Jesse Royal entered the Lost in Time Festival stage on Sunday with a message of “do my best and allow Jah to do the rest” a line from his ‘ Strongest Link (Do My Best)’ collab with singer Kumar Fyah – he also showed that one of the things he does best is being a daddy.
The proud father of “two beautiful girls”, his younger daughter, Korus, made her debut, along with her friend, Nyah El, on the stage when they sang the line ” I’m gonna let it shine” as Jesse Royal held the mic. The Grammy-nominated singer, who spoke boldly on stage about the importance of the family and being a good father, told THE STAR that this was one of his most memorable moments on Sunday night.
Jesse Royal came to Hope Gardens prepared to entertain fans and the Rastaman held nothing back, as he properly worked the stage and gave fans the songs that they wanted to hear and had them gleefully singing along. He spoke about the power of music to liberate and told fans that he had lost a lot of things, but he had never lost his love for music. He expanded on this with THE STAR post performance.
“I’ve never lost my love for music. Absolutely not. If anything, it’s just got me more focused,” said Jesse Royal, whose albums Royal (2021) and No Place Like Home (2025) were both nominated for Grammy Awards. He was also quick to define the Jesse Royal/Grammy Award interaction.
“Remember, we mek the work before the Grammy acknowledge it … is not like we mek work for the Grammy acknowledgement,” the Small Axe singer stated.
He added, “What we don’t ever lose is our formula because we know seh is we mek the music … is not the music mek we. So … maintain the oneness with the Almighty, maintain the connection with the real people on the ground, stay up to date on current issues, but also make sure seh we keep our vessel ready to be used by the Almighty. Ah so we deal with music, man. A nuh bout nuh award. We a work for the Most High reward.”
Lost in Time, which was staged over two days this year, was attended by thousands and came to a grand climax on Sunday night. A production of singer Protoje and his team, Jesse Royal had nothing but kudos for the work put in by his brethren.
“What I rate about Lost in Time is just the level of professionalism … the amount of thought that goes into curating the experience for the patrons and not dealing with them like afterthought, like once you pay your money we are no longer responsible for you, you know? So, for me, Lost in Time definitely show the family vibes, and also genuine respect for the audience and the patrons who tek dem hard earned money, [and] support reggae music in a real way. You dig?”
Jesse Royal, whose given name is Jesse David Leroi Grey, savoured international attention with hits such as Modern Day Judas and Gimme Little. In 2017, his album, Lily of da Valley, topped the Billboard Reggae Album chart. He has collaborated with artistes such as Sean Paul, Damian Marley, Chronixx, Protoje, Major Lazer and Samory I.
