MONTEGO BAY, St James – After some 15 years in the music industry, former member of the Montego Bay-based dancehall group Merital Family, Keneil Merital, is ready to take his solo career to the next level by rebranding to BadGettn.

Though he has officially been solo for the past two years, the change of name, he told the Jamaica Observer West, is necessary as he focuses on pushing his career to new heights with his unique style of music.

Solo career, BadGettn pointed out, has not been easy so far, due to the fast-changing nature of the music industry, but the Montegonian is determined to not let it deter him from pursuing his passion.

“It has not been easy, kind of difficult because of the new era and [basically] new everything; social media and all. I have to catch up with that, I have to keep up with the new people in the music industry at this moment, so I won’t say it is easy, it is a challenge,” he said.

BadGettn has worked on multiple projects since the start of his solo career, with his remix of Burna Boy’s single Ye and his recent track titled Wah Eva, which was produced by Hexmuziq featuring new and upcoming artiste Blvck Angel, being the crowd’s favourites, he told the Observer West.

When asked to describe his style of music, the artiste shared that his style varies, as he produces multi-genre music.

“My musical [style] varies. I do not put myself in a box, I do several types of music, it depends on my mood; it [also] depends on the type of beat. I can come up with anything, at any given time, [depending on] my mood and the beat, so if I get an African beat and due to the mood, I will sing an African song,” he said.

The novel coronavirus pandemic, he expressed, has changed the nature of the entertainment industry, while also forcing entertainers to utilise social media platforms and traditional media to get their music out to the public. But, BadGettn is not discouraged by this. He explained that this has also allowed for some level of creativity as he manoeuvres his way through the pandemic.

“The pandemic has been very rough because it has stopped a lot of things for us. You know dancehall artistes, we gain a lot of business from [performances], especially travelling and so forth, and since the pandemic it has been rough for us, but we still [must] do what we have to do. We still record and put out our music and depend on the platforms, royalties, and dubplates. We bear it same way and we are still doing it because it is our job, we do not know anything else,” said BadGettn.

While he doesn’t oppose doing collaborations with other entertainers, BadGettn noted that he does not see himself working in another dancehall group because he believes that era has long passed.

“They say never say never, but no. The group thing is outdated right now for me. If I should do a collaboration with a friend or work with [another artiste] on a few songs or even an album, I would do it, but solo is the thing for me. I benefit more from that,” said BadGettn.

For his supporters, BadGettn said, new singles and music videos are on the way. He also revealed that an album is in the pipeline to be released in the near future.