Lila Iké premieres ‘He Loves Us Both’ music video, featuring H.E.R

Last Wednesday evening, the fast-becoming cultural hub of Kingston, The Dubwise Café, became an open-air cinema to host the world première of Lila Iké’s He Loves Us Both music video, featuring American RnB star, H.E.R. The reggae songstress celebrated the occasion surrounded by friends, family, fans and music industry peers in her signature stripped-down event style.

The relaxed atmosphere of the première’s early vibes was expertly controlled by disc jock Boomdraw who took attendees into the world of the He Loves Us Both visuals with tunes, throwback and current, mirroring the sounds and themes of Iké’s moody Lover’s Rock anthem bemoaning the all-too-familiar predicament of a love triangle. The unveiling of the video, slightly delayed because of the I Spy singer’s hesitance towards leaving out those still on their way, happened shortly after 9 p.m. and all attention turned obediently towards the café’s large screen set-up.

Over passionate lyrics describing the dilemma of sharing a love interest with someone, else but not wanting to end a great connection despite, American rapper Joey Bada$$ plays the object of both Lila and H.E.R’s affection. Alternatively they are shown expressing this frustration and interacting with Bada$$ against the backdrop of an intimately shadowed lounge scene set in a richly decorated space of bronze and darkwood. The impressive visuals were well-received by the audience and requests for an encore followed immediately after the first play finished.

Lila Iké, overcome with gratitude for the love, humbly obliged. He Loves Us Both, serving as the first single off her recently announced upcoming album, the vocalist explained over the mic was written drawing from personal experiences before the video was shot in 2021 spending years in the vault awaiting its moment. Much of her album, with a title yet to be announced, was meticulously worked on throughout an extended period of time.

“This album is definitely grown,” she said about the feel of it versus her début project The Experience. “It is really just an expression of myself. As I said, I’ve been working on it for, I would say, five years. It has healed me in that process, you get me? When you guys learn the name of the album the story will come together as you listen to the tracks. It’s deeper, my writing has grown, my vocal capabilities have grown as well and I’m much better on instruments. So, I also produce on a couple of other tracks.”

Her development as a musician is a strong theme Ike hopes translates well throughout this upcoming project. The communication of that message will be in the form of genres fans are used to from the Where I’m Coming From singer. Her quintessential soul, dancehall and reggae blends will be present and aided by the star-studded list of artiste features soon to be fully unveiled, but will include, of course, H.E.R, Joey Bada$$ and a mystery dancehall artiste. Lila keeps her cards close to her chest, but teases the magic to come.

“It’s RnB, it’s reggae, it’s a little bit of rock …You’ll have to hear it for yourself. I can only say what it means to me, but somebody can hear a song and say, this is giving me more of a rock vibe or a soul vibe or whatever. Music is like water, it adapts to whomever, however.” She continued, “There’s going to be a dancehall feature as well. Just wait, man. I can’t give no more.”