Music Buzz | Reviews (May/Jun 2026) ª – iRADIO.tt Blog + Journal: Appraisal, Opinion, Information
These reviews appear in the May/June 2026 issue of Caribbean Beat Magazine.
(AWAL Recordings America)
Miami-born Haitian singer Naïka sings in English, French, and Kreyòl, ensuring that her multicultural heritage shines through in both the rhythms and the perspectives here. On the smooth funky track “What a Day”, she sings: What a day indeed, foreign troops came into Haiti / So much suffering from the greed and the world keeps going. Her sharp observations on life, love, and destiny fit neatly with mellow grooves that have a modern Caribbean heartbeat. She describes her debut album as a “personal reflection of my journey: the cultures, languages, sounds, and experiences that have shaped me throughout my life”. With 13 tracks offering a sound and vision that advances the idea that island lives and people are more than clichés, this album is a starting point for a very promising career.
(Monk Music)
At the recent Trinidad Carnival, Machel Montano copped his 12th Road March, the title song of this season’s compilation album of power and groovy soca. And, in so doing, he cemented his legacy as the premier Carnival artist and performer — maybe of all time. This album serves as a milestone in a 40-plus-year career, a template for how to serve as a global avatar for soca music. His prolific collaborations with other island artists and producers — nine of the 12 songs — act as pathways for both continued popular engagement and for passing the baton.
(Self-released)
French Guiana is a hop, skip, and a jump away from these islands, yet remains a mystery to many. Chris Combette, that country’s musical ambassador, has released a live album of 20 songs — recorded there with his band of Angels — encapsulating a more than 30-year career that has been influenced by French Caribbean and Latin American music, jazz, reggae, and African rhythms. His elegant raspy voice over a broad palette of Antillean songs in English and Kwéyòl, both warm and dynamic, invites listeners to either enter a new world or reclaim the magic.
(KIngdom Mab)
Jada Kingdom quickly follows up her recent EP (Just a Girl in a Money Man’s World) with a new EP of just four songs that sparkle with a rawness one has grown accustomed to from her, but with a musical bed that works perfectly here. These songs are slow and sexy, both in lyrics and tempo. Bold and assertive declarations define desire, and the Jamaican Patwa delivery is easily discernible by listeners anywhere. “None a dem nuh love you like I do.” And more! This is “big people” business, and that is the truth.
(WillyNilly Records)
Trinidadian songbird Keba released a new single, exploring her willingness to be open to love again — a journey not to be taken carelessly or for granted. Lyrics that speak to being worthy of love flow confidently towards genuine and willing acceptance: “And now I know it’s possible, I believe it, I believe it / Show me a love unconditional, I receive it, I receive it.” One of the funkiest bass lines moves this slick groove along, percolating with a Caribbean pop/reggae vibe. It makes this song very easy to love.
(So Keen Media)
Award-winning St Lucian artist The Mecca tells us that this track — a little bit Afrobeats, a little bit Caribbean soul, a little bit hip-hop — turns the Kwéyòl phrase for “I don’t care” into “a booming declaration of self-made success”. Island brio is evident as his declarations of confidence, sung in English and Kwéyòl, brim with the swagger of machismo and keep an eye firmly focused on the prize. “They see the shine, but they don’t know the grind in the cold / The same ones that doubted are now on the fold.” Yes!
© 2026, Nigel A. Campbell. All Rights Reserved.
