Pop

“The many layers of Laurell” by Jamaica Observer

December 20, 2018 by Kaysa

Clifton “Specialist” Dillon is known for nurturing breakout artistes. He helped put Shabba Ranks, Patra and Cobra on the Billboard charts in the 1990s and has also made Alborosie and OMI international figures.

His latest protégé is London-based singer Laurell, who is is currently promoting the songs Crazy Love and Think About That, both produced by Dillon.

“My work is inspired by life experiences, people and the culture among other things. I am inspired by the way music moves me and the world. But as an artiste there is nothing like telling your story through art. I’m extremely passionate about music, even when I’m not in the studio,” said Laurell in an interview with Jamaica Observer’s weekly Splash. [read more]

[INTERVIEW_BILLBOARD]: OMI Talks Return to Music, Premieres New Record ‘Masterpiece’

September 5, 2018 by Kaysa

Interview, OMI, Pop, Release

” Well-known for his No.1 Hot 100 record, “Cheerleader (Felix Jaehn Remix),” Jamaican artist OMI returns from his hiatus with another feel-good collab, “Masterpiece,” alongside German producer Felix Jaehn. The uptempo, summery track encourages women to find beauty in themselves as they are, in a digital age that often pushes the other way.

The multi-platinum pair connected in London for their first in-person studio session. In hopes of recreating the magic that topped the charts in over 50 countries on Me 4 U, OMI & Jaehn aimed for a radio-friendly earworm. With the foot-tapping chorus, “Cos every time I look at you I’m looking at a masterpiece/ If you’re trying to be perfect, you don’t have to be,” OMI’s knack for riveting global blends prevails.

Billboard caught up with OMI to discuss what his next chapter means sonically, why he is a fan of his fans and the importance of protecting what is sacred. Check out what’s been going on behind the scenes with the Kingston sensation, as “Masterpiece,” leads into his second offering. […]”

Magazine: Billboard

“BTS WITH OMI” Interview with FLAUNT

September 5, 2018 by Admin

Interview, OMI, Pop, Release

“High above the Los Angeles skyline and tucked away in the San Gabriel Mountains, I find myself on set of Omi’s newest music video. As I am chatting over blueberries with Ultra Music representatives and foreign models, I can’t help but reminisce about Omi’s legacy – his chart-topping, remixed single, ‘Cheerleader,’ that reigned the summer of 2015. It was the summer jam that was trapped in our minds and played on an endless loop on every radio station. Following the release of ‘Cheerleader’, we weren’t left with much from the Jamaican artist. I even considered him to fall victim to the curse of “one-hit-wonders”. But, to my ignorance, I shortly discovered how wrong I was. […]”

Written by: Allyson Borunda

Photographed by: Meagan Rafferty

Magazine: Flaunt

Jamaica Gleaner: “OMI’s Debut Album Certified Gold By RIAA”

February 8, 2018 by Admin

Accomplishment, OMI, Pop

Accomplishment, OMI

Me 4 U, the debut album from reggae singer OMI, has been certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

This means that the artiste’s compilation has sold more than 500,000 units. OMI took to his social media pages a short while ago to make the announcement. ‘ME 4 U’ is officially certified GOLD in the United States,” he said in the post. “Thank you to everyone who has purchased, streamed and continues to support my music! This is just the beginning.” Released in October 2015 by Ultra Music, Me 4 U, debuted at number 51 on the Billboard 200 albums chart with first week sales of over 9,000 copies. It peaked at number 18 in Canada, 37 in Australia, 62 in France, 21 in Norway, nine in Sweden and 25 in Denmark. The entertainer who catapulted to international recognition with his breakout tune, Cheerleader, promised his fans new music to be released soon.

