Typical of contemporary artistes, Caryl Jacobs likes to experiment with different genres, but being from Trinidad and Tobago, she’s a soca girl at heart.

On Sides of Me, the South Florida-based singer shows her soca chops. The song is produced by Michael Knight from Barbados.

“I enjoy my culture in soca music and I love and appreciate a lot of different genres. I love to sing live and feel my energy and love transcend to my audience,” said Jacobs, whose pop singles include Good GOOD and We Wanna Live.

Sides of Me hit the market in time for the 2023 Caribbean carnival season. It’s a follow-up to Easy on Me, her reggae cover of Adele’s 2021 hit.

Co-produced by Chris Knight and Mark HoSang, that track features Willie and Kashief Lindo on guitar and keyboards. It was released by Tad’s International Record.

Jacobs is from Belmont, a suburb located in Port of Spain, the Trinidadian capital. Her parents, Carl and Carla Jacobs, are the driving forces behind Islanda, a popular calypso/soca band.

Their diverse live set introduced Jacobs to reggae and she developed admiration for acts like Bob Marley and Beres Hammond early on. Later, she discovered dancehall artistes such as Super Cat, Beenie Man and Tarrus Riley.

Machel Montano, Rupee and Alison Hinds are some of her main soca influences.