MUMBAI: One of the leading voices of a new generation of female dancehall artists, Ishawna, has teamed up with Ed Sheeran for the ‘Brace It’ music video, Ed’s first official dancehall collaboration.

Written by Cordel ‘Skatta’ Burrell, Ed Sheeran and Ishawna with top Jamaican producers behind the production, modern dancehall hit ‘Brace It’ saw Ishawna officially induct Ed Sheeran into the dancehall fraternity, topping the iTunes Reggae Chart and racking up over 6 million streams.

Directed by Filmheads Cuban director Jose-Emilio Sagaro (Bad Bunny, J Balvin, Anuel AA), the official music video for the single features Ishawna and Ed Sheeran and was filmed between London and Miami, mirroring their long-distance friendship.

Their collaboration came together after Ed Sheeran fell in love with Ishawna’s ‘Equal Rights’ cover of his single ‘Shape of You’ while he was in the Caribbean in 2017. The two began interacting over social media leading to Ishawna sharing another track she was working on. Ed loved it and immediately sent an instrumental and blueprint idea which Ishawna blended into an eclectic mix of strumming guitar and old school dancehall rhythms: ‘Brace It’ was born.

Building a friendship over many weeks of back and forth, they now have a finished music video for the single which is set to introduce the track to an even wider international audience.

Ed says; “Me and (Ishawna) made a tune after me being in love with her Equal Rights cover of Shape Of You. I love her, and loved working with her”.

Ishawna adds; “Working on ‘Brace It’ was such an all around great experience. Creatively everything felt so effortless and easy. Ed is super talented and a joy to work with. I feel so blessed and honoured that I was able to create this amazing song with him. Working on Brace It Video was a great experience. Ed and I were in different countries due to our schedules, so we had to shoot separately. Yet they were still able to come up with a simple yet creative treatment for the video that wasn’t cliche. We had a blast on set, definitely one of the easiest and most fun shoots I’ve ever been on.”

Staying true to Ishawna’s authentic sound and following her direction, ‘Brace It’ features Ed experimenting with patois for his first official dancehall collaboration. Holding a long affinity with Jamaican music and culture with recognisable references in his music, Ed has also dabbled with afrobeats, releasing ‘Peru’ with Nigerian singer Fireboy DML, and hooking up with Stormzy and Burna Boy on ‘Own It’ in 2019.

Established as one of the leading female Jamaican dancehall legacy artists, Ishawna’s success of recent years has secured her first international record deal with New York based Payday Records - responsible for launching everyone from Jay-Z to Jeru The Damaja via Yasiin Bey and Mos Def.

Representing a turning point in her career, the ‘Brace It’ music video is her first official release on Payday Records and marks the beginning of a series of new music releases from Ishawna set for 2023.