A year ago today, one of Jamaica’s top dancehall artists, Popcaan, released his sophomore album, “Forever”, and stunned us all with the variety of sound within the body of work.
Popcaan has been a favourite for many of us Jamaicans, with hits like “Ravin”, “Only Man She Want”, “Everything Nice”, and “Ova Dweet” being theme songs for many of our summers. Between his catchy choruses and entertaining social media personality, the artist has grown to be a favourite for almost all Jamaicans. Like most dancehall artists, Popcaan was pushed to have more of an international appeal in hopes to heighten his success. Naturally, people worldwide loved his songs, as they do with most Jamaican music, but typically only because it has our specific sound (i.e. dancehall/reggae beats and melodies). To further this international appeal, some Jamaican artistes have been pushed to broaden the genres within their discography, creating sounds and lyrics that extend from the typical bad-man/cynical theme. Only a few have been successful, one of them being Popcaan.
On July 20, 2018, Popcaan released “Forever”, which was highly anticipated seeing as album culture amongst dancehall artistes isn’t as popular as it is within other genres. We listen to the several one-off singles from “riddim” compilations and await more. To create a body of work with a continued theme/concept is not as popular within the dancehall scene.
Popcaan starts the album with “Silence”, a record that reflects on trusting people around you, understanding that ultimately anyone can betray you – even family. For lots of people, this is a relatable concept, making the song one of the more popular ones on the album.
“Wine For Me” is listed as the third song on the album and was paired with well-directed visuals, Directed Willo Perron and Produced by Dre Skull of Mixpak Records, Popcaan’s label to which he was signed to back in 2014 for a multi-record deal. The increase in quality music videos has been largely beneficial to the Jamaican music scene. Regardless of budget, artists still manage to create videos that aid in the storytelling of their songs. This project shows off Popcaan’s dedication to his craft through the well-developed videos which were not at all cheap endeavors, but gladly worthwhile in the end.
Next is “Superstar”, an uplifting anthem with one of the catchier chorus’ on the album. Superstar is where we get a bit more from the album, production-wise as he sampled Spragga Benz for the outro of the song. This song too was produced by Dre Skull.
Dre Skull’s influence on the album was paramount, producing 11 of the 17 tracks, and the album being distributed by his record label Mixpak Records. Producers often get left in the dark as their work is more behind the scenes, but Dre Skull is a force to be reckoned with in the music industry. He was also on production for other internationally popular artistes like PartyNextDoor, Snoop Lion, and Jamaica’s very own – Vybz Kartel.
Some other fan favourite records with great visuals include “Dun Rich” and “Firm and Strong”. “Dun Rich” places as track number thirteen and the music video gained almost 2 million views on YouTube. The collaboration of Poppy and Davido on Dun Rich already had a bit of hype surrounding it as both are leading names in their respective genres (Dancehall & Afrobeat). Already thoroughly impressed with the record itself, the two joined and impressed us even more with a feel-good music video filled with several dances takes and rich visuals of the Lagos, Nigeria culture. Aesthetically, the videos are incredibly satisfying – it’s one of those videos you watch several times over.
“Firm and Strong” which was Directed by Nabil places sixteenth and racked up almost 4.4 million views on YouTube for its heartfelt music video. Between the black and white edit and a mix of aerial and mid-long camera shots, the video matches the touching song about remaining strong through difficult times
What’s even more impressive about this album is that Popcaan only had one feature, Davido. As an artist to create such an all-rounded project and only include one feature is admirable, especially as all the songs are full length ranging from three minutes to four minutes long. Listeners might not know but the creative process for music is quite dynamic and includes many moving parts, from producers to writers to audio engineers – each song is its own project. And even with all the hard work and time put into the process, songs can still not do very well. So for Popcaan to create an album that one year later is still just as fresh and captivating is only skyrocketing his career more and more. “Forever” is a timeless body of work that has captured Popcaan in one of the best points in his career – growing in his home country and about to branch out to one of the bigger hip-hop labels, OVO Sound. It carefully displays his dedication to his craft, both sound and visual wise. Cheers to this one year anniversary Popcaan! Which songs will you be replaying today?
