Lipstyck intent on building career

Dancehall singjay Lipstyck is all smiles these days as her song, 'OMG' crested the one million-view mark on YouTube earlier this month.

"I am so overwhelmed ... . the response from my fans online has been phenomenal. It feels great because I have great chemistry with St Owen Records, and I am so excited. I am ready to do it again," said the artiste, whose given name is Saphire Francis.

Though a certified cosmetologist and nail technician, music is her true love.

At age 17, Francis started visiting different studios meeting new people. She enrolled at the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts School of Music and began to spread her wings doing radio jingles.

She landed a gig as one of the backup singers for dancehall superstar Shaggy at a reggae award show.

Not long after, she landed opening-act gigs for Pinchers and Sanchez. But in her sophomore year at Edna Manley, she got pregnant.

She took a few years off and weighed her options.

"I am very patient because I believe in myself. even if I have to stop and take five years to make it in music, I will take the time and keep going. When one door closes, another opens," she said.

She did not return to complete her degree but continued to write songs and hone her craft, and in 2013, she released her first professionally mixed and mastered studio song, You and Me, on the Savali rhythm for Digital Vibez Entertainment, a local-based label.

She caught the eye of RDX and began to work closely with them, rebranding herself as 'Lipstyck'.

In January 2016, she released the singles Drunk AF, and the suggestively named Inches, both under RDX's Apartment 19 music label.

However, she never signed to RDX, and she formed a partnership instead in late 2016 with St Owenz Records.

Over the next two years, she released a battery of songs, including Unstoppable Warrior and Secret, featuring Netherlands-based artiste B3nji, before releasing OMG.

"I am so excited about the possibilities of what the future holds. there is interest in me doing shows in Europe and the US," she said. In the meantime, Lipstyck is taking piano and guitar lessons to further hone her skills.