1 week ago
6
Jada Kingdom is stepping into 2026 with a new body of work — and this time, she’s doing it with full confidence and a clear musical vision as the creative mind behind the project.
The dancehall star is set to release her sophomore EP, Just A Girl In A Money Man’s World, on Jan. 21, 2026, with heavyweight Jamaican producer Stephen “Di Genius” McGregor playing a major role in shaping the sound. In a this exclusive interview with World Music Views, McGregor opened up about how the project came together, why their collaboration works so naturally, and what makes Jada’s writing so special.
McGregor says he has been “doing a lot of work with artists from all over the world,” but working closely with Jada Kingdom feels like returning home, creatively and culturally.
“Jada is just somebody who I collaborate really well with… somebody whom I check for even outside of music. So it’s always good working with her,” he explained.
The two have worked together before on the John Legend track “Speak In Tongues” but while some of the material had been in the works already, McGregor credits Jada for pushing the idea into a fully packaged EP.
“I think with some of these songs, we just started working on together before… and I think it was her idea to just like put together like a proper EP project… and then leading up to a bigger album project later on as well,” he said. “So yeah, it was just, I guess, the natural progression of us working on the songs.”
That collaboration is heard across the project — McGregor produced four out of the six songs.
“So I did Maxine, Don’t Talk To Me, Still Searching, Nothing BPP (But Pum Pum),” he confirmed.
The remaining two tracks “Soul For Sale” featuring Skippa and “Girls Are Drugs,” which has already been released as a single are handled by Yo Christon.
Jada Kingdom flips classics — and doesn’t “massacre” them
“Still Searching,” interpolates Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley’s Still Searching and the big question around records like that is always legal clearance — and McGregor didn’t dodge it.
“Yes, we did have to clear it. We cleared the publishing because of interpolation, so we didn’t sample the masters, but just clearing the publishing, yeah,” he said.
According to McGregor, the concept was Jada’s from the jump.
Stephen Di Genius“That was actually Jada’s idea. She had that idea for a minute, and then we put it together, locked in, and then knocked it out,” he shared. “But yeah, it came out really, really good.”
From McGregor’s perspective, Jada understood the weight of the record she was referencing and treated it with care by paying homage to the era without massacring the song. “Yeah, for sure,” McGregor says, Adding “And lyrically she went in on that song too. And that happened fast… she just got into it and just nailed it,” he said.
“She tell the other side of the story”
“Maxine,” flips a familiar dancehall reference from the 90s hit Murder She Wrote into something fresh and empowering. The conversation around the song touches on how dancehall history often framed women — and how Jada turns that lens around.
“she tell the other side of the story,” McGregor confirmed that when it came to the writing on “Maxine,” Jada came fully locked in.
“For that song specifically she already had the whole song like lyrically and everything,” he said. “She sent… a voice note like singing the idea… I think I was in my car actually… I was like yo this body let me do this right away, and then I sent her back the beat,” he said. “And then we started going back and forth from there.”
Jada Kingdom is “ready to shoot”
Beyond the music, McGregor also addressed the mental side of releasing a project — especially in today’s streaming economy, where numbers can overshadow artistry.
In 2021, Kingdom signed with Republic Records and released her debut EP, New Motion, but she was dropped from the label in 2023 before her first album, Twinkle, which she said was because she felt out of place. Two years ago, Jada also took to TikTok to admit she was afraid to release an album due to concerns about sales and performance. However, McGregor believes she’s more prepared than ever.
“I think she’s there… she’s been there naturally… because you know like she does it so easy for somebody like her,” he said. “She writes easy and she writes so well and she just delivers so well.”
Jada KingdomStill, he acknowledged that even top artists can get caught in their own thoughts.
“As creatives we all get in our heads sometimes which is natural and there’s so much noise in the market,” he said.
Now, though, he feels she’s stepping forward without hesitation. “But yeah, I think she’s in that place now where she’s just ready to shoot, which is great for all of us.”
The sound: guitars, cohesion and a clear musical identity
A big reason the EP feels tight and cinematic, is the sonic cohesion, especially the use of guitar textures that appear across multiple tracks.
McGregor says that kind of consistency happens naturally when you know an artist well.
“Sonically, there’s a lot of things that… different artists are always drawn to different kinds of sounds,” he explained. “And for Jada specifically because I’m working with her so much I kind of have an idea of the things that she’s into.”
Even when he’s not consciously repeating elements, he thinks some of the same textures show up because he understands her taste.
“Maybe subconsciously some of the same kind of sonics apply in some of the songs without me even realizing,” he said.
He referenced “Girls Are Drugs” as one example, even though he didn’t produce it.
“That’s very more straight up like heavy electronic guitar kind of vibe,” he said, adding that Jada is naturally pulled toward those sonics.
“It might just be like a sonic thing that I know that she’s attracted to that kind of song.”
A big moment for dancehall
With Just A Girl In A Money Man’s World, Jada Kingdom appears to be leaning into what many fans have asked for: a cohesive project that plays like a full statement, not a playlist of singles.
“A proper EP project… leading up to a bigger album project later on as well,” he said.
For now, Jada Kingdom’s focus is clear and the producer closest to the project says the energy is locked.
“She’s just ready to shoot.”
English (US) ·