Lila Iké ADD

Review

Album Review: Lila Iké - Treasure Self Love

08/22/2025

by Gardy Stein

Debut album? Really? Some artists are so present on the contemporary music scene that it almost comes as a surprise when they announce their first. This is true for Lila Iké, especially after her critically acclaimed EP The ExPerience back in 2020, which presented memorable tracks like I Spy, Second Chance or Where I’m Coming From to the world. Much has happened since then: the Protoje protégé has all grown up, rocks big international stages and now delivers her first full album called Treasure Self Love.

As in her previous work, the creation of the music was entrusted to several producers (e.g. Noah Ehler, D.K. the Punisher, New Machine, Tim Suby, Cadenza and Nana Kwabena), guaranteeing a variety of sounds and ideas to shine. The main share of songs and the executive production, however, laid in the able hands of the artist herself and Protoje, with additional expertise flowing in from talented Ziah. Push. It’s this trio plus LA composer Jonah Christian that created the opening track Scatter, a fervent prayer biblically inspired by Psalm 68:1. While the general beat is dynamic, powerful, almost militant, the intro and extro are formed by an acoustic guitar playing to the backdrop of a crackling fire as well as vocal snippets of Peter Tosh, and at the end we hear Lila citing the late great Garnett Silk’s Complaint. “The light of hope is still shining!”

This form of tribute paid to the early representatives of the genre (and probably some of the artist’s biggest influences) can be heard throughout the album – a wonderful reminder of the greatness established by previous generations. Most obviously, this is brought across in the cover Romantic, a fine remake by producers Juls and Dunw3ll of Patra’s 1993 hit Romantic Call. While the original featured female rapper Yo-Yo, Miss Iké chose Dancehall icon Masicka to sizzle up di ting together with her, and, please, do watch the video  to catch all of the visual niceness included! Says Lila about this track: “[It] is my way of paying homage to dancehall and of course the queens who made space for us – women like Patra, who taught us how to be bold, sensual, and unapologetic. I wanted to tap into that energy, which is very me anyways.” Feminine power to di max!

New York, Paris, London, Jamaica, Japan, Egypt… All Over The World! Another nod to musical history, this song draws inspiration from Rascalz & Barrington Levy’s classic Top Of The World, with Protoje himself appearing as feature. In the accompanying visuals, the two artists and their crews almost outdo each other in swag and coolness, and in large part this is due to the mad artwork of director Samo as well as the stylists, of course. Big up to the team behind the scenes!

Love In A Lovely Way finally, a calm piece produced by Jindasounds, even brings Garnett’s voice to the fore with portions of his sweet Place In Your Heart to which Lila sings in a goosebumps-inducing duet. Can we please have more songs bringing back the masters from the past?    

Alive and kicking, other features include US rapper Jowy Bada$$, who certainly had the time of his life shooting the Fry Plantain visuals in Jamaica, and Maveric Sabre in All That And More, a gentle encouragement to be yourself, happy or sad, male or female, broken or whole – “give me just the real thing!”.

In He Loves Us Both, Californian singer Gabriella Wilson aka H.E.R. joins Lila on the topic of how complex and difficult love can prove to be sometimes. Western society has propagated the ideal of monogamous relations for so long that other forms of partnership seem immoral, yet polygamy remains a valid option in many cultures around the globe and it is a courageous move to bring this discussion up, and from a female point of view at that. To put it in the singer’s words: “Yes this sounds strange for sure, but don’t be too quick to judge.”

The four remaining songs are powerful solo deliveries, including the Winta James production Too Late To Lie and the tender Sweet, both exploring novel ways of imagining reggae. While the latter already is very personal, we are allowed an exceptionally deep insight into Lila’s inner world and emotions in Brighter Days and especially Serious, which also contains a poem that kind of sums up the whole concept of this album: “My whole life I’ve searched for a feeling, one that mirrors my soul, something I could count on to heal my pain and make me whole. Today I found that treasure within myself, and it warms my heart. The purest love I know is through my own work of art. Treasure self love.”
Reggae, dancehall, soul, R&B, Hip Hop – Lila Iké got it all, with a vocal command that’s truly exceptional. Treasure Self Love is not only an impressive musical oeuvre, but also an important message to each and every one of us: you have to love yourself first before you can share the love with anybody else!

---

Release details