Kuanna advocates for women and girls with ‘Woman Killer’ on the Hill & Gully Riddim

Her song ‘Woman Killer’ has been gaining traction since its release and has become one of the more popular songs on the famous traditional form riddim, as it resonates with women all over.

The singer who hails from Falmouth shared with Old Harbour News that she was inspired to pen the song, because, for too long, sexual abuse, domestic violence, and death caused by intimate partner abuse are not pretty topics that people want aired in public. 

“I’m always advocating for women and children. I went viral back in 2021 with a song named ‘Pedophile Warning’, which is still one of my biggest songs to date, so I’m always speaking out against women being abused and children being molested,” she said. “A lot of women who are emotionally unstable when you check their backgrounds, they have been abused when they were younger, so I took it upon myself, as I am the mother of an 11-year-old daughter, to advocate for them.”

She hopped on the Hill and Gully riddim, she added, after hearing about an incident in Catherine Hall, Montego Bay and deciding that she had to use her artistry in a manner that would ultimately have some meaning. “I decided that was the topic to focus on and the rest is just history. I chose the hill and gully riddim as I was listening to it for weeks and was inspired,” she recalled. “I started playing it and just sang ‘hey bwoy you bend too low, and a never so you grow’, and it went from there.” 

Kuanna, who has been singing since childhood, credits the revival church for being where her musical talent was honed. Born Sharnette Eccleston, she made her professional debut in 2008 but wanted an African name, to be in touch with her ancestral roots. “Back then, I didn’t know Sharnette meant ‘gift’. I needed a stage name, but I wanted
an African name so when I was searching, ‘Quanna’ was the one that stuck, but when I searched in the music industry, I saw quite a few variations from other artists so I chose Sister Quanna. I was however told that the ‘sister’ put me in a box and kind of limited my reach, so now I just changed the ‘q’ to ‘k’ as Kuanna means ‘royalty’,” she said.

Her message for mothers is to be vigilant about who you have around your children. “Pay attention to your children and listen to them closely,” the artiste warned. “Don’t shun them…  teach them about good and bad touch. Sometimes
people around them make them feel uncomfortable, but they are not certain if they should say anything because nobody taught them to speak up about their feelings and emotions, so make sure they know they can come to you about anything and they won’t be rebuffed. My daughter is friendly, but you can’t run up to her and just hug her or put her in your lap. We nuh run dem kind of joke deh.”