The intersection of Impact and Strategy
On December 4, Rolling Stone released its annual 100 Best Songs of 2025 list, and one selection drew attention to Soca, giving mainstream audiences another look the genre’s range.
At No. 85, Alex “Muddy” Cuffie’s Payroll, produced by Carriacou-born brothers John and Jason James of Xpert Productions, appeared alongside major international releases, reflecting both the song’s cultural significance and the strategic media efforts that extended its reach beyond Spicemas.
Unlike Billboard or The Soca Source, both of which rely on measurable consumption, Rolling Stone’s list is deliberately qualitative. A team of editors, critics, and writers curate their selections based on cultural relevance, critical reception, innovation, and artistic merit. Songs don’t need high streaming numbers, and they don’t need chart dominance.
For Rolling Stone, inclusion is not based on streams or chart numbers but more of a tastemakers list. In this case, the track was championed internally by staff writer Mankaprr Conteh, who attended Spicemas as part of the 2025 Spicemas Posse Press Trip Experience.
Conteh described Payroll as “absolutely electric,” highlighting its connection to Grenada’s centuries-old Jab Jab tradition and its dominance during the 2025 Carnival season. Her editorial perspective, grounded in firsthand experience, placed the song within a broader cultural conversation that Rolling Stone amplified for Soca fans across the diaspora and Grenadians at home and abroad.
For Soca Source, this recognition represents a different kind of milestone than the quantitative gains the genre has seen in 2025, including earlier Billboard chart success. Rolling Stone acknowledges cultural value, the kind that signals the potential for broadening mainstream buy-in.
When Stars and Strategy Align
While Rolling Stone’s recognition is editorial, the pathway to this moment was the result of deliberate planning. The Spicemas Posse Press Trip Experience, hosted by Industry 360, Mel & N Media Group, and the Grenada Tourism Authority, brought more than 20 media professionals from the U.S., Canada, the U.K., and the Caribbean to Grenada for an immersive look at the festival.
Journalists, including Conteh, were given direct exposure to the music, artists, and cultural anchors that shape the season. Conteh reflected, in a post-Spicemas article on the “…intense soca from the local stars of the season,….I had never felt so free, so powerful, or so connected in a sea of strangers.”
As Chambers Media Solutions noted, the Rolling Stone feature was “a direct result of strategic narrative building” that allowed media to experience the Jab Jab tradition and Soca Music in Grenada in its natural context.
The goal was never guaranteed placement; it was exposure, context, and immersion. The Rolling Stone feature became one of the most visible outcomes of that work.
The feature arrived almost four months after Muddy’s Grenada Power Soca Monarch win on August 8, highlighting how intentional framing, thoughtful cultural storytelling, and targeted press engagement can help to expand a Soca track beyond its traditional audience, introducing it to influential tastemakers and new listeners alike.
Beyond Editorial Acclaim
Long before it reached Rolling Stone’s list, Payroll established itself, building a substantive commercial footprint across key markets. The track has earned over 500,000 Spotify streams, the highest of Muddy’s career, and has appeared on Apple Music and iTunes charts in more than 30 countries across the Caribbean, North America, and Europe.
As documented in The Soca Records (Soca Source, Sept. 6) in the feature Soca from Grenada Resonates in Toronto and NYC, Muddy became the first Grenadian artist to have a solo track remain on Toronto’s Spotify Local Pulse for more than a week, holding for three. Its refrain, “put some respect on we name,” functioned as both a hook and a statement, signaling the sound of the Jab Jab expanding presence in cities with strong diaspora communities. Rolling Stone’s recognition continues to elevate and move that narrative forward.
The song’s U.S. performance further reflects the scale of its reach:
#40 peak on Apple Music (World) in the United States, with over 90 days on the chart
#10 peak on iTunes (World) – United States, with more than 40 days on the chart
Airplay across stations in New York, Pennsylvania, and Florida
#46 peak on Shazam Top 100 in New York City
Muddy’s Spotify listeners are heavily concentrated in New York City and the boroughs, representing roughly 20% of his audience, a meaningful factor given that Rolling Stone is headquartered there.
Still Strong at Home and Abroad
As of December 9, four months past its Soca Monarch victory, on Apple Music (World) across the Caribbean, Payroll stands strong, holding the #1 position in Grenada, #2 in St. Vincent & the Grenadines, #4 in Dominica, and continues to chart across multiple islands.
Rolling Stone placed Payroll (#84, 500K+ Spotify streams) between Latto’s Somebody (#86, 51M+ Spotify streams) and Tyler, the Creator’s Sugar on My Tongue (#84, 265M+ streams). Muddy’s placement among such high-volume peers demonstrates precisely why the visibility of this recognition matters.
The Rolling Stone feature, while a significant personal achievement for Muddy and Xpert Productions, it also represents more. It also signals the success of the broader strategic approach developed by Chambers Media Solutions, Industry 360, Mel & N Media, and the Grenada Tourism Authority, an approach built on immersion, authenticity, and cultural context. A welcome byproduct of that effort was the spotlight placed on Soca itself.
Listen to Payroll and more Muddy
