Runkus Shoots for the Stars With New ‘Supernova’ Album: ‘I Started Scoring My Music Instead of Making It’
Categoria: Musica
The award-winning Jamaican musician is entering an intergalactic new era. Read the full Billboard interview.
Por Billboard | 28/05/2026
Trilogies seem to be the thing in popular music these days. The Weeknd rode his After Hours – Dawn FM – Hurry Up Tomorrow series to a record-breaking tour , and Drake made Billboard 200 history with his recent Iceman-Habibti-Maid of Honour pseudo-surprise triple-drop. And, of course, the world is still waiting on Act III to wrap the history-illuminating trilogy Beyoncé launched with Renaissance and Cowboy Carter . For Jamaican singer Runkus, that whole approach is becoming quite passé. Related Shaggy Celebrates Four Decades of Wins With New ‘Lottery’ LP: ‘I’ve Always Bet on Myself’ Caribbean Up-And-Comer of the Month: Lu City Is Shaking Up the Worlds of Pop & Hip-Hop With a Saint Lucian Twist Ziggy Marley Is Looking on the ‘Brightside’ for His First Proper Solo Album in Eight Years: ‘I Listen to This Album As If I Didn’t Make It’ From 2016-2022, Runkus (born Romario Sebastian Anthony Bennett) fired off a trio of genre-blurring projects that traced life before and after the world-changing lockdowns of the COVID-19 pandemic. Featuring collaborations with the likes of contemporary reggae stars Naomi Cowan, Chronixx and Ky-Mani Marley, Runkus’ first three projects helped establish him as a burgeoning force in Caribbean music who truly understands the sanctity of roots reggae. From notes of trap dancehall to more straight-up R&B-infused fare, Runkus relentlessly expanded his sonic profile while maintaining his commitment to his Rastafari principles. After dropping OUT:SIDE in 2022 — he knew it was time for a reset. “I think I might be addicted to making music,” he tells Billboard . “I knew I was ready to move on from that trilogy, so I took a pause from making music to focus on production and delve into art. I wanted to look at music more as an art form, rather than just [something to get on the] charts. I started scoring films and going to galleries and museum exhibitions. From there, I started scoring my music instead of making it.” With that new approach, Runkus crafted Supernova, a rich, cinematic collection of songs that lean on juxtaposition to explore the malleability of Caribbean music. From blending an astronomy talk at Occidental College with the classic “Punany” dancehall riddim on the opening track to recontextualizing mid-performance Peter Tosh speeches on “Sheep,” Supernova is an incredibly layered tapestry of science, music and even visual art. To bring the record to life, Runkus tapped Bahamian-born, New York–based multidisciplinary visual artist Tavares Strachan, whose Eve-inspired ‘A Map of the Crown (Fulani Red)’ sculpture appears on the album cover. Runkus is also readying his Supernova Sessions, a live performance video series filmed in “the hills of Jamaica, where a river runs through a friend’s backyard.” Featuring a three-person backing choir, acoustic renditions and Rastafari chants, the Kadiya McDonald and Carleene Samuels-produced Supernova Sessions promise a multilayered reimagining