Jamaican singer tops Caribbean, Latam in new TropicSpin competition

Jamaican singer-songwriter Janine ‘Jkuhl’ Coombs heeded the call of Arawak Media and CaribMagPlus for musicians and entertainers in the Caribbean and Central America to submit their music videos for consideration in the inaugural TropicSpin Music and Song Competition. With a bit of help from her family, friends and fans, Coombs came out on top as the winner of the solo category, snagging a prize pot of US$1,500.

“I submitted the Coffee music video, one of my many songs that I’ve written, but the first song that I have self-produced and released. It’s the first and only of my songs to have a music video, and I did it here at home,” Coombs revealed.

On July 23, the competition was streamed on the Caribbean Magazine Plus Facebook page and YouTube Page, CaribMag TV, and the Caribbean Cyber Stream. Viewers were asked to vote for their favourite submissions, so all entrants were encouraged to ask their friends and fans to tune in. For this first iteration of the competition, there were only two categories, solo and group. The group category winner, Ghetto Crew featuring Queen Tifa (Suriname) with their entry titled N’e Srib a Oso, walked away with US$3,000.

Coombs’ family and friends came through in more ways than simply tuning in. “As an independent artiste, you have to fund everything yourself as I’m not signed to a label to invest capital, so I have to invest in myself. In that sense, I have to work hard to attain the funds, stretch it and use what available resources I have,” she explained. As she banked her resources, her friends and family rallied in support.

Coombs shared, “I had to save for months, for almost a year, to record with friends. I didn’t pay them much as funds were low, but they were happy to make the music come to life. I would record the musicians, edit and send [them] to my friend Daniel Singer to mix and master. That’s how Coffee came about, with really good friends who gave me their time. These are people who were always excited about my music. Everybody said yes! Friends and family made that happen; they made it possible.”

MUSIC VIDEO

The accompanying music video was also pulled together by family and friends. Directed by Marz Jackson, Coffee’s official music video is a curtain-raiser for the jazz-influenced songstress, whose performances depicted sexy, shadowed silhouettes and images of enraptured, engrossed lovers, aptly matching Coombs’ sensuous tone and elegant delivery.

“With these winnings, I’m going to invest in another music video. Whatever I make from the music, I put it back into the music. I had to save up months, almost a year from my own capital,” she said, regaling the shared experience of independent artistes and other creatives around the world. “I have thought about if I could be part of a label, but a lot of labels want someone who is established. I have to create my own road and my own label, but things take time.”

A producer, media host, music publicist, vocal performance coach and actress, this multifaceted creative is also the projects coordinator and researcher documenting the life and works of Jamaican composers for the Music Unites Jamaica Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to preserving by documenting the Jamaican musical heritage. Her eclectic love of different music genres can be heard fused in her albums Star Gaze (2009) and Sweet Sway (2020). She has a fresh kind of alternative songwriting and music arrangement that audiences globally enjoy.

Janine has been featured on local Jamaican television, radio and international programme such as the global news network CNN Voices of The Pandemic. Coombs has been a guest panellist on various international forums and has been a featured performer at the Jamaica Jazz and Blues Virtual Festival 2021 and the Global Inauguration Caribbean Party for Kamala Harris, the first female American vice president.

In addition to being selected as Best Solo Artiste for TropicSpin Music and Song Competition 2022 for the Caribbean and Latin America, Coombs is the recipient of the MUZAK Heart and Soul Foundation Music Summer Camp, held in Los Angeles, USA; the 2020 Sama Sama Bali Residency held in Bali Indonesia and the Catapult Caribbean Creative Grant in 2020 and 2022.