Twenty-year-old Guyanese Reggae artiste Naomi ‘Young Royalty’ Horsford, who left these shores three years ago to pursue studies in music in the United Kingdom, is home for several months and has a full agenda of what she intends to do as it relates to her music career and social cohesion in Guyana.
Her visit back home is for several reasons. Naomi plans on having the videos for her EP and her singles shot and produced here. In addition, she is hoping also to create a music collective of Guyana’s best artistes, which also provides up and coming singers with the opportunity of signing on with her label, Grassroots. At present, she is the vocalist of a five-member band.
She is also working on a local headwrap line that will be launched early next year before April month end when she leaves again for London. Her most important reason for being here, the singer let on, is to vote at Guyana’s general elections next year.
Naomi believes that the only political party that caters for all Guyanese despite their race is A Partnership for National Unity Party, which she strongly supports and hopes that her talent will allow her to influence persons in choosing Guyana’s next president. She did not wish to disclose to the public just yet, how she intends to do this though she did let The Scene in on her secret and so far, things are certainly looking up.
During her time away, Naomi has been around the UK trying to make a name for herself. She has had some bitter-sweet experiences, but nothing bad enough to deter her from following her dreams. Naomi revealed that she auditioned for X Factor and Britain’s Got Talent but was not shortlisted for either show. She said the judges told her she was talented, but they did not believe that Reggae was her calling. However, that is the genre she is passionate about.
Also, during this time that she suffered both musically and personally which led to her penning a song called “Victim”, that talks about breaking the stereotypes, refusing to be a victim of any system that limits you from being yourself.
She said her backbone and strongest support, her mom, would not let her give up and encouraged her to search online for a Reggae competition to participate in. She struck gold when she came across a link for Britain’s Got Reggae (BGR). However, the competition catered for participants that are 18 years and older and Naomi had not yet attained the age of 18. Determined more than ever, she played one of her songs called “Invasion” which impressed Director of BGR Cyrlene B. They could not break the rules just for her but allowed her to be on the show without competing. She performed as a guest artiste at both the semi-finals and finals of the competition. Naomi was after given the privilege of signing a one-year contract with the director as her manager and with whom she had the chance to do a tour in England and perform at different concerts around the country.
Cyrlene B also gave Naomi the opportunity of her life. Naomi told The Scene, “Every year the winner of the Britain’s Got Reggae Competition gets the opportunity to perform at the Rototom Festival [Rototom Sunsplash is a large European Festival that attracts thousands of Reggae fanatics from around the world. They camp out for an entire week in August participating in the Reggae music and culture] in Spain. This is like the big prize for the winner and they sign a contract for a year also. At this point she was already co-managing me and she calls me up and said ‘I think that I might get you on Rototom’ and I was like ‘What!’ and was screaming then she told me I could only do like one song and it would have to be the opening act and I told her I’d take it! I was Googling to see whether any Guyanese has ever performed at Rototom and didn’t find any other Guyanese except myself that performed there, so I made history as the first Guyanese to perform on that stage. I performed there. I did an opening act, so I sang one song, but it was amazing, my own original piece ‘Teach Meh Please’ and it was amazing, a beautiful experience. They were loving the music and loving the energy and vibes. Persons were there camping out and bush cooking but myself and other performers, we weren’t camping, we were glamping; we had luxury tents with blowup beds off the ground….”
Aside from her music, Naomi attended the East Berkshire College where she completed a diploma in Health and Social Care and also a diploma in music at the Access to Music, The Creative College.
Once she returns, Naomi will be doing a tour in Europe while directing from overseas her fashion business here in Guyana.
