Young Vincy artiste making musical waves

Kennie Montana’s songs are a true depiction of art imitating life.

And if you doubt that, don’t. He admits it openly and is proud to be able to put what he sees, hears anAd experiences in everyday life into songs people love and chant.

The son of Ken and Nievet Isles is one of a new bunch of local artistes currently making waves in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG).

Kennie Montana, born Kennie Isles, has become known for his songs, “Niceness” (Nu 80s Riddim), “Young Boy (Nu Wave Riddim) and “Horn in yo sleep (Blast off Riddim).

He writes all his songs which are produced by Roshik “Mason Made” Mason. He started doing Soca Music last year with “Horn in yo sleep”, a song that only took off this year.

Vincy Mas 2023 saw the talented singer’s tracks played in almost every fete and on the road, and earned the Queens Drive resident a place performing in almost every all-inclusive fete, including Brunch and Soca, Amgine’s AM, Happymess Color Fete, Worse Behavior, Energy, and J’ouvert on the Beach.

And what is also unique about the humble 22-year-old is that he refused to compete in the local Ragga Soca competition as he had a friend who was competing and did not want to go up against him, but rather to lend him support.

“I don’t think I need to be in competition. I just want to put out good music and people love it and see where I can go from there,” Kennie told SEARCHLIGHT in an exclusive interview on Monday.

Talking about his songs, he said “Niceness” is his favourite, inspired by his travels in the region, and also by beautiful females he saw at home in SVG.

“Inspiration comes from everything around me … stories I heard and things I have seen myself. A lot of the things I sing are reality, things I see, factual.

“Niceness- the inspiration came from- I travel to couple Caribbean islands and I won’t tell no lies, we have some beautiful woman in terms of their appearance, and I generally love Groovy Soca, I am a fan of Mason who build my beats, my mother is a Trinidadian so I know Sparrow and I always had that groovy old school vibe, so with Niceness I was trying to bring back the nostalgia of the 80s vibes.

“It’s a song with a beat a member of the band ‘Touch’ would sing on, so that was the goal of that beat, to bring back the nostalgia of the 80s to the generation today,” the artiste explained of the song which was recorded on the lower level of his Queen’s Drive home.

In relation to his song “Young Boy” featuring “OG Park”, Kennie said that song was influenced by one of his friends who met, and was taken abroad by a non-local about three times his age.

“Young Boy” speaks of an elderly woman partying and spending money and showing love to a man younger than her.

“So I have a partner go down in the Grenadines and a Caucasian woman took him overseas. He never was a man with plenty woman on the mainland and she was partying hard with him.

“He about 24, and she about late 70s early 80s. That was why it was a big topic for me to sing about it because it was really astonishing to see,” Kennie related while adding that the woman took his friend to Canada.

Asked about “Horn in yo sleep”, he said that one speaks for itself when you look at what is going on in the country with infidelity.

“This is me seeing the way females are treating men … wicked,” he said with a laugh.

Kennie declared his love of music which he has been doing “since I one”. He recalls an article in the SEARCHLIGHT which showed him playing the steel pan at age 4.

Also a pan player, having learnt from his father Ken, the talented musician said he last played pan in competition as a member of the Sion Hill Euphonium Steel Orchestra at Panorama 2009, but prefers singing.

He told SEARCHLIGHT he started singing around age 14 or 15 but was initially doing rap and dancehall as a student of the Saint Vincent Grammar School (SVGS). He is a past student of the Kingstown Preparatory School, the Emmanuel High School, Kingstown (EHSK), and the Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Community College (SVCC).

He believes music can take you places and looks up to artistes like Gamal “Skinny Fabulous” Doyle, Kevin Lyttle, and Shertz “Problem Child” James among many others.
“I think the level of music was good this year. It’s always good to see the creatives put out work. I dance to all music.

“Problem Child is one of my favourite artistes but I look up to all the singers who push the thing on an international level which is where we need to be,” Kennie stressed.

He said he thinks his love of music comes from his father.

“Definitely from my dad. He showed me how far music could take me, seeing him going to places like Germany ,China, England playing a steel pan.

“So I always said if I do something in music, I could do the same because music can take you across the world. The biggest inspiration is that he put me on jobs so I know it pays for real. In SVG, it don’t look like music pay but that’s not true because in places like Mustique, people pay so I know it’s a business,” he stressed while revealing he has ongoing discussions for gigs in Tortola and England.

“From the start, for me doing music, was love from the start. People always hear my vibes and dig it so I never got any bad feedback.

“I allow the fans to judge me and they have been showing the love,” he stressed while adding that 2023 has been good for him as he was very active in Vincy Mas with gigs from start to end.

“So I am grateful for that. I did not have a hard time with promoters but I’m not sure about others,” he noted while also explaining that the “Montana” in his stage name comes from his favorite movie “Scarface” where Al Pacino plays drug lord ‘Tony Montana’.

“For next year all I am trying to do is make my music better and better for the people. So they can expect even better from me.

“I will be bringing the best for the people and it will definitely be better as we strive for better. I write songs and wait for Mason to build beats for them,” concluded Kennie, who will be 23 on October 20.