Ras-I releases Heart of Love with star-studded launch in Jamaica

Ras-I has pushed his catalog into a new phase with Heart of Love, his third studio album, released worldwide on Friday, May 15. The project was introduced a night earlier with a launch at Janga’s Soundbar & Grill in Kingston, where the turnout was strong and the room filled with support from fellow artists including Christopher Martin, Turbulence, Bugle, Naomi Cowan, Joby Jay, Royal Blu and Jah Lil.

The album arrives as a 13-track set built around love in its broadest forms, from romantic and spiritual to ancestral, communal and self-reflective. That range gives Heart of Love a wider emotional frame than a straightforward lovers-rock release, while still sitting firmly inside reggae’s message-driven tradition. The featured cut “Oya,” with Govana, adds another layer of reach, while “Somewhere Wonderful” and “Reggae Mountain” stand out among the tracks singled out around the release. Ineffable Records and Koastal Kings handled the joint release, underscoring the project’s push into a more visible international lane.

For Ras-I, the album also extends a clear upward run. Heart of Love follows Tsojourna in 2019 and Kingman in 2021, continuing the progression that has marked him as a conscious singer with a steady artistic identity. Reggaeville’s profile of his music has described a foundation built on responsibility, purpose, spirituality and uplift, and that same sensibility runs through the new album’s construction. The record’s emphasis on authenticity is not a reinvention so much as a sharpening of what has already defined him.

That trajectory has been building for a while. Ras-I won JaRIA Song of the Year in 2023 for “Somewhere Wonderful,” then picked up Best New Reggae Artist at the Caribbean Music Awards in 2024. The song later crossed into a broader public spotlight when it was selected as the official soundtrack for the Jamaica Tourist Board’s 2025 Easter campaign. His roots in the music run deeper still, with a 2022 profile noting that he grew up around the business through his mother, Lorna Wainright, who worked as studio manager at Tuff Gong Studios.

With Heart of Love now in the world and the launch energy behind it, Ras-I is presenting more than another release. He is positioning his third album as the kind of statement that can carry him farther with reggae listeners who still want melody, message and grounding in the same breath.