Kelissa Uncovers ‘The Good Side of Things’ on First Studio Album in Almost a Decade: ‘I Created the Music I Wanted and Needed’
The reggae star makes her long-awaited return.
Black News 
Nine years after her majestic Spellbound debut album, reggae luminary Kelissa has finally returned with a new soulful, grounded collection of tunes that champion The Good Side of Things. The sister of Grammy winner Keznamdi and partner of Grammy-nominated reggae superstar Chronixx, Kelissa crafted her new record from years of major life changes and music industry evolutions. In a way, she was in an Exile of her own.
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“I’ve been working!” she tells Billboard with a laugh. “This process took years. We made a lot more music across different genres, but this combination of songs was what felt most needed right now. And making this music was such a healing process. I really believe in curating a sound for albums; I don’t think it should just be a random collection of songs. Although this [album] has a very diverse sound, we worked very hard to create one sound — and that’s what took all this time.”
Dripping with hard-earned faith and optimism, The Good Side of Things blends Kelissa’s roots reggae foundation with her love for world music and signature poetic lyrics. “Cut & Clear” opens the set with an earthy, woodwind-accented instrumental; “Jah Odo (Jah Love)” delivers a rollicking, brass-infused groove; and “Trying,” a notable standout, finds Kelissa reimagining an original song her mother wrote and performed 10 years ago. Deeply entrenched in the music world, Kelissa and her three siblings are the children of Errol “Jakmandora” McDonald and Kerida “Goldilocks” Scott, the leaders of reggae band Chakula. Through blending original compositions with covers of her parents’ own music, Kelissa underscores the continued importance of legacy and lineage in reggae music.
The world last heard a project from Kelissa in 2019; she teamed up with Shacia Päyne, daughter of Stephen Marley, for their genre-blurring Anbessa World mixtape. That project arrived just eight months after Kelissa welcomed her first child, a daughter with Chronixx, and she’s spent the following years focusing on family life and meticulously putting together an album that authentically reflects the current state of her heart and psyche. In addition to working on Good Side with Chronixx — who co-produced and co-wrote several songs on the album — assembled his own acclaimed Exile LP, Kelissa also guested on Keznamdi’s Blxxd & Fyah, which won the best reggae album Grammy earlier this year (Feb. 1).
Now squarely back in the spotlight, one of contemporary reggae’s most distinctive and ethereal voices is back — and she’s already ruminating on her next album as she looks ahead to returning to touring life.
In a candid conversation with Billboard, Kelissa breaks down her gorgeous new LP, reveals what she learned about herself and her artistry during the COVID-19 pandemic, and reminisces on watching her brother clinch his very first Grammy.
When and how did you land on the title, The Good Side of Things?
Unless you go into a project knowing exactly what you’re going to call it or what theme you’re going to create around, it’s often a hard process to land on the title. I played the project for people, and they suggested specific lyrics, but I think The Good Side of Things, which comes from the song “Uneasy,” sums up the entire project. It’s about resilience and looking at the positive side of any situation or adversity.
When did you start to feel like a new, separate project was emerging? Did a particular song or session signal that you were shifting into a new artistic space?
I definitely felt a shift in terms of my creative approach. The [Anbessa World] mixtape is probably what helped me enter that new space of being free because there were no strings attached. I didn’t put it on any streaming platforms; I was just experimenting with my creativity, and that allowed me to let my guard down and not think too much about what the music would become before it was actually made. And The Good Side of Things expresses this new era for me, creatively.
What’s changed about your creative process since making 2017’s Spellbound?
Growth as an artist is inevitable. The pandemic ushered in a new era for everyone, not just artists. It allowed each person to really look inside themselves and think about what’s important when the world has taken away from you. It forces you to get introspective and to think about what life truly means. As a creative, what shifted for me was tapping into my creativity in different forms. During the pandemic, my sister and I worked on a music production series, my parents ran a venue in Jamaica, and we were all online doing stuff. It didn’t really shift necessarily how I made music, but it encouraged a deep sense of growth and introspection
And, funnily enough, it really made me realize the value of having a catalog. During the pandemic, the people who won were the people who had music.
It’s also important to build a catalog of work that you actually own.
It’s IP. Building a catalog is intellectual property, and that’s where the value is. If all you’re doing is covers, it’s easy for you to be forgotten. The artists we really look up to — Bob Marley, Stevie Wonder, even Lauryn Hill with just her one [album] — had intellectual property so strong that it left a legacy. My goal isn’t necessarily to build my catalog and sell it, but I want my children to be able to do what they want with it at the end of my lifetime.
You’ve called Skyline Studios one of your favorite places to write and create. Why is that?
I feel comfortable there to be open, to be free, just to be myself. It’s also a very special place energetically. They say that Skyline runs on a fault line in Jamaica. We’ve had some scares where that’s concerned, but I think that also speaks to the studio being an energetic center. Historically, Bob Marley has a house up there, and it’s been dubbed Reggae Mountain, and Dub Club has established itself there over the past two decades.
