If you listen to our young dancehall artistes, famous or aspiring, explaining their creative process in making dancehall music, oftentimes, they may describe music as “a’top,” i.e., being a means for upward social mobility, an outlet.
Sadly, and fortunately, through their songs, many of our young and upcoming dancehall artistes, both male and female, express the pain they feel or have felt due to past experiences of being hurt, betrayed, neglected, and abused. I say “sadly” because it is unfortunate and heart-rending that so many of our youth have experienced this level of pain, and “fortunately” because their expressing it means they are being heard (as they should be).
A lot of the hurt and distress they have encountered should not have occurred, but was experienced in childhood. Consider this excerpt from an interview with dancehall artiste Sandra Rose, on The Fix podcast:
“Despite not taking music seriously until 2024, Sandra Rose shared in an interview with The Fix podcast that she has been making her own music since childhood.
During the interview, Sandra said it was working with Charly Black on one of his music videos that pushed her to launch her career as a singer in Dancehall. The artiste went on to reveal that she uses music as an outlet to express herself, as she does not like to talk about her childhood.
The first of three children for her mother, Sandra Rose is the daughter of Canadian drug trafficker Robert Bidewell, who, she disclosed, spent eight years in jail after being convicted for his crimes. She further shared that she had to move to Canada to ease the financial burden on her mother.”
Additionally, a common theme in dancehall music today is wanting to be alone. Is this surprising, considering the fact that when we experience a traumatic, emotionally distressing or hurtful experience, a common response is avoiding situations in which we may experience similar hurt or emotional anguish?
If the music that they use to express their pain communicates anything, it is that Jamaica’s youth, including our dancehall artistes, both men and women, need love, empathy, and emotional healing.
How can we facilitate such healing in a meaningful way?
MY MESSAGE TO YOU
To our young dancehall artistes, who use music as an outlet to express their pain and a means to be alone (and to anyone who listens and feels like they can relate to same):
I’m sorry that you’ve experienced the trauma that you have; the pain of being hurt, betrayed, abused, neglected; the pain of poverty. You are so gifted, vocally talented, and poetically-blessed, and you are worth being loved, supported, and valued.
You are inherently worth listening to about your emotions and the pain you’ve experienced. This is not because of your lyrical gift; you are simply worth being heard.
“God hears your cries of pain.”
How do I know? Because God moved me to pen this message to you! This article is a testament to that. God values you and cares about you. You are precious to Him. Talk to Him. He is always ready to heal your hurt.
“For God so [greatly] loved and dearly prized the world, that He [even] gave His [One and] [a]only begotten Son, so that whoever believes and trusts in Him [as Saviour] shall not perish, but have eternal life.” John 3:16 (AMP)
“You Need People”
Can you allow me to “reason” with you, please? God, the Creator of human beings, says in Genesis 2:18, “It is not good for man to be alone.” It’s not good for you to be alone. Our experiences don’t change our inborn needs and how we were fundamentally made to function. Our being hurt by human beings doesn’t change the fact that we still need social connections and relationships. It’s a part of who we are.
When I say, “You need people,” you may be thinking of those who hurt you. When I say, “You need people,” I don’t mean that you should put yourself in the position to be vulnerable again with those who hurt you.
You don’t put a five-thousand-dollar bill near a stove burner if it’s on, do you?!
Similarly, you should only be with people who are able to steward you, love you, and value you the way you should be stewarded, valued, and loved. Please don’t rob those people the opportunity and joy of loving the real you!
Social relationships are something we all require. There is power, fulfilment, and healing in true friendship with the right people. God is able to put those persons in our lives if we would only ask Him.
I pray that you’ll trust Him enough to rest in His care, to believe Him, and to ask Him for people who are genuinely interested in you and who will water you with words of acceptance and healing.
“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”Matthew 11:28-30 ESV
Tanänia Reid is a faith-filled Christian and an aspiring psychotherapist.