Though still young in the music industry, dancehall artiste Atom is hoping to soon break through and start building a legacy that can stand the test of time.

The 19-year-old artiste, given name Alysandro Campbell, told OBSERVER ONLINE that his aim is to create music that will be played repeatedly and will last longer than the usual shelf life of two months. But for now, he said the focus is on making a name in dancehall, no matter how long it takes.

Here are eight questions with up-and-coming artiste Atom:

1. When did you start doing music?

I officially started during the COVID-19 pandemic, but when I was in high school at St Mary’s College in St Catherine— around grade nine— I used to do stage performances at school singing my own songs or I would sing during lunchtime with my friends and draw a lot of crowd. The first song I put out is called ‘G Life’, it’s on my YouTube (Atom ATL), from the early part of my career. The production wasn’t so good because me never have any money; I just called a couple friends and we voice it but my more recent projects are better.

2. How did you know that a career in music was for you?

When I made ‘G Life’ me did like how it sound and it did shock me; I was like ‘A me really write this?’ And I would hear it playing in the school and people did always a say it bad, even teachers and the principal knew about it and liked it because people usually look down on the school but I was promoting the school in a good light. ‘G Life’ is about my high school life, and just the environment and trends back then.

3. Since starting in the pandemic how is your music journey progressing?

It’s kind of up and down still because I never drop any music last year— I think I only did one— so the people dem never did a hear from me. Money wasn’t there to do more still but since this year me drop more music because me more motivated and me get more encouragement from people who hear my music. Plus I am working now, so I can invest more in my music because this is what I want to do with my life. No matter how long it takes, I will keep pushing.

4. What has the response to your music been like?

People love the music. You have a few people who always have something negative to say. Even though I don’t want a whole heap of yes-men around me, I need people who will give constructive criticism too, but it’s mostly good comments me get about my music.

5. What message do you hope to promote?

The message I want to promote is self-belief, and to encourage the youths to work hard and stay in school, and any dreams they have they should push towards it.

6. Considering the kind of new music in dancehall now, how do you plan to stand out?

My charisma, my personality and just my music as a whole and my voice allows me to stand out. Plus, I am not singing about only one type of thing. You know how people who a buss now a just pure chop (scamming) songs, and we kind of tired of hearing that so I branch out and sing songs for the older and younger generations.

7. What does a future in music look like for Atom?

I just want to be different, I won’t say I want to be better than anybody else; I just want to be myself and not follow anybody. Also, I am not singing any songs that are just going to last for two months, I want my songs to live and build a legacy. I want to go international too; I just want to have a global reach.

8. What’s next for you?

People can expect more music videos, more lyrical content, probably a few features and I have a performance coming up as well. By next month my single ‘Fada Fada’ will be released. ‘Fada Fada’ is more explicit and more for the guys in the streets, but I have more uplifting songs and some girl songs coming too.