Singer and songwriter iotosh gets personal on his latest single Perfection, which he says was inspired by his own personal relationship with his wife.

Perfection was written, produced, and mixed by iotosh.

It was released on June 20 via Sound Ting.

“Perfection is a song about fighting for love, fighting to be a better partner, a better person in general. Of course, it is inspired by my own relationship; my wife is one of the most amazing humans I’ll ever know. Her greatness inspires me to strive for perfection, because what’s a relationship if it isn’t inspiring you to grow and be a better person? Everyone has faults, but we have to own up to our shortcomings and try to do better,” iotosh said in an interview with the Jamaica Observer’s Splash on Thursday.

Perfection is the follow-up to Fill My Cup, his breakthrough song which was released last year. The official remix of Fill My Cup features reggae artiste Protoje.

In a career spanning less than four years, iotosh has received some impressive accolades. He was recently recognised by US music streaming platform
Pandora as an Artiste to Watch.

Then, on Wednesday, the Recording Academy in the United States, which governs the activities surrounding the Grammy Awards, named him among their list of 10 Artistes Shaping Contemporary Reggae.

Said iotosh: “When Pandora announced me as an Artist to Watch I was grateful for the recognition. At that point, I was just beginning to focus more on my artistry, which meant dialling back on my production side, which is what most people knew me for. I took it as validation that I made the right decision and that the music is genuinely connecting with the people. It’s the same feeling even now with the Recording Academy recognising me as one of 10 Artists Shaping Contemporary Reggae Music.”

iotosh is gearing up for several high-profile gigs including SummerStage Federation Sound 25th anniversary in New York and the Jamaica Rum Festival (New Wave stage) both in July.

“In New York, I’ll be sharing the stage with legends like Sister Nancy, Tanto Metro and Devonte, Mr Lexx, Tifa, and more. As far as preparation, there are usually rehearsals before a show, but I regularly practise my singing and instruments at home — it keeps me sharp and ready for anything. It’ll be the biggest venue I’ve ever performed at [Coney Island Amphitheatre has a capacity of up to 5000 people], so it’s exciting,” he shared.

He continued: “For the New Wave stage at the Jamaica Rum Festival, you can expect an energetic live performance with the band. I’m just looking forward to sharing good energy with the audience and giving the best performance possible.”

iotosh’s debut EP, which is still untitled, is expected to be released later this year.

“For the EP, most of the music is done by me — in terms of writing, production, and mixing. On the technical side, I’m working with great engineers such as Fumiaki “Superman” Ogata [recording] and Xavi “Lek” Farre [mastering]. Most of the artwork so far has been done by Khari Gordon. This body of work is really an introduction to iotosh as an artiste; it’s important for me to establish exactly who iotosh is and what I’m about, so there’s no new features in terms of other artistes. I’ll be saving those for the album.”

The artiste said he considers himself well-rounded and versatile. Still, he is impacted by his life experience, so he is able to connect with others on a deeper level.

While he continues to focus on putting out his own material, iotosh has been busy producing for other artistes.

“Outside of my own songs, I’ve still been producing for other artistes. Earlier this year I produced Protoje’s 30 Million, and we’re working on a few tracks for his next album. I’m executively producing Kyraxx’s upcoming EP, which is also due later this year. I have a few juggling rhythm the works, as well as one-off singles with artists that I’ll be releasing through my production label,” iotosh explained.

A three-time Grammy nominated producer, iotosh is part of an exciting new era of Jamaican music which includes contemporary acts such as Koffee, Chronixx.

Born Iotosh Poyser, he attended Wolmer’s Boys’ School in Kingston and later Munro College in St Elizabeth. It was during his tenure at Wolmer’s that his passion for music developed.

“While I was attending Wolmer’s, I saw someone messing around with a programme called Fruity Loops. At that time I had a keyboard and I used to make beats on it. So that’s where it all began,” he said.

His first major production came in 2020 when he produced three tracks, including the title to singer Jah9’s Note to Self album on VP Records. He has production credits on Lila Ike’s EP, The Experience, Protoje’s In Search of Lost Time, and Jesse Royal’s
Royal.

iotosh has also collaborated with Koffee (he produced her hit
West Indies) Kabaka Pyramid, Chronixx, Leno Banton, Royal Blu, Black H3ro, Jaz Elise, and Kyraxx, with whom he founded the label Sound Ting.