The collaboration which is a reflection on childhood struggles, is co-produced and co-written by Universvl and marks Chronixx’s highly-anticipated comeback Chronixx shared the release on Instagram, thanking Yussef Dayes, his brother and expressing gratitude for being a part of this artistic endeavor. He also shed light on the song’s origins, explaining its reflection on his family’s journey from Spanish roots to celestial realms, and giving credit to Miles James, Adrian ‘Jerks’ Henry, and bassist Adrian for their contributions.
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In “Pon Di Plaza,” Chronixx’s velvety vocals mixed with Dayes’ percussion oscillates between introspection and daydreaming, narrating Chronixx’s experiences and growth.
Universvl, real name Tyrece McNaughton got his moniker from Lee Scratch Perry who advised him to “keep it universal” sometime ago. The sought after Gen Z Jamaican mix and mastering engineer was at Geejam Studio working on one of his numerous upcoming projects and took some time to speak exclusively with World Music Views® about the making of ‘Pon Di Plaza.’
“We dropped a song with Yussef Dayes on his debut album. I co-wrote the song and I did some co-production on it. Going way back on that song, I actually started that song during high school. The song was written circa 2018. I was 18 years old in my bedroom.” Tyrece said.
“That time Jamar (Chronixx) and I was reflecting on the success of Chronology which had come out in 2017 and the tour in 2018. I left high school and immediately started to tour with him. We were just reflecting on our past struggles living in Spanish Town. Anybody who comes for Spanish Town they express their own hardship living in Spanish Town,” he continued.
Now removed from the days of hustling with his grandma on the plaza, McNaughton says the connection with his old community through struggles inspires creativity and gratitude.
“We expressed our struggles and how we overcome them. Part of our lives, we lived it and now we are here. Doesn’t matter where you come from, just be dedicated to your craft.”
Chronixx played guitar on the track and so did Yussef.
“Give thanks to Yussef, he did some extra arrangements and added extra guitars. It’s a blessing and we really have to be grateful.” Universvl explained.
The 23 year old said that he and his reggae revivalist brother have several completed albums that all have different musical concepts and they will be releasing more music soon.
“We have multiple albums together. Whenever me and my brother link up it’s always vibes. When it’s his birthday i’d go over his house, make music all day, laugh, play FIFA together and when it’s my birthday, same thing. We write music everyday,” he explained.
Since the release of Chronixx’s Chronology six years ago, the Soul Circle project has sold 100,000 album equivalent units in sales and streams. Of that amount 17,000 are pure copies and 134 million in streams according to data received by World Music Views® from Billboard sales tracker Luminate.
The 16 track album spawned the singles “Skankin Sweet,” “Smile Jamaica,” “I Can,” “Likes,” and “Majesty.”
Uni says he doesn’t know when Chronixx’s next album will be released but, “what I can say, for both of us musically, we been progressing with the sound. For his next album you will get the true Chronixx, less digitized, just him being an instrumentalist, more him being himself. Speaking about humanity and love. It’s on the way.”
As for why the McNaughton brothers are taking so long with the elder brother’s sophomore album Tyrece bragged of his brother having too much new music to choose from, “We are the same, we make something this year and next year we don’t like it. He is a student of this game, so he is heavy on Jazz music and his knowledge for music and the ear for it changes overtime.”
The forthcoming album which is yet to be dated, titled or track listed Universvl says will be much more sublime than his previous work.
“He is making these cinematic and subtle songs expressing himself with less words. Seeing how much impact Chronology had, he’s just reflecting and saying ‘what’s next’. He is recording himself, he is a multi-instrumentalist now, playing the drums, bass. He started writing more so just expect great things because with the albums we have created over the last three years anyone he drops will be crazy.”
