Dezarie ADD

Interview with Dezarie - Hailing the Guardian

04/07/2025 by Gardy Stein

She is one of the most conscious female roots singers of the world, and a radio moderator once said that her voice “washes the soul” of those who listen. Dezarie, hailing from the calm island of St. Croix, was discovered early thanks to her unique voice, and under the tutelage of Midnite she blossomed into the powerful artist she is today.

After impressive albums like Fya (2001), Gracious Mama Africa (2003), Eaze The Pain (2008), The Fourth Book (2010) and Love In Your Meditation (2014), she now offers Guardian, a 10-track oeuvre that allowed her to explore new ways artistically. Produced by Kardell “MrPr3z” President, it is different from former releases, less meditative maybe, but filled with the deep spiritual reasonings that Dezarie is known and loved for.

In our first ever Reggaeville interview with this visionary lyricist, she dives into her past, enlightens us about the meaning of her songs and shares important advice with the next generation:

It’s an honor to talk to you today. How are you feeling?

I'm well! I'm tired… I'm doing a lot this year. Getting a lot more recognition now. (laughs)

Yeah, I can imagine! Since this is the first interview we do with you on Reggaeville, I'd like to ask you about your career so far, before we speak about your new album. How did music find you? How did you start out in reggae growing up in Saint Croix?

Okay… I started singing at home, I loved to sing. My mother loved to sing with her sisters, all my family, they love music, so there was always music around. I started singing in church, and in school. As an adult, when I moved to Atlanta, I started doing dubplates for sound systems. That was the first set of recordings I ever did, on dubplates.

How did you arrive in reggae, in that genre?

Well, I reached reggae through doing music, dubplates, for all these selectors. They always used to suggest that I go and do shows and perform, that I'm good enough, you know, and so I entered a DJ contest in Atlanta and I won that one and that was it! I just kept going, opening for artists like Capleton, Sizzla, Luciano, Tanya Stephens… people like that.

Wow. And from the beginning, your music was very spiritual, thoughtful. How did you find Rastafari? Like, your faith and your trust in Jah, when did that start?

Well, my mother was very religious. I grew up in a religious home, and I didn't take too much of it because I saw some of the brainwashing that church did to me. But the one thing my mother always teach was to pray. Prayer all the time. It didn't matter what was going on in your life, she always said you must pray. And so, when I was living in Atlanta on my own, life was difficult and some things happened that opened my eyes. And, usually when things like that happened, it made me want to seek God, and who God is. So, I started studying a bunch of Indian philosophies first. I already heard about Rastafari in Saint Croix and I was still a young adult, so I started out with various Indian philosophies, every religion in India. I studied it for some time as a young person.

Through the years, you then developed your own style that we know well from the albums that you released so far. What were some stepping stones, people who helped you to connect in the scene, you know, to get your voice out there?

Well, definitely Midnite band, they put me on the scene. They heard me singing in Saint Croix and it really matched what they were doing. And everybody who was around at the time encouraged them to do an album with me. And it happened one day!

Wonderful. How can we imagine the reggae scene in Saint Croix, anyway? Can you describe which events are going on, how is the crowd, how is the vibe there?

The vibe here… the scene with the artists is very subtle right now since the passing of Akae Beka. So, right now on the reggae scene, there's a lot of outsiders from Jamaica, mostly Jamaica, doing the shows here. Everybody's subtle, and they're just recording right now, until it's time to… some people are still figuring out what they want to do.

Recently I discovered that your younger sister, Kenya Eugene, is also singing. Did you play a role in influencing her, introducing her to the reggae scene?

As a younger person, when I was singing in school, she would follow me to choir practice on Sundays. And as an adult, she was mostly doing R&B music, and I would tell her she should put those songs on reggae for a better audience of the Caribbean where she was living at the time.

Have you ever recorded a song together, do you have a joint release?

Yeah, we actually have a song together that plays on the radio called Inner Light. Certain places and certain DJs have it.

Nice, I will check it out! How did this year start for you, how is 2025 so far? I saw that you've been on a show in California in February…

Yes, so far it’s starting good! I'm making a lot more contacts, and my audiences seems to be growing. It's my pleasure to travel, to carry this message, which the people are really well receiving. A lot of people are saying that they're being healed by the words and the sound. When I hear that, I feel like I accomplished my mission!

