Raised in a small family home in the commonwealth of Dominica out on the eastern edge of the Caribbean Sea, the musical artist Rhettie, working in Houston, has designs on the world.
He is beginning his run with “Wine Pon It,” a fun dance number that is, as he describes it, “high energy.”
“It’s a feel-good record, something people can enjoy, something you can dance to, vibe to,” he said.
And that is good for wherever you are, he says, in your own personal space, in public, or in the car.
“You know? Going to the club or you’re going out with friends and you need something to hype you up. It’s that type of song. It’s a good energy, a high-energy song.”
It can even, he said, be useful in a workout.
He has been writing a lot of music for several years but not putting much out. The change is reflected in the history of “Wine Pon It.” This is its second release. The first was a couple of years ago.
“It had a hundred thousand views on Spotify, but I had to get the song remixed and mastered with a new engineer because I was looking for a specific sound, and I finally found an engineer that could help deliver that sound.”
This version is more energetic, with a quicker beat and lusher instrumentation than the original. It is where Rhettie wants to go.
“I’ll be putting out music every month, dropping at least one record every month, now that I finally found the engineer that I enjoy working with, who is good.”
He has a couple of singles “in the chamber, ready to be released, that the world is going to love.” He is eager to put more tracks out into the world.
“I want to be in a position where I can create music that people enjoy, and I want to impact the world with my music. I had a very musical cultural background. Music was just life. Music is healing. Music is energy. Music brings you up, brings you down. If life don’t have music, life feels empty, because anything you do in life, there’s music to it.”
On the island where he grew up, his father was a renowned player of steel pans — a percussion instrument made from the bottoms of 55-gallon drums, tuned by bending them.
Rhettie fell under the spell of Michael Jackson, Sean Paul, Bob Marley, Ludacris, Drake, Maroon 5, Lil Wayne, and Zouk, the dance music of the island chain that includes Dominica.
The title “Wine Pon It” is an island phrase from back in the days when “music was love, when people used to be dancing on each other. They still have that culture in the Caribbean.” If a girl is wining on you, he said, “she’s putting that dance work on you.”
For all its energy, he says the song is nothing compared to what he has coming.
The immediate goal is to drop music consistently, tour, get some Billboard hits, be, in short, “a major singer/songwriter … an international artist.” And he would like to get into movies as well.
“I want to be in all things entertainment,” he said.
“Wine Pon It” features two people who are with him a lot, Jacob Andrew and Roy Dizle.
“Jacob is like my DJ. He’s a DJ Khaled, Major Lazer, Tiesto kind of guy. Roy is a person who helps me work on my records. We’ve been working together and making beats since high school.”
Rhettie wants to leave a mark, to build a legacy of music that people can enjoy.
“I want to carve my name into the ages,” he said.
Get connected to Rhettie on all platforms for new music, videos, and social posts.
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