While voyeurism is not new or unique to dancehall, the music video for “Gimme”, the second single from Sam Smith’s forthcoming album “Gloria” is out and it’s as salacious as a 1980s underground punk party.
Reyez sings over a 90s style dancehall beat: “Gimmegimmegimme… what I want, what I want Gimmegimmegimme… what I want, what I want” to scenes of steamy girl on girl action throughout the video.
While Koffee, 22, dressed in a gold tailored suit is seen for the first time singing sexually charged lyrics to a female. She sings and dances as several girls ‘back it up’ on her in less of a dancehall style and more identifiable with the New York gay clubs.
As she sings:
Oh when mi pull up in a place yuh fi see mi see mi Got what mi want and what yuh got yuh better gimme gimme Mi rock yuh body ooh suh go rock yuh body fi mi Come over yah so may mi push yuh body to the limit Let me know, give me what I need I follow, I let you lead Give me love, don’t need no money So pull me closer actually
The video also has scenes of passionate same sex kissing, embracing and touching.
Sam, who also dances with the girls is dressed in a “barely there” pants and leather Jacket as they sing: “Voyeurs are watching us Giving me such a rush When I’m crazy and drunk on love Gimme what I want, gimme what I want, yeah.”
Last October he announced the album via his social media stated he was overwhelmed and excited to let go of “Gloria”.
“I’m feeling overwhelmed and emotional as I start to let go of Gloria and hand this work over to you. It has been magical in every way to make this piece of music and by giving this record to you I am giving you part of my heart and soul,”
they wrote on Instagram.
His first release from the album “Unholy” peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard hot 100 as well as No. 1 on Spotify US, U.K. and globally. The song which features Kim Petras has so far surpassed 671,938,710 streams globally.
“Gimme” made entries on iTunes ar #21 Poland, #27 Mexico #43 Brazil, #45 Uzbekistan, #65 United Kingdom, #67 Italy, and #97 Denmark. On Apple Music in entered at #41 Switzerland, #44 Malta, #55 Ireland, #66 United Kingdom, #82 Cyprus and #82 in Myanmar.
Both “Unholy” and “Gimme” were recorded at Geejam Resort in San San, Jamaica where Sam visited in November 2021 to finish record his album along with super songwriter group Stargate. “Gimme is produced by dancehall producer Anju Blaxx.
Blaxx told the Jamaica Star that Gimme‘s Dancehall beat was his idea, along with his co-producers Jimmy Napes and Stargate.
“With this song having the original dancehall sound, the ‘boop boop’ drums and bass, it is different from what persons expect from Sam Smith.”
He said he created the riddim around an idea that Stargate and engineer Timothy ‘Quik Keyz’ Kahwa presented to him.
“Quik Keyz works with Jon Baker and GeeJam Studios. He and I both attended Full Sail University in the US. He made that connection early 2022, and when they presented the demo with Jessie Reyez, a one melody and vocals, I worked quickly to create a drum and groove around it,” he said. “I was inspired [so] I probably worked on it in an hour or two, and they were in awe and clearly more interested to do more work because of how punctual I was. They are very professional and top-quality producers. This is opening more doors for Jamaicans, both producers and artistes.”
Blaxx, who produced songs for Popcaan and other dancehall artist said he has not met Sam Smith in person but said he has been doing a lot of work with Stargate who Michael Jackson, Rihanna, Coldplay and more.
This is Koffee’s first time working with both Blaxx and Sam Smith. Since the Ardenne High School singer burst on the scene on 2017 with her debut single Burning , she has since signed a record deal with the head of the lable promising her full support. After winning the Grammy for Best Reggae Album in 2020, John Fleckenstein, co-president of RCA said to Rolling Stones “Koffee’s success continues, it’s not gonna end in Jamaica. It’s gonna end on a global level.“
The Toast singer has also gotten the support of former President of the US Barack Obama a few times. Most recently he included her song Pull Up among his 2022 favorites. The song is the second single from Koffee’s debut album Gifted released by Colombia/RCA Records. Gifted debuted at number 2 on the Reggae Billboard charts with 3500 total units sold in the US in the first week according to data provided to World Music Views by Luminate . The album clocked 700 in total album sales and 3,290,800 streams. The project also debuted at number 9 on the UK top 100 albums chart.
‘Gifted’ re-entered the U.S. Billboard Reggae Albums chart last week at No. 9. and slipped to No. 10 this week. It is the top selling reggae album released this year.
According to data provided to WMV by Billboard sales trackers Luminate the album has so far clocked more than 223,000 album equivalent units(with SEA, and with TEA). This includes pure album sales of 1,600 (equalling total on-demand streams (audio + video) of 340 million).
It peaked number 5 on the UK physical albums chart giving Koffee the distinction of being the first female Jamaican to make the UK albums chart top ten.
Other women of Jamaican descent to climb the UK albums chart are Stefflon Don and Diana King.
Stefflon Don’s 2018 album Secure peaked at 35 and Diana King’s 1995 album Tougher Than Love peaked at number 50 on the top 100 chart.
Gifted also landed at No. 11 on the Billboard Heatseekers Albums chart, which ranks the sales by new and developing musical recording artists each week.
Koffee took the Jamaican culture to late night television in the US last night when she performed her latest single “Pull Up” from her upcoming debut album Gifted on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. The set was transformed into a dancehall with crates, speaker systems and dancers to accentuate the performance. As Fallon introduced the Sony Music artist, Chromatic sound reintroduced Koffee in true dancehall fashion.
“Yuh done know chromatic deh yah alongside the original Koffee from Jamaica, yo koffee you wah tell them”
The voice of Vybz Kartel can be heard echoing “Chromatic the ultimate” as she took the stage to resounding applause and a “money pull” up by the selector.
Dressed in North Face army fatigue, Koffee sings “Pull up innah the audi yeah i nah watch nobody” as she showcased her Jamaican culture to the American audience.
Barack Obama has included at least one Koffee song on his bi-annual playlists since 2019. The Lockdown singer, age 19 at the time was asked in 2020 what it feels like to have the former president as a fan at the Grammy Awards and she said: “It was dope. It was super dope and I realized recently also that his wife, Michelle Obama also has my song on her list for working out. So I feel really proud about that.”