**Definitely. And also, one of the singles that you already released this year is one with Sister Jahia, Tomorrow Will Be Better. How did you link up with her for this?**

I have heard of her from before, and she knows of me. I visited Guadeloupe for the first time this year, and she came to meet me backstage, she was very hospitable, and we decided to keep in touch. Then she had a song that she needed someone on, and she asked me if I would mind, and I didn't, because she has such a very humble vibe, such a strong lioness spirit. Good energy! She has a beautiful voice.

Yes she does! But now, let's talk about your new album, Guardian. That's a beautiful title, can you tell us how you conceived it? I mean, the first track is called Guardian, why did you choose it for the whole album?

It was the most suitable name for the album. The artwork was done before the name, and it matched the album cover, which has an angel on it. The song Guardian… a young lady came to me and she was saying she read the psalms in the bible about His angels that encamp around those that fear him, that revere the Most High. And I went into that verse, I studied it to the point where I actually even felt the angels in the room while I was writing the song. So, we all have angels! We are told that we are born with guardian angels, and there are angels of the planet that are here, spiritually and physically.

Beautiful. It speaks to me because, you know, my name is Gardy and it means protection also, so I feel very connected to that title.

That's a special name!

Thank you. The album was completely produced by Kardell “Mr. Pr3z” President, can you introduce him? Like, how long have you known him and what made you decide working with him?

I've known him for a long time! When he was in high school, he recorded some horns on one of my songs, Always Remember You. He's a great musician from a young person, and he's an even better musician now, and I respect his work. He takes it serious, and he's very good at what he does. Genius! He's been drumming and touching instruments from a young age, even before he went to school.

Yeah, I was amazed to see his name only in the credits, so almost all is done by him. How was the work flow? Did he send you some ideas and sketches and you worked on it, or did you suggest certain melodies to him?

It went both ways. I mean, I came to him with some songs and he came to me with some music at times.

**Okay. Now, let’s talk about some of the songs on this beautiful album. The second one is Back To The Future - it almost sounds like a time travel thing?**

(laughs) Some of it is. Some of it has to do with time travel and going into the future and bringing back all this technology. So it all applies... everything is changing around and going from analog to digital and everything is more on the technical side right now. The world is changing, there are AI’s now and all these different technological advanced electronics.

That's true. And you're also singing about the different calendars in the world, you mention the Gregorian and Ethiopian calendar and so on, is that something you studied?

I did at one time and I saw the difference between the different calendars. Some of it is kind of inaccurate, the way that they structured the calendar. The lunar calendar is the more accurate actually, so some of it just changed. It throws off some things because of the way they did the calendar.

It's really interesting, and I had to listen each song several times to get all the meanings. One I really like, is Breathe In Strength. That's beautiful, the words and melodies. You say in it that Babylon is breathless, is this an allusion to the fast paced, Western style society?

Well, it actually says “Babylon wants you breathless”, like they want us to be breathless. With all the things, how they're polluting the air with the chemtrails, and all these viruses that came that targeted your lungs and respiratory system. And prior to this, there had been a lot of police brutality in America, and a lot of them have been strangling the victims, and I just really connect the dots to all of it, saying that, you know, that's our breath of life, that's oxygen! And even the viruses and having to wear the mask on your face, those things take away from your breath. Eventually, even if you don't have respiratory illness and you're wearing these every day, it affects your respiratory system.

**I love the mental picture when you sing “breathe in strength, breathe out stress”. It's beautiful, that’s what everybody should do.**

Yes, thank you. I used to say that, you know, when certain things were happening and I tried to calm myself (laughs). I said, okay, breathe in some strength and breathe out all the stress. Like a spiritual detox.

Now Hold On, that's my favorite of the album, such a beautiful song! You just mentioned the technologies, the AI and all these things, and in the song you sing that you should hold on to the truth. Today it's more and more difficult to tell the difference between an AI-created video or picture and the reality, especially for young people. What would your suggestion be for them, for the so-called digital natives, how to hold on to the truth?

