After releasing a slew of singles over the past six years, Jamaican-born UK singer Khalia is blessing her fans with a complete body of work. Her debut EP, Stay True, was released on Friday.

According to the entertainer, the project, which features the likes of multi-Grammy award winning artiste Shaggy and the iconic Tanya Stephens, will showcase who she is at this stage of her career.

“I have been putting out singles so it was definitely a conscious decision that I wanted to put out a body of work. I had never done one before and so probably near the end of 2021, I decided it was time,” she said.

She said she feels “blessed” to have worked with industry stalwarts on the project.

“Shaggy was like a full circle moment for me because he actually introduced me to Tony and so I kinda have him to thank for where I am today in my career to be honest and so because of that it just made sense that my first body of work features Shaggy,” she said, adding “For Tanya now, I knew I wanted a feature with her and we had two songs and decided whichever one she liked would be good for us. Turns out, the one she chose was just perfect for her. The concept, the riddim, how she delivered.”

While admitting that today’s generation of artistes do not particularly care for full-body projects, Khalia said it was important for her as it helps to assess her growth as an artiste.

“I think Beyonce said it, ‘people aren’t putting out albums anymore’ and I think it’s still important. It’s important to have something collective that people can listen to and reference. If they can reference the album to reference a time frame, then it defines who you are as an artiste in that time. If I keep doing singles then what is there to track the development, the growth?”

Against that background, the singer best known for her single ‘Easy’ says she is satisfied with the pace at which her career has developed.

“I started recording music at age 15 but I started working with Tony Kelly’s label in 2017 officially so I been doing this now for about six years and I would say its definitely been steady growth for me. I have been slowly collecting fans over the years,” she said.

Stay True, a seven-track EP, was produced by Tony ‘CD’ Kelly and was released via Ineffable Records. Reggae singers Blvk Hero and Mortimer are also featured on the project.

According to Khalia, Stay True will take listeners on a rollercoaster of emotions as they get a glimpse into her life over the past two years as she put the project together.

“Its just a whole spectrum of emotions is how I would really describe it. There’s love songs there, songs about mental health and friendship, toxic relationships, betrayal, social injustice songs, motivational songs so its a full, emotional situation going on,” she expressed. “I didn’t want it to just have one tone so I wanted to have songs that will evoke different emotions. The way the EP is structured, we take it slow so although you’ll be experiencing all these different emotions. Its not a bumpy ride. It is a rollercoaster but you’ll enjoy the highs and lows.”