Which Ayra Starr songs are Dancehall inspired?

September 19, 2025 by Dahrk Vision in Afrobeats & Dancehall Crossover

Ayra Starr’s catalogue leans into Dancehall in select singles and collaborations—most explicitly on “Santa” (with Jamaican hitmaker Rvssian and Rauw Alejandro) and her 2025 single “Hot Body.” Critics have also noted broader Dancehall currents on her sophomore LP The Year I Turned 21. Below, I identify the clearest Dancehall-influenced records, explain how the influence shows up (riddim design, singjay phrasing, patois codes), and situate the choices within Afro-Caribbean exchange.

Introduction

Dancehall is a rhythmic language as much as a genre: off-beat accenting, drum/bass minimalism, and loop-driven “riddim” logic shape how vocals ride the groove (Manuel & Marshall, 2006). When Afrobeats artists borrow from this language, you hear it in cadence shifts (singjay), patois-coded hooks (“gyal,” “wine”), and beat architecture that privileges tightly syncopated, bass-forward patterns (Barrow & Dalton, 2004).

In Ayra Starr’s case, the clearest places where those markers surface are (1) direct collaborations with Dancehall creators, and (2) singles whose rollout or critical reception explicitly flag Dancehall traits. Two records stand out unambiguously on both counts—“Santa” and “Hot Body.” In addition, reputable critics have described Dancehall influence running through the palette of her second album, The Year I Turned 21 (Pitchfork, 2024). The analysis below keeps the focus on songs where the Dancehall link can be defended with primary or critical sources—not guesswork.

The clearest Dancehall-inspired Ayra Starr songs

1) “Santa” — Rvssian, Rauw Alejandro & Ayra Starr (2024)

Why it’s relevant: “Santa” is helmed by Rvssian, the Kingston-born producer whose catalogue sits at the Dancehall–reggaetón–global-pop crossroads. His authorship alone is a strong Dancehall provenance signal, and the record’s promotional trail explicitly framed its crossover status (World Music Views, 2024). In 2025 recaps, the single was also celebrated for its multi-platinum Latin performance—evidence of the Caribbean riddim meeting pan-Latin dembow while preserving Dancehall DNA in the drum/bass pocket (World Music Views, 2024).

How the Dancehall shows up:

Riddim architecture. The beat uses looped, minimally ornamented drum programming with the kick–snare syncopation characteristic of modern Kingston-to-Miami productions (Manuel & Marshall, 2006).
Vocal approach. Ayra slips into melodic speak-sing phrasing—a pop-leaning cousin of singjay (Barrow & Dalton, 2004)—to sit in the pocket rather than soar above it.
Trans-Caribbean code-switching. The track’s lexical register (romance/dance motifs, clipped phrasing) tracks with mainstream Dancehall and reggaetón co-usage, a zone Rvssian has curated for a decade (Barrow & Dalton, 2004; Manuel & Marshall, 2006).

Documentation: Rvssian’s team and trade coverage repeatedly emphasized the single’s authorship and certification path (World Music Views, 2024). That matters because Dancehall influence is not only audible; it’s stated and credentialed.

Bottom line: “Santa” is the most defensible Ayra Starr × Dancehall data point: Kingston authorship, dembow/Dancehall beat logic, and industry framing that recognizes the crossover.

2) “Hot Body” — Ayra Starr (2025)

Why it’s relevant: Upon release, Ayra’s own promotional materials and music-press pickups explicitly described “Hot Body” as “dancehall-infused.” That’s a primary-source genre tag from the artist’s channel, amplified by coverage of the single/video cycle (Ayra Starr, 2025; New Wave Magazine, 2025).

How the Dancehall shows up:

Tempo & drum feel. The groove lives in a dancehall-friendly mid-tempo zone with sparse percussion, letting Ayra ride the off-beat instead of filling every bar—a common tactic when Afrobeats leans Caribbean (Manuel & Marshall, 2006).
Phrasing. Ayra toggles between croon and clipped rhythmic lines, a pop-adapted version of singjay delivery (Barrow & Dalton, 2004).
Top-line semantics. The beach/party sensuality emphasized in the rollout sits squarely in Dancehall’s global pop lexicon (New Wave Magazine, 2025).

Documentation: Ayra’s verified promo caption flagged “dancehall-infused” (Ayra Starr, 2025), and the follow-up video note sustained the framing (New Wave Magazine, 2025).

Bottom line: “Hot Body” is Ayra’s cleanest solo case of a song marketed and styled with Dancehall infusion, corroborated by primary and secondary sources.

Album-level signal: The Year I Turned 21 (2024)

While this section is album-wide (not a single track callout), it matters because multiple critics heard Dancehall influence in Ayra’s second LP’s sonic palette. Pitchfork’s review notes the project’s “influences of dancehall and [Nigerian] highlife” woven into its pop-Afrobeats framework (Pitchfork, 2024). The Guardian likewise highlights uptempo, bass-forward production choices and rhythmic elasticity consistent with modern Afrobeats’ Caribbean borrowings, while focusing on Ayra’s expanded range (The Guardian, 2024).

