Spotify has launched Carnival Sounds Live as part of its partnership with Notting Hill Carnival.
Celebrating 60 years of the UK’s biggest celebration of the Caribbean diaspora, the series features live performances of iconic songs associated with Caribbean music legends, alongside new music.
Dancehall artist Shenseea performs Diana King’s ’90s song Shy Guy and her latest single Bruk Sweat, while Original Koffee covers Bob Marley & The Wailers' Three Little Birds, which was first recorded in 1977 at Notting Hill’s Island Studios.
V’ghn completes the line-up with renditions of Kes’ Carnival anthem Hello and his latest track Jab Decisions. All performances are available now on Spotify’s Carnival Sounds playlist.
“Notting Hill Carnival is one of the most important cultural moments in the UK calendar – a celebration of Caribbean identity and creativity that resonates with people from all around the world," said Safiya Lambie Knight, Spotify’s head of music partnerships in the UK. "To celebrate 60 years, we produced Carnival Sounds Live, showcasing some of the most popular artists from the Caribbean right now to cover songs that have soundtracked Carnival over the years."
Notting Hill Carnival is one of the most important cultural moments in the UK calendar
Safiya Lambie Knight
Bob Marley & The Wailers remain the most played Reggae artists in the UK this year on Spotify and have 27.5 million monthly listeners worldwide.
Within Dancehall, the fastest-growing artist among Gen-Z and the most played dancehall artist in the UK this year are Sean Paul and Vybz Kartel, respectively.
Meanwhile, soca is now the fastest-growing genre from the Caribbean in the UK, with listening increasing by 136% since 2020. This year Kevin Lyttle was the most listened to soca artist in the UK , driven by the popularity of 2003 single Turn Me On, followed by Trinidad’s Machel Montano and Kes.
Lambie Knight, who shares V’ghn’s Grenadian and Trinidadian heritage, added: “We also wanted to highlight that Caribbean music is listened to all year round, demonstrated by soca's rise in popularity, to Bob Marley and the Wailers still reaching new listeners, and dancehall connecting with a younger generation, this all speaks to the lasting cultural power of Carnival and the communities behind it.”
