Her album, ‘Windrush Baby’ released in 2023, also made number one in the UK iTunes Reggae Chart upon its release.

In an interview with the BBC, she said it was “an honour” to have topped the chart, and that it was “unreal” that she’s made “music history with my reggae roots and passion for mother tongue”. She added that “It’s wild that it’s getting plays all over the world, in Italy, America, Japan, Germany,”

Aleighcia currently hosts the Thursday evening show on BBC Radio Wales, playing a mix of reggae, dub and other music from the 60’s until now. She says music has always been a part of her life: “My parents loved music, neither can sing, but music was always around me, and growing up in a partly Jamaican household, it’s part of their culture, so it was naturally embedded for me.”

She further realized her passion while attending her local youth club, Riverside Warehouse in Cardiff. After going down the typical education route, going to college, university and getting a 9-5 afterwards, she was inspired to invest more into music after an impromptu set at a big gig in Cardiff.

“Whenever I went to shows, I always carried a backing CD with me, and my friends knew this, one of them was DJing and asked if I had any CDs, I did, and I opened the show.

“The next day I handed my notice in, as I realised music was what I wanted to do full-time, and I have been doing it ever since.”

There have been a few reggae events that take place in Wales, such as Reggae Sunday at Clwb Ifor Bach in Cardiff, a popular reggae/dub night. The Reggae & Riddim Festival has been around since 2022 – taking place in Newport, the festival is organized in collaboration with the Rastafari Indigenous Village from Montego Bay. It’s billed big names in reggae such as Maxi Priest, Richie Spice and Gyptian.

Scott herself talked about the surprise people may feel when hearing her, a reggae artist and woman of colour, speaking in a Welsh accent.

“People can’t believe I am a black person with a Welsh accent, because music is so English centred, or London centred,” she said.

“I know what it’s like to be a Welsh artist, and a Welsh artist of colour, and neither is an easy thing so if I can help the next artists coming up, then that’s what it is about.

“West Indian culture has had such an influence on British culture, from the Windrush, which is everything I stem from, so for me to have achieved this is huge, because it’s everything that came before me.

“To have the first Welsh language number one on the iTunes Reggae chart is amazing. From singing at a youth club to having a number one, and proudly placing Welsh-language reggae on the international stage.”

You can listen to Aleighcia’s new single here.

WE DID IT!!!!!!!

First Welsh language song to reach number one on the iTunes Reggae chart!!!!!! Ahhh!!!!!

Diolch o galon pawb

— Aleighcia Scott (@AleighciaSings) March 21, 2025

The video’s retro styling which takes us back to the dusty days of paper, desks and telephones are a breath of fresh air in a music industry saturated with hypermodern cliches or equally gadget laden 80s throwbacks and gives us something to really think about. The gentle nostalgia evoked by the video combines perfectly with the simple yet emotive song which tugs at the heart strings in both its musicality and its lyrical content and marks Celeste once again as a master of combining music with the moving image, a skill she first demonstrated with her incredible song composed for the Waitrose & John Lewis Partnership’s Christmas advert 2020 ‘A Little Love.’

While the John Lewis Christmas ad showed Celeste’s talent for writing to a brief, the work she has done on ‘Love Is Back,’ is very much her own, with the laid back R&B style fitting perfectly to her dusty, emotive vocal style which is in all ways unique and incredibly powerful. The video comes just over a week before Celeste’s debut album ‘Not Your Muse,’ is due to be released a month earlier than planned, a surprise announcement which delighted and pleasantly surprised fans who will find their pre-ordered copies arriving much earlier than expected.

While the exact reason’s behind this decision are not known it is likely that the ongoing coronavirus crisis in the UK, which is now claiming more lives on a daily basis than during the peak of the first wave, which has been the cause of another national lockdown without a clear end in sight may have played a role in this decision. As music fans in the UK settle in for another few months without their beloved live music, Celeste has been kind enough to gift us with one of the most highly anticipated works of recorded music of the year so far, and indeed it was hotly awaited throughout 2020 as well when Celeste was becoming the UK’s newest rising star.

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Celeste’s debut album ‘Not Your Muse,’ releases on the 29th of January and is available to pre-order here, there are also exclusive bundles including hand drawn prints and alternative covers available from the official store, signed copies available from Amazon on CD or Vinyl. The album will also be available on all major streaming platforms from the 29th and can be pre-ordered as a digital download from the iTunes store. With Celeste already looking to be one of the biggest British artists of 2021 this is definitely one to get your hands on.

Jme – Grime MC

Spotify https://t.co/lLM1kXsAso

Apple https://t.co/t63h5Vz3dJ

Tidal https://t.co/CQE7Vio7Dd

Amazon https://t.co/Ke6FZZBwU4 pic.twitter.com/TShx0Hbmrv

— Jme (@JmeBBK) June 1, 2020

This follows numerous ‘Grime MC’ singles including ‘Nang‘ featuring older brother Skepta, released to all platforms earlier this year. So, why did the artist initially choose to keep his music limited to physical copies, and why has he changed his mind now? As he told SK Vibemaker in an interview, “If Youtube and Twitter and Spotify and all this stuff shut down I’m still gonna be spitting bars.”

Primarily, it seems that the reason for this change is that fans so desperately wanted JME’s album to be accessible in every way – especially after waiting four years for new music – and asked him for months. But the full album, uploaded 1st June, coincides with the riots and protests surrounding the killing of George Floyd and many other innocent African-American people at the hands of police. As JME is known for using his music to discuss current affairs and issues, perhaps he is now using it to highlight the social injustice taking place. JME took to Twitter after the tragedy, retweeting various posts and sharing a video of Phillip DeFranco explaining what happened.

Of the 18 tracks included on ‘Grime MC’, fan favourites appear to be ‘Nang‘ and ‘Issmad‘, which have both reached over 600,000 streams on Spotify. With half of the album’s songs being released as singles, all of these have been accompanied by a music video, most recently ‘Live‘ featuring Merky Ace, which shows JME and his collaborator hosting the news. In just over a week, the video has gained 150,000 views.

JME released his first LP ‘Famous’ in 2008 via his own record label Boy Better Know, having spent years in the music industry writing ringtones and working with Skepta. He is now an MC, songwriter, producer, and DJ and has collaborated with many different grime artists.