Jermaine Balance Channels Jamaica’s Road Woes Into New Single The Roads

Jermaine Balance is putting a familiar national frustration into song with The Roads, his new single released on May 26 on Di Genius’s Hill & Gully rhythm. The recording artiste says the track takes aim at the condition of Jamaica’s road network, an everyday concern for motorists and commuters dealing with bad surfaces and traffic pressure.

The entertainer, whose birth name is Jermaine Richards, said the idea came from what Jamaicans are now seeing and enduring across the island. “The inspiration for this song arose by the present road situation our country is facing right now,” he said.

Although The Roads appears on the well-known rhythm, Jermaine Balance said the single was handled through his own operation. “I am producing this song through my company, Spanish Town Records. It is a self-produced single,” he explained.

Since the May release, he said the reaction has given him confidence that the record is connecting with listeners. “The listener feedback has been great. People are gravitating to the song as it is an issue that we are all faced with daily,” he noted.

Jermaine Balance comes from St John’s Gardens in Spanish Town, St Catherine. He said his music journey began in the late 1990s, and over the years he has done recordings as well as live appearances. “I’ve been an artiste since the late 90s, did a few recordings and stage shows over the years. My last stage show was Ghetto Splash 2024,” he said.

Asked what makes his work different, he pointed to the way he shapes real-life Jamaican experiences into music. “My storytelling skills and the way my songs relate culturally,” Jermaine Balance said.

His catalogue includes Girlfriend, which was released in 2007. He has also put out two songs from an EP that is still being developed.

As he plans his next moves, Jermaine Balance said a collaboration with Bounty Killer is high on his wish list, describing the dancehall veteran as an influence on his career. “I would like to collaborate with Bounty Killer. He is an artiste that has motivated me over the years and he always does good collaborations,” he said.

With fresh material now out and a bigger body of work in progress, Jermaine Balance said he wants the coming years to take him onto more stages and beyond Jamaica. “Doing a lot of shows and touring the world to spread my music,” he said of his five-year outlook.