Multi-Grammy award winner Ziggy Marley releases his sixth solo studio album, Ziggy Marley, on May 20 via Tuff Gong Worldwide.
Recorded in Los Angeles and produced by Ziggy, the new self-titled album marks his first release in two years, following 2014’s critically acclaimed Fly Rasta, which won the 2015 Grammy award for Best Reggae Album. Available as a 4-panel CD digipack and 180g LP (CD included), the first 500 CD releases in the UK include a free 1 track download of an exclusive acoustic version of Butterflies.
Throughout the course of his three-decade career and 16 albums, Ziggy has built a music legacy worthy of his legendary family name. With seven Grammy Awards and an Emmy to his credit, the humanitarian, singer, songwriter, and producer continually progresses at every turn.
In 2015, Ziggy began crafting ideas for what would become his latest body of work in his bedroom and home studio. For the first time, he didn’t discard any ideas; rather he put everything down admitting, “They’re all connected, and it opened up the scope.” Incorporating that spirit of exploration, he began to look outward at the landscape around him. As the globe cries in pain on a daily basis, he wrote about something everyone can relate to.
A continuation of the Fly Rasta ideology and philosophy, he say’s “I learned so much during that process. Now, I’m taking this mindset and fulfilling a larger dream. I learned how to be more free and not to hesitate when it comes to exploring musical ideas. There’s a big difference lyrically. With my new record, I wanted to address my feelings about what’s happening outside of myself and in the world, how I see what I see, and solutions I have in mind. It’s very confident and direct. My fingerprint is on it more deeply. The world needs this message.”
Recent single Weekend’s Long, an ode to escape and freedom, tempers a timeless reggae beat and island instrumentation with a chantable refrain carried by Ziggy’s instantly recognizable delivery. Elsewhere, Love Is a Rebel offers up a different call-to-arms. “When I was growing up, rebellion meant violence,” he recalls. “Revolution entailed forcibly and physically overthrowing a government. In this day and age when everything is skewed towards division, love is actually the rebellious thing to do. It isn’t to pick up a gun and fight. Everyone’s doing that. Love is the rebel.”
Heaven Can’t Take It provides a vivid perspective, spotlighting Ziggy’s storytelling in the process. “I’m a spiritual person,” he admits. “My father speaks about it more than I do, but we come from the same place, and we’re messengers in this time and age. We’re conduits of higher forces. I wanted to paint a picture that heaven is telling us, ‘Enough killing.’ They’re going crazy up there. Heaven can’t take it anymore. It needs to stop.”
Two songs from the album were recently premiered on a recent episode of the CBS hit series Hawaii 5-0. In the same episode he also made his acting debut playing the character of Bones, a recurring role written specifically for him.
“This album is about the struggle of humanity,” says Ziggy. “I’m not singing about my own struggle but that of the human family—which I feel a strong connection to. I found myself emotionally and consciously affected by the plight of our species in general. We’re all family. We can’t let ego be the driver; truth has to be the driver. We have to help each other.”
Ziggy’s musical history dates back to ten-years-old when he would watch his father Bob Marley record in the studio. His eight-album catalog with the Melody Makers encompasses three Grammy Awards, countless sold out shows, and anthems including Look Who’s Dancing, Tomorrow People, and Conscious Party.
Since making his solo debut in 2003, he received the Grammy Award for ‘Best Reggae Album’ in 2006, 2012, and 2015 in addition to the Award for ‘Best Children’s Album’ in 2011 recognizing his first children’s album Family Time. That same year, he released his graphic novel debut, Marijuanaman.
In 2012, he launched Ziggy Marley Organics, which quickly became a leader in GMO-free coconut oils and hemp seed snacks available in 1000 stores. 2013 saw him achieve a Daytime Emmy Award for I Love You Too and release a children’s book of the same name.
The track list:
Start It Up
Better Together
Amen
Love Is a Rebel
Weekend’s Long
Heaven Can’t Take It
Ceceil
I’m Not Made of Stone
Marijauanamen
We Are More
Butterflies
We Are the People
——————————————————————————————————————————————
Never miss a story! Get your free Noise11.com daily music news email alert. Subscribe to the Noise11 Music Newsletter here
Listen to the Noise11 Music News channel now at iHeartRadio
Follow Noise11.com on Facebook and Twitter
NOISE11 UPDATES are now in Apple News
