Chronixx Makes Appearance At Reggae Boyz Training Session, Fans Ask ‘Where’s The Album?’

Chronixx‘s appearance at a recent Reggae Boyz training session ahead of their World Cup Qualifiers against the Dominican Republic tomorrow has stirred speculation not only about his interaction with the footballers but also reignited curiosity about the release of his long-awaited Dela Splash album.

On Tuesday, the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF), the governing body for football in Jamaica, shared a slew of photos on Instagram featuring the Here Comes Trouble singer with the national football squad.

“Look who stopped by our training today! 👀🙌🏽Chronixx,” the Federation said of the singer, who has in the past called football “the greatest sport.”

Chronixx (center). Photo/Instagram: @jff_football

Many of the JFF’s followers cheered Chronixx along, some pointing back to Jamaica’s Road To France Campaign leading up to the 1998 World Cup finals, where numerous artists visibly poured their full support behind the national football team, which went on to qualify.

“During our entire 98 World Cup qualifications journey we had the artists and many many others visiting the camps. They had school children and even the Manning and DaCosta cup teams and had regular fans visiting training sessions. It brought a whole different vibe. Maybe they trying hard this methodology again,” one man noted, while another woman expressed the same sentiments albeit in lesser words adding: “It’s a good look. Kinda reminds me of the 98 WC”.

“Love the approach! Connect back with the fans, need the stadium packed for matches. More of this! 👏🏾👏” another urged.

Other people, though, expressed concern that Chronixx had seemingly been keeping a low profile and that Dela Splash was still unreleased after more than two years.

Chronixx. Photo/Instagram: @jff_football

“Since he’s there with yall… ask him bou the album,” one persaid said, to which another football fan added: “Right! Bcuz him a do everything except put out new music”.

Of Chronixx’s low profile, leonson_samuels mocked: “Me feel that man reach a zion to how long me nuh see or hear nothing bout him”.

In December 2021, Chronixx had explained that Dela Splash, his highly-anticipated, but overdue sophomore album, would not be released any time soon, as daddy duties had taken precedence.

Dela Splash had been initially slated for release in the Summer of 2020, but, after the album did not materialize, speculations were rife that it had been delayed due to the pandemic.

However, Chronixx had explained in a Rolling Stone interview that the delay had to do with the fact that he was spending time raising his then two-year-old daughter, whom he had said in a past interview he planned to bring on the road with him as much as possible.

“It wasn’t what I was expecting, but really, there was nothing I could expect. It was a new feeling, and I was not ready to leave her to do anything. The pandemic was the perfect time for a father to be beside his daughter and also a good time to create,” the Skankin Sweet singer had explained.

In early March 2020, two weeks prior to New York City going into lockdown due to COVID-19, Chronixx had staged a listening session at the Harman Store in Manhattan, where he shared, along with several other tracks, the album’s first single, Dela Move, which was laid on Trap-infused Dancehall beat.

At that time, Chronixx had revealed to Vanity Fair magazine, that the album would be what he described as “dark”. “The main word I would use is dark…It’s so much darker than anything else I’ve ever done,” he had revealed.

In March 2021, the Spanish Town native had also released Safe N Sound and later Freedom Fighter in August.

Following the album’s listening, Billboard noted that among the album’s other songs were Jordan River, which was a blend of vintage blues and contemporary hip-hop; Nobody, which “incorporates African guitar flourishes and a subtle dancehall lilt”; Same Prayer, which is a blend of Reggae, jazz, and R&B; and the Hip-Hop-Influenced Darker Dayz.

Chronixx’s 2017 album, Chronology, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Reggae Albums chart and also earned the St. Catherine High School Old Boy a Grammy nomination.

He had told Billboard in March 2020, that for Dela Splash, he had recorded each of the songs “straight through…then took the best from those recordings and comped them together and that there was a lot of “learning and experimenting on the album because he was “stepping out of his comfort zone”.

In another Billboard interview, Chronixx explained that a primary objective in making Dela Splash was building upon the musical range he incorporated into the production of Chronology. “Dela Splash is like what I would do on a mixtape: exploring sounds limitlessly because you don’t have to worry about clearing samples, so you put everything you want on it and come up with a recipe for your next thing… I am looking at this long road ahead of producing, writing and making music and I’m not just going to do one-drop Reggae or Dancehall songs. Now is a good time to be authentic and explore all the music that I like,” he had explained.

Chronixx had also said that he co-produced several of the tracks and compared his approach to “what hip-hop artists do, putting different things together and rapping on top of it.”

He had also explained that most of the project was completed in various locations, including hotel rooms and his home studio—wherever he could set up and that he had used the same microphones, sang into his laptop, and added harmonies and instruments. The instrumental overdubs, he had said, were recorded in studios in London and Los Angeles with musicians from Africa, America, and Jamaica.

Rolling Stone noted that during the pandemic, Chronixx worked on extensive music projects, including an album with Zinc Fence Redemption and an instrumental project with his brother Universal and wife Kelissa.

“The long-delayed Dela Splash may never be released, but the songs he recorded for it will make their way out to the world, Chronixx promises,” the publication had noted.

The Dela Splash album is named after the now-defunct annual concert in De La Vega City, Spanish Town, where Chronixx was born. According to its founders, the Dela Splash show originated in 1982 to help the community football team raise funds for purchasing gear for a local competition.

Due to the number of Reggae and Dancehall luminaries who lived in and around Spanish Town, the footballers had decided to put on a stage show to raise funds.

The first event featured the likes of Papa San, his brother Dirtsman, Anthony Red Rose, Buccaneer, Major Worries, Galaxy P and Major Christie and Chronicle, Chronixx’s father, among others.

Because it was set for the summer, weeks after the Reggae Sunsplash music festival, the name was adapted to reflect Dela Splash.

That show, over the years, featured the likes of Bounty Killer, Vybz Kartel, Macka Diamond, Merciless, Mad Cobra, Capleton, and Agent Sasco. Dela Splash was also the event where Vybz Kartel and Bounty Killer forged peace in 2007.