Reggae superstar TARRUS RILEY today shares “Remember Me,” the second single from his upcoming album Healing, due Aug. 28 via Zojak World Wide.
Tarrus debuted the track on Saturday during his live performance on Night 2 of Jamaican music festival Reggae Sumfest’s inaugural virtual edition. The FADER, which featured a performance from Tarrus and the Blak Soil Band at its Digital Fort virtual festival this past weekend, premiered the official audio of “Remember Me” ahead of its release today to DSPs.
Nyabinghi drumming, flutes and backing vocals from Riley’s kids combine to give “Remember Me” a unique and ethereal texture. Lyrically, the prayerful tune is an earnest plea to the Creator. “I’m in quarantine, and it’s a song I would sing around the house,” Riley says. “It reminds me of a devotion that kids sing in school in the morning. It’s about one man asking God, ‘I know your hands are full but, if wishes do come true, please try to grant one of mine. Remember me.”
Produced by noted Jamaican studio wizard Shane Brown and legendary sax man Dean Fraser along with Riley himself, Healing finds “Singy Singy” (as Riley is known to fans) collaborating with a who’s who of today’s top dancehall stars, including Shenseea, Konshens, Dexta Daps, Teejay and Rvssian, on a timely and urgent soundtrack to these turbulent times.
The 12-track LP is the first Jamaican reggae album written and recorded entirely during the time of Covid-19. Direct and topical yet spiritual in tone, the project takes stock of the world at a time of unprecedented uncertainty, imagining a future for mankind in which we must move forward without the comforts of the past.
Tarrus Riley is one of the definitive reggae singers of the 21st century. Born in the Bronx and raised between Jamaica and Miami, the son of late reggae/rocksteady icon Jimmy Riley has been a force on Jamaica’s music scene since the mid 2000s, when he released his debut album, Challenges, and broke big with his first #1 hit, the women’s empowerment anthem “She’s Royal.”
Known for his expressive, soulful and instantly recognizable voice, he is the leader of the Blak Soil Band, a well-oiled touring machine regarded as one of the Caribbean’s premier live acts. “Powerful,” his 2015 collaboration with Major Lazer and Ellie Goulding, has generated hundreds of millions of streams, reaching #5 on Billboard’s Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart and #1 on the Australian dance charts, as well as Top 10 spots across Europe.
Healing is Riley’s first album since 2014’s Love Situation, which was produced by Shane Brown and Dean Fraser, reaching #1 on Billboard’s Reggae Chart. In 2019, he teamed with IzyBeats, the producer of Koffee’s “Toast,” on the four-song EP, B.L.E.M. (Blending Life’s Experiences Musically).
