The song “Solitude” by Lila Iké – Gofaone’s goosebump moment

The “ExPerience”, her first EP

Protected by veteran singjay Protoje, who did not hesitate to sign her to his label In.Digg.Nation (distributed by RCA Records), the 27-year-old Jamaican singer-songwriter managed to release her first EP entitled “The ExPerience”.

The title perfectly defines this 7-song project, in which we find a lot of reggae, nuances of soul, doses of dancehall and some hip-hop. Among the producers, the presence of Izy Beats stands out, the man behind Koffee’s banger “Toast”.

The revival of women’s reggae

Lila Iké, or Alecia Gray, her real name, is a young and talented singer from Kingston, Jamaica. She is considered one of the new faces of reggae in her country.

Coming from a matriarchal family, made up of her mother and three other sisters, she began posting music on Spotify in 2016, shortly after finishing school in her hometown. Today Lila Iké presents herself as a champion of female reggae.

The origin of her stage name is full of meaning that refer to childhood and ancestry. Lila is a nickname given to her as a child and is a derivation of her Christian name, Alecia. Ya Iké is short for Ikechukwu, an Igbo word, spoken in Nigeria, which means ‘power of God’ or ‘God is mighty’.

In 2015, Lila Iké moved to Kingston with the intention of finishing her studies to become a professor at the Northern Caribbean University in Mandeville. However, due to financial problems, she had to abandon the idea, so she decided to give her music career a chance. In the city, she met the one who saw everything she could achieve in her: Protoje.

Her move to the Jamaican capital not only gave her that once-in-a-lifetime opportunity where she got to meet the people who would influence her to be who she always wanted to be, it also made her curious to learn new things and develop in other aspects which transformed her as an artist.

More about Lila Iké:

• Lila Iké – Wikipedia
• Lila Iké – Instagram
• Lila Iké: “The message from powerful women is crucial right now in Jamaican music”