‘No Place Like Home’ for Jesse Royal

After getting a "wake-up call" following a near-death experience, reggae maestro Jesse Royal was inspired to release his album, ' No Place Like Home', a project he said he's been "nursing" for some time now.

"It's a shock drop because nobody knew that this was gonna come out. I literally made the decision after the crash - I was like, 'Jesse, yuh need to release the illusion of tomorrow'. Tomorrow is not promised so I was like, go do it now, whatever you have to do, get it done now, put it out now and share it with the world," Jesse Royal told THE STAR.

No Place Like Home is the singer's first full-length album since the Grammy-nominated Royal, which was released in June, 2021. Jesse shared that he is also currently working on another album.

Although the title speaks for itself, the artiste said that in addition to "bigging up Jamaica," No Place Like Home was also a motivation from his musical brother, the late Jo Mersa Marley.

"The concept behind it from the start, was trying to be a lot more intentional suh one of the main inspiration behind the project was my brother Jo Mersa Marley [son of Stephen Marley] who we lost sadly a couple years ago. He inspired the song, Blessing, in which his younger brother, Yohan Marley, sings the chorus. But that was the inspiration behind the project to begin with - tomorrow is really not promised and let's just see how we can give the people all of us," shared the Modern Day Judas singer, adding that, "I'm trying to be more present because every tomorrow will be a today and every yesterday was a today".

Following a horrifying car accident which occurred two weeks ago, in which the artiste suffered a broken arm, he said it served as a reminder to him to start living.

"Some people only remember to live when they are reminded that they can die," said Jesse Royal who repeatedly expressed deep gratitude to have been given a second chance on life.

The 10-track album, which was released on August 29, features a variety of reggae and R&B stalwarts such as Kabaka Pyramid, Perfect Giddimani and blends a smooth reggae-dancehall medley. He said since the release, it has been receiving a lot of support from several international and local supporters and "has been doing well on Apple Music and was even featured on billboards in Eaton Square in Canada".

Jesse Royal said he hopes for the album to have a positive impact both locally and internationally.

" No Place Like Home, Blessing, Kinda Like Me are all songs that are geared towards empowering and rejuvenating people. It's to help them to remember that they were uniquely created and divinely designed and that there will never be another them; and there's a light that they have to find, to make the bigger light shine," he said.

He highlighted his collabs Jungle Justice with Kabaka Pyramid; Perfect Giddimani's Kinda Like Me; and Too Late, featuring Melanie Fiona, the Grammy award-winning R&B singer with Caribbean roots, as some of his favourite tracks on the album.