Surprises

From spinning out hits like “NY Girls” to his ongoing clash with Malie Donn, Chronic Law has been one of the buzziest names in dancehall over the past year. His slick lyricism and slinky melodies have garnered him a faithful fanbase, and, according to Jamaica Observer, he was the most-streamed artist of 2024 in JA on YouTube with over 163 million views.

All that is to say, it was quite shocking to see Chronic lose all five of his nominations. The St. Thomas-bred star earned nods for dancehall collaboration of the year (“Higher Life,” with Kranium and “St. Thomas Native,” with Popcaan), dancehall song of the year (“Higher Life”), reggae/dancehall video of the year (“Higher Life”), and male dancehall artist of the year.

Considering Shenseea, Masicka and Di Genius’ “Hit & Run” swept every category that “Higher Life” was nominated in, Chronic’s best shot at a win was in male dancehall artist of the year, where he was unfortunately up against the legendary Vybz Kartel in his comeback year. Nonetheless, Chronic Law deserved to go home with something.

Joé Dwèt Filé earned a global konpa smash — and a Burna Boy remix! — with “4 Kampé,” and that should have been enough to push him over the finish line in the race for konpa artist/band of the year.

Nonetheless, Rutshelle Guillaume, who earned a top 10 hit on World Digital Song Sales last year alongside Michaël Brun and John Legend (“Safe,” No. 6), emerged victorious. All was not lost for Filé, however, considering he took home French-Caribbean artist of the year, beating out stiff competitors like Maureen and Blaiz Faiyah.

Let’s be real: “Carnival Contract” alone should have secured Trinbagonian soca superstar Bunji Garlin at least one win. And that’s not to mention “Carry It” and “Thousand,” which placed second and third at Trinidad’s 2025 Road March competition, respectively. Even Nicki Minaj hopped on a remix of “Carry It!”

Despite four nominations — soca song of the year (“Carnival Contract”), male soca artist of the year, soca video of the year (“Carnival Contract”) and soca performer of the year – Bunji came up short in every single race. If we had to choose one category for him to win, male soca artist of the year would have been well-deserved — and Kes would still have taken home soca performer of the year!

A select few soca stars made a resounding international impact this year, and Trinidad Killa was unquestionably a part of that crop. At the top of the year, he teamed up with fellow Trinbagonian Nicki Minaj for a remix to his hit “Eskimo,” which reached No. 2 on World Digital Song Sales this spring (chart dated March 15). He later appeared on Billboard’s monthly Reggae/Dancehall Fresh Picks column with the DJ Big Skipp and Moyann-assisted “Enjoy Yourself.”

This year, Killa earned nominations for zess-steam artist of the year, the 2025 soca impact award, and best new soca artist. Realistically, no one was going to beat out Yung Bredda for the impact award, nor was anyone going to best Lady Lava for zess-steam artist of the year. Nonetheless, one would think the Barbz would rally around Killa for best new soca artist.

After heating up the dancehall space at the top of 2024 with her clash against Stefflon Don, Jada Kingdom unleashed one of the year’s most popular dancehall hits in “What’s Up (Big Buddy),” which earned a nod for dancehall song of the year. Also nominated alongside Govana for “Pull Over” (dancehall collaboration of the year), Twinkle was unfortunately shut out at this year’s ceremony.

Truthfully, this was Shenseea’s year, and Jada was up against her in all three of her races. It’s hard to say which category she had the strongest odds in, but it would have been nice to see Jada get some kind of award recognition this year.

On paper, this win wasn’t too much of a surprise; Buju, Bugle and Marley are three of the most lauded voices in contemporary reggae music.

But this was a very stacked category. Romain Virgo and Masicka’s “Been There Before” was a formidable competitor (and probably a more deserving winner), and considering both Virgo and Masicka won multiple awards this year, a triumph in this category definitely wasn’t out of the question. Three-time reggae female artist of the year winner Lila Iké was also nominated twice in this category, but she likely split her votes between “Fry Plantain” (with Joey Bada$$) and “Bruises” (with Mortimer and Kabaka Pyramid). The final nominee, Imeru Tafari’s Queen Ifrica-assisted “I Love Rastafari,” also had some steam, especially since Tafari was additionally nominated for the 2025 reggae impact award.

All in all, the triumvirate of Buju, Bugle and Marley proved unbeatable in this year’s reggae collaboration of the year race.