This story on recording artist Jada Kingdom, hailing from Jamaica, belongs to a package celebrating Caribbean Heritage Month. Throughout June, we will be honoring the powerful creativity, ambition, and heart of Caribbean culture by spotlighting those of Caribbean descent inspiring and impacting popular culture in their home countries, the United States, and beyond, as well as exploring untold stories in hopes of uplifting the voices of the Caribbean community. The Caribbean is not just a tourist destination — it is a region, a people, and an identity rich in history and spirit.
Ten years ago, if anyone would have told Jada Ashanti Murphy that she would be on the brink of global superstardom, the beloved Jamaican entertainer would laugh at the sheer absurdity of such a premonition. And still, Murphy, who is known to the world as Jada Kingdom, is ready to take her place on the throne. With a cumulative following of 8 million loyal supporters across social media, an army of devout fans at sold-out live shows, and a steadily growing popularity in industry circles, Jada Kingdom has her career in full focus and is calling all of the shots to take her music to the next level.
Fresh off a quick trip to London, the 24-year-old singer is on a winning streak that shows no signs of slowing down: Her steamy single “Turn Me On” with The 9ine amassed two million views on YouTube within four days of its release, and she’s also seen Billboard-charting success for her record “On My Way” with dancehall artists Scrptiid and Astyle Alive. While Jada’s takeover is methodical, her hunger for success is natural — there are no limits in Jada’s world.
“Even if you look into all of the dancehall artists coming from Jamaica, I’m still somewhat separated because my music has a different vibe,” Jada tells Teen Vogue. “Dancehall, pop, trap — I fall under many categories and I don’t mind one bit.”
Jada’s musical versatility is evident with just a simple scroll through her discography. There’s conscious lyricism in offerings such as “WiN,” “Last Night,” and “Execution” (songs that target social ills of Jamaica that she has personally experienced), more sensual and carefree singles spotlighting her resonant voice such as “GPP” and “Fling It Back,” and freestyle hits like “WHICH GYAL” which showcase a bravado that leaves fans hanging on the sharp-shooting rhymer’s every word. The mammoth adulation for her music that has grown exponentially over the years is sometimes hard to grasp… until her raving live performances offer a reality check, a moment of clarity. “The music might be doing well on the charts, and then it hits me while performing on stage and I see everyone singing the lyrics to my songs,” she says. “It makes me say, ‘Wow, this is real’. The crowds let you know that the love was never fake.”
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In an industry that is driven by talent and tales — where gossip is sometimes consumed more than the art itself — Jada is largely unconcerned by the frivolous opinions of naysayers on her professional and personal life choices. While a portion of the public has been hyper-focused on a well-documented love connection between her and rapper Nas EBK that ended in 2022, and, more recently, a rumored budding romance with Grammy-Award winning Nigerian superstar Burna Boy, her current tunnel vision is intensely concentrated on her eagerly-anticipated debut album.
“Recently, I’ve been trying to balance both my presence on social media and the business side of things for a reason,” she says, hesitating before continuing with a sense of calm and authority. “Now I’m a fully independent artist, no longer with a label.” The historic signing, which was inked in 2021 with assistance by her producer (and former beau) Verse Simmonds, made a splash on social media and in the news, touted as “the biggest deal for a Caribbean female artist ever.” Jada had shared a label home with other A-list entertainers such as Taylor Swift, Nicki Minaj, Lil Wayne, Ariana Grande, and more. While there are several new recording deals currently on the table for consideration, Jada is resolute in her decision to hold off on signing to another label for now: “I felt so out of place, things weren’t feeling right. I want to take some of my career and keep some of me for me. It’s going to be hectic because there’s no longer a machine behind me, but I always want to be me.”
But who is Jada Kingdom, really? “I like to keep it on the music side because my personality is very hard to articulate,” she says. It’s worth a try, though. In an attempt to describe her personality, Jada is deft, possessive, and nimble. “In my music, I’m very outspoken, very direct, very blunt, very brave, super versatile,” she starts. “But I’m also super emotional. I take my work very seriously. It’s unfortunate that in my music journey, I’ve had people who crossed me and made my business harder than what it should be. It feels like I’m yet to show my true potential. I’m a wonderful person,” she shares tenderly. The air stills in the seconds after this vulnerable admission. It’s clear Jada is in the process of giving herself grace under fire to discover exactly who she is — to her fans, peers, family, and most importantly, herself.
Circumstances have made Jada Kingdom who she is. Looking back intently at her upbringing and some of her harsher childhood experiences, she underscores that much of her earlier years have only been partially reflected in the music that she writes, records, and performs. “The music that I am making right now [reflects] a lot of my childhood,” she says. “In these recording sessions, I’m speaking more in-depth about my life, how I was raised and treated. For the music I was putting out [before], it was about me having fun. It’s still reality, but I wouldn’t say it’s so conscious like my single ‘WiN.’”
