Armanii Moodie once had no interest in pursuing a career in music but it took control.

The artiste recalled that one day, while walking by a classroom at Kingston College, he heard musical instruments being played and, upon entering the room, a few students were observed singing a Romain Virgo song. He joined them. From then on there was no turning back for him.

“The teacher inside the classroom said, ‘Moodie, I never know you could sing.’ The next day we were in music class, and she asked me to sing. Some time after that, some people from JCDC [Jamaica Cultural Development Commission] came by and said they wanted us, me and a next student, to enter the Festival of Performing Arts. So we practised Christopher Martin and Romain Virgo’s song Leave People Business Alone for about a month. When the competition came around, we won the regional finals and then the national finals,” Armanii recalled.

That experience led Armanii away from thoughts of athletics to contemplate a career in music.

“It made me start to take music seriously. I started to write original songs, but I had to keep the songs simple because I was a teenager at the time,” said Armanii.

He currently has one of the biggest hits of the summer with
Haad (Fiesta), a DJ Mac/Crash Dummy production which has scaled several charts locally and regionally.

He said the success of the song caught him by surprise.

“I’m going to keep it real. No, I never expected the song to be as big as it is. I expected it to be just a normal song and trend for a week and then mi haffi put een the work again fi get a next one. I mean one billion streams in one week,” Armanii told the Jamaica Observer.

Prior to Haad (Fiesta), Armanii created an impact within the dancehall space with songs including Dunce Barbie, Wild, Wikid FaceTime, and Party Time.

Armanii had built up a strong fan base on social media platform
TikTok on which he uploaded videos that attracted millions of views.

“The fans that love laughter and somebody who is down to earth, they gravitated towards me. The first video that I uploaded accidentally went viral. I woke up to about 5,000 new followers and more than 200k views,” said Armanii.

Asked how he was able to transition from being a TikTok sensation to an actual recording artiste, Armanii said: “It was easy because I already had the fan base, but I had to make sure that the music sounded good.”

Originally from Kencot in the Corporate Area, Armanii also resided in the Waltham Park Road and Waterhouse communities before migrating to the United States.

“Growing up in the ghetto has some of the best memories in life. Those experiences made me the man that I am today. Those memories play a key role in people’s lives,” he reasoned.

He recently became the father of a son, Azarri.

“Being a father has made me more responsible, made me more mature, I have suppen fi live fah. Mi haffi be a man now, cyaan just a play play roun’,” Armanii shared.

His mother, who is a pastor, has always been supportive of his career choice.

“A mummy prayers. Big up yuhself, Mummy. She’s a pastor and she can sing too; is she me get the singing from,” said Armanii.