For me, sometimes that energy is in the breeze. There will be times when the hill is buzzing, and you’re hearing music from the city, or you’re hearing music from the hillside behind you. Sometimes it’s just the birds and the trees and the sunshine or the rainfall or the smell of the earth. You’re not too far from the city, but you’re also not so engrossed in nature to the point that you forget that the city exists. That, coupled with childhood memories, allows me to tap into so many different sides of myself.
Why did you choose to have “Cut & Clear” open the project?
On Spellbound, I had interludes between each song. I grew up on dub music, so I really enjoy instrumental music; it allows me to escape without the attachment of lyrics, so I wanted to have meditative music on this project. I also enjoy music I don’t understand, whether it’s from Mali or Indonesia. We created a few songs to get to “Cut & Clear.” I thought the interludes were an important aspect of Spellbound, so I wanted to bring them into this project without breaking up the flow too much.
In Jamaica, when we say “cut and clear,” it’s a farming practice: You cut the land and clear it. It’s like you’re purifying the space. This was my way of symbolically purifying the space at the beginning of the project.
Which song took the most out of you to complete?
“Trying” demanded the most from me because it’s a song that was written by my mother and released a decade ago on [2016’s] Love Is the Answer.
I absolutely adore that album, so recreating “Trying” was really challenging. I just felt like I could never do it justice. And my parents were also a bit critical because, after all, I’m recreating music while they’re still alive. It’s new for us, as their children, to be covering their music.
“Uneasy” is a major standout. How did that one come together?
Our main approach with this album was trying not to edit too much. We wanted the experience to feel raw; when you hear me sing these songs live, they should sound the same as they do on the album. And it’s really tempting to go all out when you have access to unlimited plugins and effects. We had a lot of reverb and delay on Spellbound, and I think that can take away from the beauty and rawness of the organic vocal. In the past, I sometimes hid behind Auto-Tune or reverb to make the vocal sound sweeter, so it was a challenge to be okay with my vocals as is. Writing “Uneasy” was very minimalist as well; I think that brings potency to the song and to what I’m singing about.
Were you and Chronixx working on your new albums at the same time?
Yes, hence why they both took so long. [Laughs]. It was definitely a ping-pong situation. We took turns, and that was a challenge too because when you’re creating, you just want to keep going. He’s always creating. If I am creating with him, there’s a bit of waiting that it requires, but it’s always worth it.
As you wrote this album, were there certain experiences or moments you found yourself either gravitating towards or shying away from?
In the past, I’ve been seen as somebody who writes a lot of love songs. This time around, I wasn’t intentionally writing love songs, but it worked out that way. I probably have just one song on this album about romantic love. Writing love songs comes naturally to me, so it was a challenge to divert from that. It’s also a time when the world needs uplifting music — and I needed it too. I created the music that I wanted and needed.
Do you have any plans to tour this album?
Yes, I do. But I may put out another project before I delve into touring. I really want to build my catalog right now, and, in the past, I’ve found that focusing on touring and performing too much prevented me from creating music. Performing is one of my favorite aspects of being an artist, so it’s actually quite difficult for me to make that decision. But I think it will pay off in the long run.
What was it like watching your brother take home that Grammy win?
I was so proud. Me and my brother have been making music together since childhood, and our parents are musicians as well, so we’ve grown up in music. It’s been such a joy to see his growth over the years; he’s worked so hard. He’s the kind of artist who will drive himself on tour; he’s truly independent and gets his hands dirty. He’s tried to do deals and been burned… as Chronixx would say, “They don’t know” how deep Keznamdi’s journey has been, because he makes it look so easy.
And there’s this tendency for people to believe that we come from a very privileged background. That’s really not the case, to be honest. Separate from his work ethic, Kez really works hard on curating a specific sound and making his music sound better every single time. Everyone who was nominated also had beautiful albums, but from a very biased perspective, I’m really happy he won.
Is a Grammy win one of your goals for this new project?
No, not at all. Those things are a plus, but it’s not why we do it. On “Call Me,” I sing, “I don’t need to win an award to know that your love is all that I want.” And that means so many things. I do this to curate life’s moments. Awards and those things are helpful for you to move around the world, especially when you have a Jamaican passport, but they’re never the goal.
What are you listening to these days? What are you reading? What are you watching?
The last book I read was James Clear’s Atomic Habits. It’s been really helpful for me to evaluate my own tendencies and think about what I can do differently to make the most of each day. I’m an Arsenal fan, and football is the only thing I watch. I think the stories and music in movies are great, but somehow they don’t quite capture my attention.
I’m always, always, always listening to Oumou Sangaré from Mali and, of course, Bob Marley. Exile too, and my brother’s project. I’ve also been listening to Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru, a pianist from Ethiopia who passed recently. I also love Akofa Akoussah from Togo. And I’ve been enjoying my own project!