Two cautions to keep it rigorous:

Neither review pins the influence to specific tracks by name—so I’m not attributing a track-by-track Dancehall label based on critic generalities.
The critical language still supports a defensible claim: by 2024, Ayra’s palette routinely brushes Dancehall textures, a context that helps explain why “Hot Body” in 2025 felt like an explicit iteration rather than a one-off departure (Pitchfork, 2024; The Guardian, 2024).

Why these choices make musical sense

Dancehall traits that map cleanly to Ayra’s toolkit

Riddim modularity. Dancehall’s “one riddim, many voicings” logic values negative space and bass clarity, which suits Ayra’s glassy toplines (Manuel & Marshall, 2006).
Singjay adjacency. Ayra’s signature is melody-first pop phrasing with rhythmic snaps—one step from singjay’s talk-melody mix (Barrow & Dalton, 2004).
Code-switch glamour. Global Afropop thrives on linguistic and stylistic code-switching; Dancehall provides a recognizable vocabulary that travels (Barrow & Dalton, 2004).

Why “Santa” and “Hot Body” are the anchor cases

Many Afrobeats cuts feel Caribbean without hard evidence. These two, however, carry documented Dancehall context:

Kingston authorship & market signaling in “Santa” (World Music Views, 2024).
Artist-stated genre infusion for “Hot Body,” reinforced by press (Ayra Starr, 2025; New Wave Magazine, 2025).
That’s the standard of proof you asked for: if the sources aren’t inside the content, they don’t go in the list.

What this says about Ayra Starr’s lane

Ayra’s earliest breakouts (“Bloody Samaritan,” “Rush”) were canon Afrobeats, yet even there critics emphasized how comfortably she bends into adjacent Black Atlantic grooves (Pitchfork, 2021/2024). By 2024–2025, intentional, stated Dancehall borrowings sit alongside amapiano, R&B, and pop—a modular, global-first identity. In practice, that modularity:

Keeps club viability high across London/Toronto/NYC—diasporic hubs where Dancehall remains a lingua franca (Manuel & Marshall, 2006).
Positions future Kingston collaborations (writers/producers/features) as credible, not opportunistic—“Santa” showed proof-of-concept.

A short, precise list you can publish

Core, source-defensible Dancehall-inspired songs:
1. “Santa” — Rvssian, Rauw Alejandro & Ayra Starr (2024). Dancehall/reggaetón crossover authored by a Jamaican Dancehall producer; widely covered for its certifications (World Music Views, 2024).
2. “Hot Body” — Ayra Starr (2025). Artist-framed as “dancehall-infused” at release; press echoed the tag (Ayra Starr, 2025; New Wave Magazine, 2025).
Album-level context:
The Year I Turned 21 (2024) incorporates Dancehall among its influences, per major-press reviews (Pitchfork, 2024; The Guardian, 2024).

If you want, I can audit the whole tracklist of The Year I Turned 21 with stems/producer credits to mark any additional cuts where drum programming, tempo and topline phrasing align with Dancehall practice (and only add them if we can back each with liner notes or credible analysis).

Conclusion

Ayra Starr’s Dancehall inspiration is clearest where the sources are clearest: “Santa” (Kingston authorship, crossover riddim) and “Hot Body” (artist-declared Dancehall infusion). Major-press reviews of The Year I Turned 21 also register Dancehall in her broader palette, which explains why these singles feel organic, not opportunistic. Musically, the fit is logical: singjay-adjacent phrasing, bass-forward pockets, and diasporic code-switch are already native to her style.

Rather than a temporary trend, the evidence suggests a structural Afro-Caribbean conversation in Ayra’s work—one that will likely deepen as she alternates Lagos, London, and Kingston collaborators. If you greenlight a credits/stems audit, we can expand this list with the same cite-as-you-go rigor you require.

References (APA — each cited in the text)

Ayra Starr. (2025, July 27). “Hot Body” single promo caption describing the track as dancehall-infused [Instagram post]. Retrieved September 19, 2025, from the post’s visible caption context. Instagram
Barrow, S., & Dalton, P. (2004). The Rough Guide to Reggae. Rough Guides.
Manuel, P., & Marshall, W. (2006). The riddim method: Aesthetics, practice, and ownership in Jamaican Dancehall. Popular Music, 25(3), 447–470.
New Wave Magazine. (2025, September). Afrobeats Superstar Ayra Starr turns up the heat with the release of “Hot Body” music video. Retrieved September 19, 2025. newwavemagazine
Pitchfork. (2024, May 31). Album review: Ayra Starr — The Year I Turned 21 (notes dancehall influence among the palette). Retrieved September 19, 2025. Pitchfork
The Guardian. (2024, May 31). Ayra Starr: The Year I Turned 21 review. Retrieved September 19, 2025. The Guardian
World Music Views. (2024). Rvssian’s “Santa” with Rauw Alejandro and Ayra Starr—certifications/coverage. Retrieved September 19, 2025. Facebook