Koffee not stirred by critics – Artiste sticking to her personal style

Koffee is never apprehensive about what people think of her personal style.

The recording artiste, who recently walked out of the Staples Center in Los Angeles as the winner of the Best Reggae Album award for her Rapture EP at the 62nd Grammys, said that her decision to wear a black-and-white Thom Browne three-piece suit and shoes to match was made based off feeling.

“I wanted an outfit I knew I could wear all day, still feel good and confident in, and that suit represented that for me after I tried a few. I am a person who dresses to be comfortable; I did not allow the Grammy Awards name and won’t allow the title to stop me from doing that,” Koffee said.

She was speaking at a press briefing held on her arrival to the Norman Manley International Airport yesterday afternoon. Culture Minister Olivia Grange, and Koffee’s mother Jo-Anne Williams were in attendance.

For her return home, she opted for a casual look with a black Abercrombie and Fitch sweatshirt, shorts, and a pair of black socks and slippers.

Koffee is modest about her androgynous look, expressing that it did not conform to certain standards and expectations.

CLASSICALLY UNISEX LOOK

After all, she is not the only Grammy Award nominee/winner who chose a practical, comfortable and classically unisex look.

American singer-songwriter Brandi Carlile, Bebe Rexha and even the night’s front-runner Billie Eilish (the 18-year-old winner of the Album of the Year for her debut, When We Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go) also had heads turning as they wore suits rather than dresses.

The Toast singer said: “If persons didn’t like the look, it simply means they would not wear it if they were the ones invited to the Grammys, so that’s good for them. I don’t have a word to say to the critics, I never want to bash them. They do what they want or don’t want to, but I know I do and go with whatever I feel like in that given time or place. It helps me to be unique, without conforming or fitting myself into certain boxes.”

Does the 19-year-old Grammy Award winner ever get nervous about expectations?

Koffee answered with a chuckle, “I am nervous right now.”

“I think a lot of people are expecting me to feel pressured, and I too was expecting myself to feel pressured, but this success has presented somewhat of a relief for me,” Koffee told THE STAR.

She says that her Grammy win is proof that even greater things are possible and that she has learnt to refashion nervousness into motivation and the needed adrenaline to push her further.

“Instead of putting me in a position where I am scared, you know, if I can top it [winning the Grammy], I continue to work hard because I may never know what I can achieve, especially with confidence. So I am just looking forward to it with optimism,” she said.