Wonder Woman of the Week: HIRIE

The Reggae music scene is dominated by male household names like Bob and Ziggy Marley, Fat Freddy's Drop, and Rebelution; but Hawaiian singer/songwriter HIRIE has broken the mold as one of the newest and most successful reggae musicians of her time. Patricia Jetton was born in the Philippines, but moved to Kaneohe as a young child with her parents. The Hawaii implant quickly developed a love for Hawaiian and Afro-Caribbean music styles which perfectly blended to establish the artist's identity (with HIRIE literally being the combination of the abbreviation for Hawaii- HI- and the reggae slang term "irie").

HIRIE's unique approach to reggae blends pop, ska, and dancehall music genres along with influence from Whitney Houston, Norah Jones, and the Bee Gees. In 2013, HIRIE assembled the band she would use for recording and touring- including a saxophonist to blend jazz-style sax solos throughout her work. At first, HIRIE's band toured throughout Hawaii and other PAcific Islands as well as college towns across the US, but after the band and the singer gained fame in the reggae community; the band began touring with larger concerts and music festivals.

HIRIE's band began experiment with folding funk into their work while recording their second album. The result was a 90's style ska sound that combined subtle politics with pop sound and reggae roots to create a highly praised album that made the band and the songwriter famous. The album- Wandering Soul- appeared as the number one reggae album on the Billboard charts and launched HIRIE into a music festival tour with well-known bands Rebelution, Nahko, and Medicine for the People.