Staying true to her socially conscious brand of music, Jamaican songbird Lila Iké on Thursday (July 29) dropped her “Batty Rider Shorts” single.

This is Lila Iké’s first single since she released her debut EP ‘The Experience’ in 2020.

Produced by Ziah.Push, ‘Batty Rider Shorts’ tackles the burning social issues of the day namely, pedophilia and child abuse, encouraging greater social responsibility among adults.

Speaking about the single which was first played on BBC1 Xtra, Iké shared that music was still a very important vehicle for informing the masses, as she encouraged fans to listen to the words of the song.

According to Ike, she was inspired to write the song from a real life situation, one she witnessed in her own community.

“I have been writing #BattyRiderShorts for over a period of 4 years. This song was inspired by a situation I observed within my community. An innocent child (age 10 or so) who I would often sit and speak with about life and give words of encouragement (even whilst I was a child my self ) eventually was taken advantage of by someone who should have been looking out for her,” Lila Iké said.

” I was moved to tears on my drive back from the country as I thought about how her light became infiltrated by the dark energies that are hovering over children everyday, all over the world,” Iké added.

The singer also shared that she believes that while music can and should be fun and entertaining, it should also be used to address social issues, referring specifically to the reggae genre.

“I think it’s very important to speak about these things. The history of our music was a medium for bringing information to the people, especially reggae music,” she said.

“We can have fun, listen to party and dance music and songs about love, but we still have real issues that need to be addressed too,” Iké added.

Reactions to ‘Batty Rider Shorts’

In just a few short minutes after being uploaded on YouTube the song amassed thousands of views, and plenty of comments, many of which lauded the artiste for her ability to skilfully blend art and social issues in such a manner which is pleasant to the ears.

“It ain’t simple to sing a song like this, accountability for our nation,” said one YouTube user.

“This is exactly what the nation needs right now,” added another.

Fellow artistes Niaomi Cowan and Mortimer upon seeing a clip of the BBC 1 Xtra  premiere of the song posted to Iké’s Instagram page, were instantly impressed, noting that they believed the tune was a hit.