Love is Wicked, the breakthrough hit for female duo Brick and Lace, turns 15 this year. The song, recorded on the Diwali rhythm, catapulted sisters Nyanda and Nailah “Nyla” Thorbourne to international success.

“We were in Canada writing songs and we got the Diwali track. One of my sisters started singing ‘your love is like rain’, and then we changed the rain lyric to ‘love is wicked’. It’s just basically a song about the duality of the word wicked and how being in a relationship can be so good to you and bad at the same time,” Nyla told the Jamaica Observer.

Love is Wicked was the second single from the group’s major label debut album of the same name, which was released by Geffen/180 Entertainment/Kon Live.

“At the time of writing the song I had just come out of a relationship. I was in love and infatuated with the person, but I couldn’t have the person fully. Nyanda had a similar story with a relationship that she had,” said Nyla.

Nyla remembers the recording session for Love is Wicked.

“We recorded the song at a studio in Canada. While recording the song, we knew it was special. I remember we had a friend in Canada who came by and we played her the demo for the song and she just broke down in tears. That’s when we knew we had something on our hands,” she said.

Although Love is Wicked wasn’t a hit in the United States, it took on a life of its own in several European countries.

“I think we were surprised that it didn’t really do as well in the United States. It was one of the better songs on the album. The label wanted to run with a track featuring Akon and we were like, this is the one that will run. And it did,” Nyla recalled.

Love is Wicked peaked at number 44 in Belgium, number four in France (where it has been certified gold), number two in Portugal (certified gold), 14 in Poland, 13 in Norway, and 27 in Sweden.

The success of the single sent the album into the top 10 of the album charts in France and Portugal.

Said Nyla, “The song was very huge in places like Sweden, France and Germany. Due to the song’s success, we were able to travel across the world and tour all over. It definitely did open a lot of doors and we made really good relationships based on that. It was a blessing and up to this day, there is a Love is Wicked challenge on TikTok and last year it was featured on the Jimmy Kimmel Live show on ABC.”

In the wake of the success of Love is Wicked, Brick and Lace took home several awards at the Youth View Awards (YVAs).

“We were very happy that finally Jamaica received us because we just felt, for a long while, a little overlooked and just kinda not fully accepted. When we got the awards it really solidified our grounding in our country,” said Nyla.

These days, the members of Brick and Lace have more or less put music on hold to focus on various ventures.

In 2015 Nyla was featured on the remix of Major Lazer’s Light It Up which has been certified double platinum in the United States, platinum in the United Kingdom and gold in Australia. The song peaked at number 73 on the Billboard Hot 100, number seven in the United Kingdom, number 14 in France, number 32 in Canada and number two in New Zealand. Today, however, she is focusing on being a mother of two as well as the group’s Love is Wicked fashion line.

Nyanda is also a mother of two.

Said Nyla, “We are always talking about music, so we are working on something for the fans for the summer.”