Island Kings add new voice, drop ‘Sweet Like Sugar’

What started as friends just playing around because they had time on their hands due to the numerous lockdown sessions during the COVID-19 pandemic, led to the formation of a group whose harmonised vocals have garnered them much attention.

Adiel ‘King Diel’ Thomas, Carl ‘Lee King’ Scharschmidt, and Albert Justin ‘Just King’ Walker built a following with their standout covers of popular reggae tracks that resonate deeply with audiences, while also carving out space with original music of their own. Last Friday, the trio dropped a new song, Sweet Like Sugar and shared another surprise with listeners: a new member.

“Justin or Just King was replaced by Andre, also known as Dre King,” Thomas told The Gleaner about the change in the group following Walker’s departure in February. “Justin is our brother who is super talented, ambitious, and we rate him. He left because he had other obligations. He is involved in a lot of projects, and now, because we’re going super hard, we need a little bit more engagement at this time.”

Thomas said the group had worked with new member Deandre Phillip last year, which sparked a musical connection. “We did a show in December called Kings of Christmas, and we had asked Dre to be a guest singer on the show, so we performed as a quartet for that one performance, but we kept the link,” he shared, promising that Island Kings would have “the same vibe, same flow and energy going forward”.

Speaking of the group’s new song, Sweet Like Sugar, he shared that the single gives a nod to Jamaica’s heritage and culture, and the unmistakable pull of reggae. “Our new song is a reggae song that speaks to us as Jamaicans. I came up with the concept because we needed to start pushing out music. So I thought of our history, culture and influence, but at the end of the day, I went with reggae as that is basically the essence of our musical identity. So the hook came to me first because I thought, if something is sweet, what is it sweet like? And then I remembered my granny saying if something sweet, it must be sweet like sugar, and that was it. All of us wrote the rest of the song. I know it may sound cliché, but our fans truly love the song and have been expressing that to us, so we are pleased that they found favour and meaning with it,” said Thomas.

Intent on charting their own path, the trio of Dre King, King Diel, and Lee King want to not just learn from musical legends, but in time, achieve that status themselves. “We started in idleness at home, doing nothing. I called up the others and said ‘Let’s put out some covers’ and they said yes because they had nothing else doing and in no time, we went viral. Because we didn’t plan it, it kinda took us by surprise. We took a little break, but now we are back, and we have a ton of new songs, and we just want to let people hear our range, versatility, and what we are really about.”

King Diel shared that it was he who came up with the name Island Kings. A former ‘Digicel Rising Stars’ contender in 2019, who made it all the way to third place, Thomas was then a teacher who hailed from the community of Grants Pen, who felt the pull towards music, so it became his passion and purpose. “I knew we needed a name because at first we kept on putting up ‘The three boys’, but we got booked for a show and knew we had to come up with something decent. It seemed suitable because I didn’t want to say Jamaican kings, as we wanted to have a wider mass appeal and represent the Caribbean, so we went with Island Kings, as you know, the region has a shared heritage,” said Thomas.

More new music is on the way from Island Kings. “We have a song called Beautiful due out on Mother’s Day. It is truly a love song, but we are dedicating it to the mothers, as for most people, their first love is their mother. My Bredda Dem will follow shortly after. We have a lot of songs to share, and just let our fans enjoy what we have to offer musically,” he shared.

nicola.cunningham@gleanerjm.com