Up-and-coming artiste Jahzeal is hoping to carve out a niche in the dancehall industry with his ‘souls-dancehall’ songs.

The artiste, whose given name is Miguel Murray, told OBSERVER ONLINE that he discovered his love for music at church when he was younger. He started doing music professionally in 2012.

Having released some singles earlier this month, including ‘Knockist’ and ‘Night Dew’, Jahzeal believes he is on track to being one of the best the industry has to offer.

“When I went to high school, I fell in love with instruments – with the bass guitar – and my music teacher insisted that I sing in the choir. At the time I didn’t really like singing because the voice that came out was not a masculine one,” Jahzeal said.

“When a friend asked me to join the singing group, I told him I wouldn’t.  I told him that I am an instrumentalist and he said to me ‘you have a talent, you need to use that talent and don’t let God take it back’ so that’s when I thought maybe I am a singer and not an instrumentalist,” he explained.

Jahzeal added that he went on to study banking and finance at the University of the West Indies, Mona but dropped out after a year to focus on music.

“I stopped to focus on music specifically, because I mean, if that’s your calling then it is just your calling; I have to do that. I can’t have the calling of a musician and focus on being a chartered accountant,” he said.

As for his 10-year music career, Jahzeal said that it is going great so far because he tends to tackle new beats and trends well. With his songs being well received by listeners, the artiste is poised to make waves in the music industry.

“I did ‘Knockist’ a year ago, presently it has been officially added to the Spotify playlist where I am garnering a lot of traction from that song. I did a release on April 9 that I am getting huge reactions from that’s called ‘Night Dew’ and this one is focused on females specifically,” Jahzeal explained.

Unlike most young artistes, Jahzeal disclosed that there aren’t any established artistes that he looks up to. Instead, he is a part of a group called ‘Vagabondz’ which includes three other up-and-coming artistes who give him feedback whenever he embarks on a project.

“I work with a team called ‘Vagabondz’; we are a syndicate. There are four artistes within the syndicate and they are my mentors so whenever I am writing they are there. If it’s not good they will tell me or advise me how to do it and we work together because if they are writing it’s just the same. They are my mentors as I am their mentor as well,” he said.

When asked what he hopes to accomplish in his music career, the 29-year-old disclosed that he hopes to use his art to create happiness in those who listen to his music.

“I love happiness and if I am able to accomplish a career where my music is so good that persons are happy from it, not just in Jamaica, then that is my ultimate goal,” he said.

Jahzeal’s music can be found on YouTube and other streaming platforms.