There is not a single sign of slowing since Koffee won a Grammy for the Best Reggae Album in January. Since her album Rapture, with each new single including “W” feat Gunna, “Lockdown,” and now with the vibrant “Pressure,” Koffee seems to be applying just that. The sound is undeniable, and the spirit behind it can only evoke you to move and jumpstart your day and life.
The song works as a sort of mantra to not fold under the force of life’s duress as she sings with the most potent melody of the hook, “Sometimes when yuh feel it yuh cry doh. Hurt yuh heart, enuh. But do, no mek it stress yuh.” You feel the underlying hurdles to clear beneath her tone. It feels as if Koffee is as much giving you motivation as she is trying to re-instill it within herself.
The song has a consistent and driving rhythm filled with all-encompassing and bright background vocals that provide what feels like sunlight emerging from the clouds. Then when you get to the third verse that acts as a sort of bridge, Koffee becomes a bit more contemplative. She sings, “It serious. Lawd times rough, and it serious. Life is a little mysterious. Have we pot, and we can’t even stir it up. Oh no! Cya wait fi morning come. Oh gosh, the night too long.” While the rest of the composition exudes varying qualities of hope this section allows for Koffee’s reality of momentary pessimism to exist. We cannot always keep pushing on without letting the negative emotion take us over. This is a necessary part of the process. It is essential for the sake of pure truth for Koffee to switch the vibe vocally, lyrically, and instrumentally while keeping the beat to encapsulate the full human process of grappling with your desire to stay on course. This vital section’s melody is as formidable as the hook and gets lodged in your brain as much as the one centered in positivity.
As the final iteration of the hook comes in, it doesn’t necessarily retain the same luster as before the mood became a bit darker. Though the mantra is still repeated and the song still rides, Koffee makes sure to be honest about her current state of mind in the progression. Koffee is as talented and motivational as she is forthright and authentic. I can’t wait for the second full project if it is an extension of what she has released since her first.
