Music from the heart: Irie Souljah inspires us to turn dreams into reality in “World Citizen”
August kicks off with new music a and profile on our latest Artist of the Month, Irie Souljah! Daily Reggae caught up with Irie Souljah to learn about the artist’s heartfelt new album, “World Citizen”, diving into the LP’s inspiration, creative process, and production.
Congratulations on the release of your new album, “World Citizen”. Speaking of the theme of world citizen, you definitely fit that description growing up in Barcelona and now living in Kingston.
What does “World Citizen” mean to you and what are some lessons or messages that you want listeners to take away while enjoying the new music?
World Citizen to me means that nobody chooses the place of their birth and that we’re all here sharing this one earth at the same time and just because you were born somewhere that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be able to travel or live somewhere and enjoy other places and cultures and learn from them.
To me the biggest lesson on the Album is that you should go for your dreams and goals no matter the circumstances Jah will Guide and Life will provide.
This is your third studio album, following up 2023’s “All About Love” and 2015’s “Immigrant”. How did you approach things differently on “World Citizen” whether a new approach to writing (music and lyrics), or collaborating with other artists?
The approach it’s pretty much always the same when it comes to the creation of the music, I usually start writing songs either with my guitar trying to find new chord progressions or simply just making a new beat and messing around with melodies and flows till I get the concept and then I start the writing process. In terms of the collaborations I’m working with basically my best friends, Kabaka and I been working on each other’s projects from maybe 2015-2016 and we always connect to work on music. With Medisun pretty much the same from the day we met we always been working together in either personal projects or other artists. I have a story about Alborosie that I will share on the next question.
Speaking of teaming up with other artists, you have teamed with so many amazing artists and legends on the album including Kabaka Pyramid and Alborosie. Can you share a story about one of these collaborations and what did you appreciate or learn from the process?
Funny how life works because originally I wrote the main track of the Album “World Citizen” thinking about doing a collaboration with Alborosie, I sent it to him and he loved it but because of schedules and timing it never worked out. I decided to send it to Kabaka and I think he came to the studio the same day or the day after and he did his verse (which to me it’s one of the craziest verses he has ever done) and the song was done. Months pass now and we were discussing possible collaborations for the album with Ineffable and Adam suggested to link Albo for “Another Way”. We make the link and he said this is the one, and honestly I love what he did with his part and It’s an honor to have a legend of that caliber in my album.
In terms of the album’s production, what was the process like and do words or music typically come first for you? Who did you team up with on the album’s production?
The process and the formula hasn’t changed since “Immigrant” we just been perfecting it. But the way I start creating the song it’s always different. For instance with “Give Me Reggae Music” I wanted to make a disco reggae type of beat and, once I had a groove I liked I proceeded to find melodies and write some lyrics. Usually I sample and play everything on the demos and then I go to the studio and link up with some top musicians to give it the live feeling. After I have everything recorded I send it to Genis Trani my right hand when it comes to producing and mixing. He’s the one behind the post production magic and the mixes. He basically co produces and mixes all my songs. On this album the process been pretty similar in all songs except Bout Ya which was produced by KP.
You’ve been touring across Europe this summer, what are some of your favorite songs from the new album to play live? Any memorable experiences from touring and connecting with new fans?
Definitely Bout Ya, something about that song. It just captures the people in a way I only seen with Learn & Grow and my top songs. High energy vibes anytime I perform it and people sing along almost instantly either they know it from before or not. Bout Ya ago run di place for a good period of time memba mi tell yuh! A lot of good experiences touring but I had the honor to do a show with Brinsley Forde from the legendary Aswad alongside my brothers The Rising Suns (Our new group) and that was an amazing experience to share the stage with such a legend and a reference for InI.
