Billboard lists 10 Caribbean artists to watch in 2025

Billboard, an American music and entertainment magazine published weekly by Penske Media Corporation, on Jan. 9 listed 10 Caribbean artists who it says fans must “watch out for” in 2025.

The list comprises: Joé Dwèt Filé (Haiti); Likkle Addi (Jamaica); AnnaleaX (Jamaica); Bamby (French Guiana); Umpa (St. Lucia); 1SkiMask (Jamaica); Shemmy J (St. Lucia); Akeen Fennell (Jamaica); Leighanna (Trinidad and Tobago); and Renecia Bernard (Jamaica).

Billboard said Haitian zouk-konpa singer Joé Dwèt Filé has “put out at least one new album (or a deluxe version) every year since 2018, so there’s no reason to expect he won’t keep up that pace in 2025. And he has all the reason to.

“After scoring a viral moment on TikTok last year, ‘4 Kampé’ has quickly grown into one of Filé’s biggest hits yet, reaching No. 8 on Billboard’s France Songs ranking at the top of the new year (chart dated Jan. 11),” it added.

Billboard said while “Likkle Addi may have started putting out music with his brother Likkle Vybz over a decade ago, not every artist is an overnight sensation.

“Between a 2022 joint album with his brother and 2023’s Thugz R Us EP, Likkle Addi has been diligently building up his catalog — and his new collaboration with his father looks to be the hit that will bring him to the next level,” Billboard said.

“Likkle Addi’s father is, of course, Vybz Kartel — who brought both him and Likkle Vybz onstage to perform at his blockbuster Freedom Street homecoming concert on New Year’s Eve (Dec. 31, 2024),” it added.

After signing to Miami-based record label SoBe Entertainment in 2021 and breaking out with that year’s “Wavy (Y U Playin’ Me?),” Billboard said rising Jamaican reggae singer AnnaleaX “steadily dropped a collection of singles that eventually became Alter Ego, Vol. 1, her 2024 debut studio album.

“With more live shows on the way and her first Spotify million-streamer under her belt (2024’s ‘Don’t Worry’, a cover of Bob Marley’s ‘Three Little Birds’), AnnaleaX is set to significantly level up in 2025,” it said.

Already an award-winning powerhouse in Guyana and across the French Caribbean, Billboard said to “expect more major moves from Bamby in 2025.

“A singer who traverses across dancehall and shatta, Bamby burst out into the scene in 2016 with hits like ‘Run Di Place,’ and by 2018, her debut studio album Bambyland took the French Caribbean by storm,” it said. “That album has not yet seen a release in the US though; a wide release of Bambyland or a new project on the heels of her ‘Guyane’ momentum could facilitate a real global crossover moment for Banby in 2025.”

Billboard said “as St. Lucia’s dennery segment — a genre characterized by its fusion of soca, zouk, kuduro and Kwéyòl-sung lyrics — continues to grow in popularity, expect Umpa, one of its reigning kings, to remain at the forefront.”

Billboard said that, last year, Umpa collected over 2.63 million global streams on Spotify, “an impressive number for a rising artist from a niche genre without a proper studio album.

“2019’s ‘One Drop’ and 2021’s ‘Plat’ continue to be some of his most recognizable hits, and both were winners when he performed them during his set at Miami Carnival’s ‘No Borders’ event in October 2024,” it said. “A new calendar year means a new carnival season, and it’s practically a given that Umpa will soon deliver some new road anthems for 2025.”

Billboard noted that, last year, 1SkiMask signed a deal with Epic Records — in partnership with Against Da Grain Entertainment — just over a year after he rebranded from social media comedian and actor Valdomore.”

Billboard said that 2023 breakout hit “Dawkniss” caught the ears of Epic vice president of A&R Tyshawn “Fly Ty” Johnson, and, by October 2024, 1SkiMask “had himself a deal.”

Last year, Billboard said Shemmy J earned a best new soca artist nod at the 2024 Caribbean Music Awards, “and he’ll likely spend this year proving why he was just as deserving of the win as Yung Bredda.

“Beloved for his amalgamation of soca, Afrobeats, bouyon and other traditional Caribbean music styles, Shemmy J has been cranking out hits since 2018,” it said, adding that, “in 2023, ‘Ms Grippy’ is probably the biggest hit of his career so far, and his 2024 debut album, Dutty Papi, flaunted his well-manicured musical persona: a slick, globe-trotting Lothario who isn’t above life’s more vulnerable moments.”

Billboard said that album also featured a collaboration with Umpa (“Top”), “cementing the pair as two of St. Lucia’s defining voices.”

The entertainment magazine said Akeen Fenell ended 2024 as the “20th victor of Jamaica’s Digicel Rising Stars competition — a platform that has spawned award-winning reggae superstars such as Romain Virgo and Christopher Martin.”

Billboard said he “quickly followed up that victory with a pair of singles that previewed the different places his new recording career could take him in 2025.

“Whether he’s going for straightforward anthems of encouragement or mature fusions of R&B reggae, Fennell now has all the right tools to spend the next year cementing himself as one of the foremost voices in adult reggae music,” Billboard said.

Back with a new team and a clear vision after some post-pandemic career reassessment, Billboard said rising Trinidadian soca star Leighanna is kicking off 2025 with a new single titled “Flowers.”

“Sung over Bodyroc and Shot Master J’s ‘Eyeland’ riddim, ‘Flowers’ is Leighanna’s dedication to the beautiful diversity and resilience of women — and a reminder to men to cherish and respect them,” Billboard said.

“Partially inspired by her soca foremothers like Patrice Roberts and Fay-Ann Lyons, ‘Flowers’ — and the other new music she has on the way ahead of the 2025 Carnival season — is the culmination of Leighanne’s years-long journey to stability in the recording industry,” it added.

Billboard said that “after getting voted off the show and coming back as a wild card contestant, 17-year-old crooner Renecia Bernard’s talents took her all the way to second place on season 20 of Digicel Rising Stars.

“Though she did not win and plans to continue her other non-musical endeavors and studies, award-winning reggae legend Marcia Griffiths has other plans for the burgeoning star,” Billboard said.

“I really love her and her talent. She is young and green and has a future ahead of her, but I want to be a good advisor for her,” Billboard quoted Griffiths as telling the Jamaica Gleaner.

“I personally want to take her to a good producer who will help really take her to the next level,” Griffiths added. “She has great potential – she has the natural talent, but, with a little grooming, she could be great.”