Weaned on the music of balladeers like Dennis Brown and Beres Hammond, singer G Cole knows the impact of lovers rock reggae. ‘I’m in Love’, his latest song, has the elements of that classic sound.
The self-produced single was released in March.
“There’s a certain level of nostalgia that comes with lovers rock, and men and women yearn for the times when they could get really close and dance in a party or dancehall,” said G Cole. “I also think every time a true artist listens to a great lovers rock record, they yearn to create their own, to join the ranks of many of the greats they saw their parents dance to.”
Inspired by the rock steady genre of the late 1960s in Jamaica, lovers rock exploded in the United Kingdom during the late 1970s through artists like Sugar Minott, Janet Kay, Carroll Thompson and Vivian Jones. Maxi Priest and Peter Hunnigale were among its biggest stars in the 1980s.
In recent years, lovers rock has enjoyed a revival thanks to songs like ‘Walk Away from Love’ by Bitty McLean, who like Kay, Thompson, Priest and Hunnigale, was born in the United Kingdom to Jamaican parents.
The South Florida-based G Cole is eager to tap into that resurgence.
“I’ve been in a nostalgic mood lately, and this song is just a result of that. I really wanted to create a song for grown folks to groove to, and I think we did that,” he said.
‘I’m in Love’ paves the way for G Cole’s fourth album which is tentatively scheduled for release in April. ‘This Music 2.0’, his previous album, was released in 2023.
