Sarkastik Ambassador gets personal with Release Me

JEREL "Sarkastik Ambassador" Ramsey has released his first single from his upcoming EP, Channels/432.

The melodic three-minute-long track titled Release Me, Ramsey told Newsday, is about an "inward struggle."

It was written by Ramsey, Aaron "Track7" Peters, Leroy Simmons and Asfa Charles, and was produced, mixed and mastered by Peters.

Ramsey started doing music professionally in 2015 with his friend, fellow Trinidad and Tobago artiste Jimmy October.

"We were in the same music group – Overdose Music Group.

"He used to just take me to the studios with him and the rest of the team. That's how I got into (music) really professionally."

Asked what he wanted his sound to be as an artiste, he said he actually started off doing rap.

"But I've always had a love for R&B because I come from a very Carnival-centred family...

"I always had an affinity to soca but just never wanted to do full soca. That's where I came up with like the fusion that I've been working with right now – a fusion of R&B with Caribbean sounds like soca, reggae, Afrobeat.

Release Me was written and recorded in February but Ramsey said it was not about any current experiences at the time.

"It's actually about years before, but most of my songs tend not to be (about) anything present. I tend to write from the past (because it) is easy to pull from."

The hook of the song goes, "Can't take it no more, release me, release me.

Speaking to himself in the song, he says: "You're like a whole different person, used to be warm and so open, now your heart's cold and it's frozen."

And addressing self-love, he says, "I wanted love and devotion, but you couldn’t put it in motion."

He told Newsday, "Even though I'm not there (in that headspace) right now, it's easy to remember how things were that time and at that time. I felt like things there needed to be a change in my life, and I also felt like there was a struggle between me coming to terms with a change in my life and coming to terms with needing to make that change...So that's where that came from."

Asked how he still managed to keep it this personal while sharing writing credits with three others, he said it's actually not difficult.

"Most of the time, the concept comes from me.

"When it comes to melodies and stuff is usually where I would bounce off ideas with other people...and if anything, sticks, it sticks. I just thought it was just a great idea to have them on, and helping their friends of mine as well."

While there's no official release date for his EP yet, he said the seven-track body of work will "definitely be released next year."

He said other singles from the EP will also be released.

Release Me is available on music streaming platforms and on YouTube.