Features
Melissa Doughty
Will Gittens’ music is a blend of his life experiences and travels. His work combines the sounds of the spaces he has visited and lived in such as Africa and the USA, but at the end of the day, he is, as David Rudder sang, Trini To the Bone.
His Trinidadian heritage forms a large part of the music he calls Afro Island.
He will release his new EP in September called Afro Island I, which is mostly a mix of arobeats and Caribbean/island sound, he said. Of course, this means that soca and calypso form an essential part of it.
Gittens, 30, and his brother JR, sons of Trinidadian singer/songwriter Sterling Gittens, worked together to create it. There will be six tracks on the EP, including the singles Magik and Pressure.
He started recording some of the songs in 2019 and throughout the pandemic, but started working on it more last year.
A press release said: “Each track on the EP is completely different and beautifully combines their time at TT with the years they spent living and traveling across the African states and diaspora. A mix of Spanish, reggaeton, Nigerian and Ghanaian influences can be heard throughout the EP.
“Their Trinidadian background is organically embedded in the music they create with the inclusion of high energy beats and loud instrumentation, combined with their multicultural influence to produce the ultimate sound.”
Gittens studied at Berklee College of Music, Boston, Massachusetts.
He is no stranger to the digital music space having amassed 493,000 subscribers to his YouTube channel and his work has received over 50 million views across various streaming platforms.
But his overall goal is to expand the definition of soca and calypso.
“All those different flavors are what the Trinidadian sound is. Growing up, having that influence and being there, having the influence of the wider Caribbean like Bob Marley, when I think of the island sound, that’s what I think of.”
His many fans know him for his covers of some of the most popular songs in the world today, including Adele’s 2021 hit Easy On Me. His song Zodiac also became a viral TikTok sensation last year.
Gittens’ strong digital and musical presence has led to collaborations with popular American artists such as John Legend, Trey Songz, Trinidad James, Rick Ross and Ludacris.
At age eight, the Gittens family left TT for Nashville, Tennessee. Since then, he has spent time in major US cities like Atlanta and now, Los Angeles.
He and his brother also wrote for artists such as Tank and Chris Brown through their company JB Entertainment. The publication said the production company also did music collaborations with corporate brands such as Disney, Universal Music Group, Pandora, Converse, MTV and Warner Music Group.
For him, the release of the EP is well-timed, although he thinks there will be a lot of backlash.
In a one-on-one interview, he said, “A lot of times, calypso and soca people are loyal to the genre. I respect a lot of them, like Machels, Kes and a lot of those artists.”
His music won’t sound like “pre-soca”.
He believes, however, that he has what it takes to bridge the gap between TT’s homegrown sound and the mainstream market. The song Wait For Your Love with Jamaican singer Tarrus Riley perfectly showcases his blended sound, he added.
When he started creating content in 2011, he started doing other genres as he didn’t want to come out telling people to listen to soca or afrobeats. He didn’t hit a breakthrough until the end of 2019/2020, although he had been creating content since then.
His decision to launch the EP now is strategic. Doing so before would have put him in a box he always tried to stay away from, he said.
Gittens also felt he had drifted away from the TT and only returned in 2015.
“I think why I’m doing this now, I’ve never been ashamed of who I am. I am a proud Trinidadian. I just know that this is an opportune time where people can understand it and it will be pleasant for them.
“If I tried it then, it wouldn’t have been successful. I know it will succeed now. To be honest, some people won’t get it and say, “That’s not authentic.”
But Gittens said he won’t be deterred by naysayers.
He also believes the time is right as mainstream artists are now more open to experimenting with Caribbean sounds.
He’s also assuring TT that his music doesn’t take away from the foundational work done by calypsonians and soca artists.
He even tried to contact some local artists to collaborate and did not get a warm reception. There are no local artists featured on this EP, but he hopes to be able to work with Patrice Roberts on another.
Asked what might have caused them to not cooperate with him, Gittens said that some of the artists told him to hit up their manager.
He said he would understand if he was someone who had no followers or wasn’t verified.
Gittens made an EP because he is an independent artist and is currently unaffiliated with a label which means he has no major distribution and marketing. He wanted to make an album, but decided to make two EPs, as “it wasn’t wise for someone to drop an album if they didn’t have a backing from a label”.
He was taught early in life by his father to plant seeds and keep them moving. He is now seeing those seeds bear fruit.
Some of his past videos are also now getting more attention as more and more people visit his content.
Gittens wants the people of TT to open their hearts and minds to his work, and he hopes to inspire young TT artists to be fearless risk-takers, letting their hearts guide them.