With a new album on the horizon, she expects that this upcoming body of work will explore the truth about her formative years: what she endured and who she is despite those intense periods of unrelenting adversity. “I’m very passionate. I was raised in two households and my dad’s side was super tough. He never told me that he loved me until I became of age… My mom wasn’t much of a hugger but I would hug her, and eventually she would reciprocate it.” She pauses to collect her thoughts, seemingly shrouded in those emotionally-charged memories of her earlier years. “The fact that I never got real, passionate love growing up made me know what love is, because I know it’s not that. I know how to spark dopamine in the brain and make everybody feel happy. You live what you learn and what you teach yourself.”
Today, she refers to her mother as her number one fan, a guardian of dreams who knew that the financial, emotional, and mental sacrifices towards her daughter’s aspiring music career would “all make sense one day.” “She always believed in me one hundred percent, so that’s why if she asked me for the world today, she’d get it. Mummy is very inspiring, the way that she raised three kids on her own in one bedroom, showering outside, hustling and making it happen,” says Jada, recalling her upbringing in 7 Mile, Bull Bay, a community on the outskirts of Kingston, Jamaica that is all too familiar with the devastating effects of abject poverty.
Much of Jada’s self-taught journey will be discernible in her debut album, TWINKLE, a reference to one of her nicknames. Jada says the album’s name was “necessary,” a reflection of her ever-evolving humanness. “ [It’s a] beautiful compilation of work. It’s very much me” Jada takes a passionate, hands-on approach with her art: as a songwriter, she’s a beast with the pen, insistent on retaining her Jamaican Patois in the overall production and maintaining a certain level of creative control.
For Jada, the magic of this new album is an opportunity to recommit to empowering women through personal experiences, while making space for the freedom of expression that has propelled her over the course of her burgeoning music career. “My style and inspiration stem from people like Nina Simone, Amy Winehouse, The Manhattans, The Temptations, Diana King. New age sounds, I love Spice and of course Vybz Kartel,” she praises, noting that the latter-mentioned dancehall icons have both consistently supported her journey in music. “I always try to find a way to bring all of my inspirations into one thing. Yes, I might explore a jazzy-type beat, but the message I’m sending is conscious while the dialect I’m speaking is still Jamaican and representing the Caribbean.”
So far, staying true to herself has paid off big. With collaborative nods from the likes of John Legend, Megan Thee Stallion, Nigerian entertainer Mr. Eazi, and Jamaican dancehall giant Skillibeng already under her belt, Jada holds a deep sense of gratitude for the opportunities to work with some of the most powerful voices in the music industry. She says her ultimate goal in the industry is to “cross over the four corners of the Earth.” When asked about her dream duets, she instantly names three of the biggest female acts today. “Rihanna, Tiwa Savage, and Nicki Minaj. On the male side, Drake and Dexta Daps. I already have 4 songs with Dexta which is such a dream… there are a few more — but I don’t want to disclose those right now. [I’ll] just put it out in the Universe and hope they can happen.”
Jada Kingdom is committed: to investing in herself, building her legacy, and sharing real, vulnerable experiences with her fans. Jada has never shied away from transparently discussing what many critics would consider to be intimate details of her life in public settings — including open conversations on sexuality, mental health (especially her bipolar disorder, depression, and anxiety diagnoses) and, most recently, her experience with a miscarriage. For her, the goal is clear. “I want to be remembered as someone who was truthful,” she says. “I’d rather stay silent than to lie. I’ve never had a moment of regret from sharing my life experiences online.” Music is more than a means to an end for Jada Kingdom: it is her engineered, interminable bridge to freedom.
Over the decades, dancehall music fans have witnessed the mushrooming careers of some of the genre’s icons, including Patra’s whirlwind popularity in the ‘90s and Sean Paul’s global dominance in the 2000s. Now, Jada Kingdom is positioned to take her rightful place at the starting blocks as a global forerunner in a race for the next generation of global Dancehall and Jamaican superstars seeking to tell their story authentically, and she hopes other female Caribbean acts will follow suit, heed the call, and let their voices be heard. “Put your foot down and don’t give up. Don’t take sh*t from nobody. Ladies: don’t feel like you have to open your legs to get ahead. If you can’t get something at a particular time, wait. I promise you that your moment will come,” she advises. “Follow your dreams. Run down your dreams. Lastly, if you don’t believe in you, no one else will.”
Words of wisdom beyond her years, spoken like a true queen of the Kingdom.
