ — and the opposite new music she has on the best way forward of the 2025 Carnival season — is the end result of Leighanne’s years-long journey to stability within the recording trade,” it added.
Billboard mentioned that “after getting voted off the present and coming again as a wild card contestant, 17-year-old crooner Renecia Bernard’s skills took her all the best way to second place on season 20 of Digicel Rising Stars.
“Although she didn’t win and plans to proceed her different non-musical endeavors and research, award-winning reggae legend Marcia Griffiths has different plans for the burgeoning star,” Billboard mentioned.
“I actually love her and her expertise. She is younger and inexperienced and has a future forward of her, however I wish to be advisor for her,” Billboard quoted Griffiths as telling the Jamaica Gleaner.
“I personally wish to take her to producer who will assist actually take her to the subsequent stage,” Griffiths added. “She has nice potential – she has the pure expertise, however, with a little bit grooming, she may very well be nice.”
