It’s the artiste’s second single for the year- something called, “Rum and Calypso.” It comes on the heels of his first release for 2023, “Healing.”
The new track was produced by Tano & Brooklyn Decent. The single boasts the island’s pulsating rhythms mixed with R&B, Afrobeats and Dancehall and pays homage to another one of the island’s treasures – its famed spirits beverage. With October’s native melodies at the baseline, his seamless multi-genre blend is a window into Trinidad & Tobago’s new sound. The artiste’s forward fusion of music is reimagining what Calypso sounds and looks like for the next generation and this fluidity shows in his style and sound. “‘Rum & Calypso’ is me pushing the New Calypso sound a bit further, ” he said, adding, “I’m blurring the lines between these genres that continue to inspire me. I’m always trying to find dope ways to make music that feels like home, while at the same time build[ing] a world around what I think the future of the Caribbean feels like and sounds like.”
October went on to explain that there’s a particular feeling that he and the producers were going for when they were making the record. “It was that late 90’s and early 2000’s era when I heard “Girls Dem Sugar” from Beenie Man & Mya or “Like Glue” from Sean Paul. It is still a feeling that lingers in me. That’s the vibrations we’re sending out to the universe with this one,” he said.
Jimmy October will release a video for “Rum & Calypso” later in the month and will continue to drop new singles throughout the summer in preparation for his forthcoming sophomore EP slated for release later this year.