Source [2017] –http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/entertainment/20170519/omis-debut-album-certified-gold-riaa

How OMI Represents A New Reality For Global Pop Music

January 25, 2018 by Admin

Accomplishment, OMI, Pop

Before it was remixed into a sweeping global hit, OMI’s “Cheerleader” was something far more quaint. “It wasn’t even supposed to be a song,” the 28-year-old Jamaican vocalist born Omar Samuel Pasley says over the phone from London, where he’s touring radio stations in support of his long-gestating smash. “It was just supposed to be an interlude. I didn’t want to put a beat underneath it.” But plans changed after OMI, who was then just cobbling together tracks that would become his early singles, played the demo for Clifton “Specialist” Dillon, the storied dancehall producer behind landmark jams like Shabba Ranks’ “Mr. Loverman” and Buju Banton’s infamous “Boom Bye Bye.” Specialist saw promise in OMI’s track, though he would turn out to be more prescient than even he probably imagined.

First released in 2012, the original “Cheerleader”—a laid-back, lilting reggae song that found OMI pledging allegiance to his lady over soft finger snaps—enjoyed a life of leisure, going number one in Jamaica and finding an audience in Hawaii. The track could have lived out its time in these twin tropical paradises had it not caught the ear of Patrick Moxey, founder of the dance label Ultra Music and president of Sony’s Electronic Music division.

As Moxey tells it, he was in Montreal in April 2013 listening to a radio promoter cycle through tracks that were popping in the Caribbean. “Cheerleader” stood out, and Moxey was pleased to learn the song had been produced by his “longtime colleague” Specialist and was being courted for re-release by R&B legend Salaam Remi, who also has an imprint at Sony.

Moxey, Specialist, and Remi decided to team up and promote “Cheerleader” through Ultra Music, which signed OMI in early 2014. In order to “expand the song’s horizons,” as Moxey puts it, they commissioned remixes by the dancehall mainstay Ricky Blaze and a young German producer named Felix Jaehn. Blaze’s version is a pleasant bashment rework that doesn’t stray from the original’s Caribbean roots, but it was Jaehn’s tropical house inter- pretation, which reimagines “Cheerleader” as a sort of cooler European cousin to Cee Lo’s “Fuck You,” that caught everyone’s ears.

“It wasn’t even supposed to be a song.”—OMI

Dancehall used to migrate to stateside pop charts regularly, but perhaps this workshopped version of “Cheerleader” represents a new reality for global pop music. Jaehn’s remix took off on Swedish Spotify before spreading across Europe, setting the record for most streams in a week in France, and topping global charts for most-searched song on Shazam. In doing so,“Cheerleader” followed the path of another unlikely Ultra-promoted smash: Robin Schulz’s lush remix of the Dutch rapper Mr. Probz’s “Waves,” which also broke first in Scandinavia. Consider, too, the Norwegian duo Nico & Vinz’s meteoric Afrobeats cut “Am I Wrong,” or the case of OMI’s countryman Shaggy, who is returning to US airwaves for the first time in over a decade thanks to “I Need Your Love,” a collaboration with Lebanese-Australian and Congolese-Swedish vocalists that was produced by a Romanian and released in several languages. Digital collaborations know no borders, nor do streaming services. These days, when Europe falls in love, America is usually next.

OMI, for his part, is enjoying the sudden glow of success. “I’m still overwhelmed by it” he says. “It’s the same song; it’s my vocals on it.” There may be more music, of course—Ultra plans on continuing its relationship with him, and a label run by Simon Cowell has gotten involved in the UK. OMI says that he would like to record a new song with Jaehn—this time organically—but first the duo must go back and complete some baby steps: OMI, he tells me, has not yet met his remixer, though he hopes to soon.

– Source: [2015] http://www.thefader.com/2015/07/01/omi-gen-f-interview

Omi Headlines WE Day Festival To Reward Students

September 20, 2016 by Admin

OMI, Pop, Uncategorized

SAINT PAUL, Minn., Sept. 20, 2016 /PRNewswire/ — Today, WE Day, a series of inspiring stadium-sized life-changing events that take place around the world, brings together world-renowned speakers and performers including Buzz Aldrin, Lilly Singh, OMI, Sabrina Carpenter, Paula Abdul, Olivia Holt, Jordan Smith, Serena Ryder, George Takei, Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton and more. Alongside international activists and WE co-founders, Craig and Marc Kielburger, the cast of returning WE Day fan favorites and new faces join 18,000 students and educators from over 600 schools to celebrate the contributions of young people and kick-start another year of change.