Eyes on ‘Gifted’ - Koffee’s album predicted to have similar first-week sales as Shenseea’s ‘Alpha’

Global Head of Music at World Music Views, Donovan Watkis, is predicting that first week sales for Koffee's album, Gifted, will be similar to that of Shenseea's Alpha.

Gifted was released last Friday by Sony Music UK and RCA Records. Alpha, which debuted on March 11, moved 845 units in pure album sales in its first week.

" Gifted may do less than or similar to Alpha numbers in the US if they count this week's streams only," Watkis told THE STAR.

Producer and music marketer Sean 'Contractor' Edwards echoed a similar prediction.

"Koffee's album numbers won't even be nowhere close to Shenseea's; it might be a third to a quarter or less," he opined.

Both albums debuted at number one on the iTunes Reggae Albums chart.

Criticism and concern have spewed regarding low album sales from Jamaican artistes in recent years. According to statistics from Luminate, formerly MRC Data, first week pure album sales for 2021 projects include Alkaline's Top Prize at 1,527 units, Spice's 10 at 676 units, Vybz Kartel's Born Fi Dis (Prelude) at 605 units, and Skillibeng's Crocodile Teeth at a mere 123.

Reflecting on Koffee's Grammy-winning 2019 EP, Rapture, Edwards said "There is no song as big as Toast on this album."

He also looked beyond the genre specific chart, noting that "She [Koffee] started Friday by debuting at number 15 on the overall iTunes Albums chart. Today Sunday, she is at number 62. Shenseea went to number 13 on that iTunes chart and the difference is she maintained a high presence for a few days," Edwards said.

As for Gifted possibly making an entry on the Billboard Reggae Albums chart, Watkis chimed in, "Most of the album promo is being done in the UK and Luminate counts US consumption only for the Billboard Reggae Albums chart. It might make the UK's Official Charts."

Koffee's Gifted tour kick-started in Leeds yesterday. She will head to the US between April and May with a few dates in Canada. She is slated to return to the UK in the summer.

Prominent music producer Donovan Germain was privy to hearing the album at a private local listening event held earlier this month, but is steering clear of expectations or predictions.

"As a producer, I do no such thing," he told THE STAR. "Ultimately, it's the general public that will decide the commercial success of any product that we make so it'd be remiss of me to predict what's gonna happen with a person's album."

As for his thoughts on the album, he said he is yet to listen to the record and only experienced the live performance of the songs, adding "You have to listen to it more than one time and see what it does to you emotionally and so on."

Gifted, produced by Koffee, Dane Ray, JAE5, Iotosh, Ging and Nathaneal 'Nvtzz' Brown, shows a more personal side of the 22-year-old, evident on love songs like Lonely and Run Away. She encourages her peers to steer clear of criminal activity and actualise their full potential on Shine, and sings about societal ills on Defend. Beyond pre-releases Pull Up, West Indies, and Lockdown, the set is rounded out with songs that serve as an ode to her journey like the album title track, Where I'm From and x10.