Hot ‘riddims’ and hit songs are critical to achieving dancehall glory. Twiggi, who started her career during the late 1980s when the ‘riddim’ craze was taking off, has a method for selecting that winning beat.

However, she told OBSERVER ONLINE things have changed since then.

“Riddims are sent to me on a regular basis, I listen first and foremost then if I get an instant vibe and lyrics start to flow I know that I need to voice on it. Whereas back in the ‘90’s, choosing a riddim was a different process. Once you were with a particular stable or crew, the riddims were presented to all artistes involved and it was up to us to come up with something that is pleasing to the producer. If he turned our effort down, we would just lose out on the chance to be on that particular production,” the veteran singer explained.

Over the years, Twiggi has done songs on dancehall’s most vaunted rhythms. They include the revamped Tempo (Want It, with Buju Banton) and Far East (Where Did The Love Go) as well as Champion (Too Late), all produced in the 1990s by Donovan Germain for Penthouse Records.

“I was a Penthouse artiste at the time and all these riddims carried some big bass lines with smooth, mellow tones. As you hear them you want to dance, not to mention all my brand name stablemates were voicing on them so I could not afford to be left out of the juggling,” she said.

Those stablemates included Buju Banton, Wayne Wonder and Cutty Ranks who helped make Penthouse Records a dancehall force during the 1990s.

Do That, Twiggi’s latest song, is recorded on the This is It rhythm, produced by singjay Master Recka. Its retro sound appealed to her.

“This is It stood out to me because of its ’90’s undertone and style, mingled with a hint of current, youthful sounds. Right away, I felt that it was perfect as I was searching for something along those lines to bring out the older sounds in me,” she said.