KINGSTON, Jamaica — Fast-rising recording artiste Skystar has made a stronger name for himself after being nominated for a JUNO Award in the Reggae Recording of the Year category. He earned the nomination for the project Sky’s The Limit.

The Canadian-based act noted that although he knew the body of work was of high quality, the nomination was a pleasant surprise.

“I looked past the nomination a long time ago, before I even got nominated. I was just thinking about the next move, the next project. I wanted the nomination, but I wasn’t set on it,” Skystar told Online Observer.

The project features production by Vigilanti Entertainment, whose founder, Dean Mundy, also manages the artiste, as well as production work by Diet Monkey Entertainment, and Cornatrendz Music.

The EP earned several recognitions across Canada since its release under a year ago.

Skystar, who is originally from Kingston, further said that he is hopeful he will cop the prestigious award, although the nomination already speaks volumes to his talent.

“I’m semi-optimistic. I try not to worry about it, the outcome nor the expectations. I’m just doing the work, and whatever happens, happens. If I win, that would be great; if I don’t win, that would still be great. That would show me what to do next time and how powerful the music is,” he reasoned.

In the meantime, Mundy is pleased with the trajectory of the project and is confident that the artiste will see exponential growth.

“We were really just setting a foundation by creating a body of work so that we could move away from releasing pure singles. We expected it to do good, meaning to open some doors and create some introductions, but the EP has far surpassed where we thought it would’ve ended up. Ironically, in a time of fast-paced music where the consumers are just digesting music and moving on, the EP is still growing,” he told Observer Online.

With approximately three decades of experience in helping to mould many dancehall and reggae greats, Mundy added that he is intentional about curating quality productions.

“There is no formula to decide what the public will ever ‘digest,’ per se. What happens is that I have a standard and a style that I believe in that has worked more often than not, so it has given me more faith in my style of doing stuff. Fortunately for me, most times I’m at the drawing board, and it works,” he said.

The JUNO Awards will take place on March 30 at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia.

-Kediesha Perry