At the 2025 Reggae North Music Awards in Canada on Sunday night, singer Blk Orchid took home the award for Top Reggae Single of the Year for the chart-topping How Long.
The song, which was written in 2016, was inspired by events surrounding the killing of 18-year-old Mike Brown by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri.
“It was an emotional response to the violence against black people in music form,” Blk Orchid told Observer Online on Tuesday.
“It took me as long as it did to release the song because I didn’t want to put it out in the place because it was so politically charged and I wasn’t in that mind frame as an artiste at the time to put it out, plus I was in the background as a producer and I wasn’t quite yet ready to introduce myself as an artiste. The producers of the song are Cut and Clear Productions and Indie Rootz Records,”Blk Orchid shared.
She said she never expected the song to do as well as it did.
“No, I did not expect to have such great feedback on the song and that people could relate and be moved by its message but I’m happy it was well received,” said Blk Orchid, who added that when her name was announced as winner in the category, it came as a surprise.
“I was very shocked and surprised to see my face on the screen and hear my name being called. It’s a surreal feeling. I was just overwhelmed and full of gratitude that my hard work paid off.”
The other nominees in the Top Reggae Single of the Year (Female) category were Rise by Tonya P, Baby I Love You by Ammoye, Mek it to Di Top by Paris Ivey, Rayze Up by Rayzalution, Put It On by Tasha T and Bless Me by Celena.
Blk Orchid was also nominated in the category Top Female Vocalist.
In 2023, Blk Orchid (real name Renee Brown) scored a chart hit with Single Girl Blues, a collaboration with Empress Divine.
She has new music on the way.
“I’m currently working on a project experimenting with developing AI artistses by writing and producing for them. I am also currently working on a follow up song to Single Girl Blues with Empress Divine called No Longer Lonely and pushing Loving You Forever with Tesharah as well,” said Blk Orchid.
Blk Orchid’s father is from Porus in Manchester, while her mother is British. She has been to Jamaica three times and worked alongside Sly Dunbar fine-tuning Canadian singer Chelsea Stewart’s JUNO nominated album Genesis.
“The most notable producer I’ve worked with in Jamaica was Sly Dunbar on Chelsea Stewart’s JUNO nominated EP Genesis. I got the chance to see him in action building riddims in his studio in 2017,” Blk Orchid disclosed.