Study for yourself, without your phone! You can study for yourself, you don't have to believe anything that you see on here, because anything on here could be tainted. There are other means of studying, you can study life, you can study books, there are different books that you can read. There are ancestors holding certain knowledge, there are different things that you can do! What did we do to learn before we had internet? How did we learn then?

Yeah, that's true.

Also, you can look within yourself, you know, meditate and ask.

Great, thank you. One of your core subjects I would say from the first albums was always social justice and racial equality. And that's also shining a bit through in the songs Criminal and Immortal Combat. Over the years, have you seen improvements being made in this direction of racial equality, of social justice?

No, I haven't. I haven't seen improvements in America. In other places, but not in the US. When certain people are in power, it actually increases the racism.

We still have work to do!

Yeah, a lot of work. All of us.

**Turning to Lion Is Lion, how was that conceived?**

This one, I would sing it live in Brazil. I wrote it live on stage one day, we just did a spur-of-the-moment thing, and I just started singing that. But I didn't have any lyrics yet, so I just kind of freestyled, and every time I would go back to Brazil, I would always sing it. I finally got to record it now!

**It also has some deep, deep lyrics, for example, you sing about “the kinetics of genetics”. What do you mean by that?**

That means the connection, the relatives of all our genes. Kinetics of genetics, it connects all of us!

**The song No Failure, then, is almost like trap. It's very different from what you usually do, in the roots style, was that President’s idea?**

(laughs) I have always done dancehall music! It just... I have never put out any of it. I started doing dancehall, I always do... I have blues songs that never came out, I have R&B songs that never came out, I have gospel songs that I have done that never come out, I've done meditation songs that never came out. I have a lot of stuff, and I'm just testing the waters to see how people will accept it. But it's… it's art! I love art, you know? And music is art.

Oh, I hope you'll bring out a blues, R&B, gospel album one day, that sounds exciting!

(laughs) It's a lot of work.

**That's true. In Snake Charmer, you sing about “them”. Who for you is them in this song?**

Whoever it applies to, sis!

Okay. The backings are done by Kendalisse Languedoc, is she also from Saint Croix?

Yeah, she's from Saint Croix also, she does backup singing for me every now and then.

And then the last song, also a very beautiful one, is called Who Is Who. It gives me almost that Love In Your Meditation vibe, in a way, it reminds me a bit of that song. And you sing about how life can just tell you who is who. Did the inspiration come from personal experience?

Yes, it's personal experiences and things that I see. When I wrote that song, I was an introvert and all I did was study the world and music. I would observe how people would treat me and other people, and just… you know who loves you, especially when you're going through hard, difficult times. You know who truly loves you because you're going to see who's going to be there for you. Some people are going to walk away, and those are not the ones. But some people will stick to you, stick with you till the end.

Bless them! Bless those people, they are the best!

Yes, we bless them. Thank you, thank you God!

You mentioned the artwork before - who did it?

The artwork was done by a guy here, a Rasta named Ras Cali. We got to know in Atlanta. He sings also, he's an artist, but he draws and just does different crafts. He's a wonderful painter, and I really wanted to get something from him for the album.

Will the album be out on vinyl also?

Yes. During summer, we're going to get everything out on vinyl. And before that, I'm going to do some CDs. But the people are asking for vinyl!

The quality! It can't be denied. Do you plan to make videos for any of the songs?

Yes I do! I already have some videographers approaching me, I'm in touch with some of them. It's just that I have so much to do! So as soon as I get the chance, I'm definitely going to get some videos done.

Great! How about touring, will we see you in Europe in summer?

I possibly might be in France this summer. We're working on that right now.

Hopefully you come to Germany one day! I'd love to see you here.

A lot of people in Germany have been requesting me to come there…

It will happen one day! You will come here. Well, I will leave you to your work right now… is there anything you want to wrap up this interview with? Anything you want to say to the fans?

I just want to tell the fans to continue to live in love and raise their frequency, because everything goes better when your frequency is raised. Everyone gets upset sometimes, but you must not live in it and dwell on it for, you know, day after day after day. Keep raising your frequency, raising your knowledge, showing love, giving and doing good. All that's given is going to be returned to you. Because everything we give, we get.