Jesse Royal ADD

Review

Album Review: Jesse Royal - No Place Like Home

08/29/2025

by Gardy Stein

“Listen! It’s really a blessing, every time you open your eyes, your greatest possession is life!”

This quote from the song Blessing (see below) served both as urgent plea and declaration of intent in a recent IG post by Jesse Royal. The artist narrowly escaped death in a car accident, just a few days prior to the flash release of his new album No Place Like Home – the gratitude for life he expresses in said post is thus genuine and very real! As are the ten novel tracks on this royal baby, out on Easy Star Records.

With production split between Sean Alaric and Andre “Dretegs” Hawthorne (plus occasional instrumental input by the latter’s brother Damian, Nicholas Groskopf, Lord Quest and Llamar "Riff Raff" Brown), the overall sound is modern and innovative. It transcends classic one-drop in songs like Your Soul or the iconic Light Of Mine (which contains the voices of children from the Bronx Charter School for Better Learning - check the video shot in Brazil!), but never strays too far from the creative team’s reggae roots.

Kicking the ride off with a bang, Trod On is a fine example of the craftsmanship involved in both musical and vocal delivery. That bass! Those lyrics! That staccato diction! Another level is added at the end, where snippets from a speech of Burkina Faso’s young military leader Captain Ibrahim Traore bear proof of Jesse’s geopolitical informedness.  

Closer to home, the title track is a love declaration to the island of Jamaica, mentioning many of its sweet peculiarities, while Art Of Love also talks about the everyday struggles of its inhabitants, calling on us to trod Rastafari way: “Seeing you in me, enslaved if you’re not free, embracing humanity…”

All other songs, remarkably, are features. Maybe least surprising is the appearance of fellow lyricist Kabaka Pyramid in Jungle Justice, a warning to every criminal. The two artists, on a militant beat, vividly depict the possible punishments awaiting those who molest children or kill women. Don’t take Rasta kindness for weakness!  

Slower in pace, Yohan Marley joins Jesse in the above-mentioned Blessing, a prayer of gratitude to the Almighty that’s out on video as well. Likewise is Hope, the first single released in August 2023 featuring a fantastic Romain Virgo. “Poor but we ain’t broken!”

Melanie Fiona, a Canadian soul singer, brings in that special female touch with the track Too Late which, as its title says, describes a love story gone wrong. Last but not least, Perfect Giddimani jumps aboard on Kinda Like Me, an afrobeats-flavored production by Yungg Trip. It celebrates the good feeling you get when you love (or at least kind of like) yourself. Niceness!  

With No Place Like Home, Jesse Royal has again proven that he is Grammy material (no wonder, actually, working with producers of which one is Grammy-awarded and the other Grammy-nominated). Take good care of yourself in the future, Sir Royal, so that we can enjoy your music and performances for a long time coming! His advice, meanwhile, coming fresh out of hospital, is this: “Go hug somebody now, send messages to those you love and reconcile with who u think u hate, take the time out to understand this thing called life is truly a gift!”

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