The Gittens brothers: Evolving the Caribbean Sound

Will Gittens’ music is an amalgam of his life experiences and travels. His work blends the sounds of spaces he’s visited and lived like Africa and the US but at the day’s end, he is, as David Rudder sang, Trini To the Bone.

His Trinidadian heritage forms a major part of the music he calls Afro Island.

He is set to release his new EP in September called Afro Island I which is mainly a mix of afrobeats and the Caribbean/island sound, he said. Of course, that means, that soca and calypso form an essential part of it.

Gittens, 30, and his brother JR, the sons of Trinidadian singer/songwriter Sterling Gittens, worked together to craft it. There will be six songs on the EP including the singles Magik and Pressure.

He began recording some of the songs in 2019 and throughout the pandemic but began putting more work into it last year.

A press release said, “Each single on the EP is completely different and beautifully combines their time in TT with the years they spent living and travelling all over the states and the African Diaspora. A blend of Spanish, reggaeton, Nigerian and Ghanaian influences can be heard throughout the EP.

“Their Trinidadian background is organically embedded in the music they create with the incorporation of high-energy rhythms and groovy instrumentals, combined with their own multi-cultural influence to produce the final sound.”

Gittens studied at the Berklee College of Music, Boston, Massachusetts.

He is no stranger to the digital music space having amassed 493,000 subscribers to his YouTube channel and his work got over 50 million views on different streaming platforms.

But his overall aim is to broaden the definition of soca and calypso.

“All of those different flavours are what the Trinidadian sound is. Growing up, having that influence and being there, having the influence of the wider Caribbean like Bob Marley, when I think about the island sound that is what I think about.”

His many followers know him for doing covers of some of the world’s most popular songs today including Adele’s 2021 hit Easy On Me. His own song Zodiac also became a TikTok viral sensation last year.

Gittens’ strong digital and musical presence has led to collaborations with popular US entertainers like John Legend, Trey Songz, Trinidad James, Rick Ross and Ludacris.

At eight, the Gittens family left TT for Nashville, Tennessee. Since then, he has spent time in major US cities such as Atlanta and now, Los Angeles.

He and his brother also wrote for artistes like Tank and Chris Brown through their company JB Entertainment. The release said the production company also did musical collaborations with corporate brands like Disney, Universal Music Group, Pandora, Converse, MTV, and Warner Music Group.

For him, the EP’s release is timely although he thinks he is going to receive a lot of backlash.

In a one-on-one interview, he said, “A lot of the times, calypso and soca people are true to the genre. I pay respect to a lot of them, like the Machels, the Kes and a lot of those artistes.”

His music is not going to sound like “straight ahead soca.”

He believes, however, that it has what it takes to be the connecting bridge between TT’s indigenous sound and the mainstream market. The song Wait For Your Love featuring Jamaican singer Tarrus Riley perfectly shows his blended sound, he added.

When he started creating content in 2011, he began doing other genres as he did not want to come off as telling people to listen to soca or afrobeats. He did not get a breakthrough until late 2019/2020 although he had been creating content since then.

His decision to launch the EP now is strategic. Doing so before would have placed him in a box he always tried to stay away from, he said.

Gittens also felt he had been far removed from TT and only returned in 2015.

“I think why I am doing that now, I have never been ashamed of who I am. I am a proud Trinidadian. I just know this is an appropriate time where people can understand it and it is going to be palatable for them.

“If I tried it back then, it would not have been successful. I know it is going to be successful now. To be honest, some people are not going to understand it and they are going to be like, ‘This is not authentic.’”

But Gittens said he is not going to be deterred by naysayers.

He also believes that the time is right as major artistes are now more open to experimenting with the Caribbean sound.

He is also assuring TT that his music does not take away from the foundational work done by calypsonians and soca artistes.

He even tried to contact some local artistes to collaborate and did not receive a warm reception. There are no local artistes featured on this EP but he hopes to be able to work with Patrice Roberts on the next one.

Asked what might have caused them not to collaborate with him, Gittens said some of the artistes told him to hit up their manager.

He said would understand if he was someone who did not have a following or was not verified.

Gittens did an EP because he is an independent artiste and currently has no ties to a record label which means he does not have major distribution and marketing. He wanted to do an album but decided to do two EPs instead as “it was not wise for someone to drop an album unless there was a label backing.”

He was taught early in life by his father to plant seeds and keep it moving. He is now seeing those seeds bear fruit.

Some of his videos done in the past are also now gaining more attention as more and more people visit his content.

Gittens wants TT people to open their hearts and minds to his work and he hopes to inspire young TT artistes to be fearless risk-takers, allowing their hearts to guide them.