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Dancehall star Spice is working on something unexpected.
While speaking exclusively with PEOPLE on Monday, Jan. 19, the Grammy-nominated musician, 43, revealed that she’s not just ditching her signature blue look and “loud” persona this year, but also embracing a new genre of music.
Spice (real name Grace Latoya Hamilton), who is known for her risqué lyrics and performances, surprised fans with the Christian song “You Are Worthy” on her album Mirror 25 in 2024. She recently followed up with the gospel single “God Don’t Play About Me.”
“ ‘You Are Worthy,’ which was my first gospel song, was extremely well received,” Spice tells PEOPLE.
Referring to “God Don’t Play About Me,” she continues, “This one, I would say, it’s different in terms of the beat. This is more uptempo. This is more like a full-blown worship song where you’d grab your tambourine.”
“There are certain songs that call you to be calm and reverent and just invite the Holy Spirit, but this one makes you want to get up and dance and sing and shout and grab a tambourine and jump around,” she adds.
Spex Photography
In the music video for the song, Spice is seen alongside her family and famous friends, including Rasheeda and Kirk Frost, Sierra Glam Shop and Xzavia Thomas, Shekinah Jo and Jessie Woo.
The Jamaican singer revealed that the song was influenced by the music she heard growing up in Portmore, Jamaica, such as Sister Scully’s gospel song “Hurry Up.”
Spice — who is mom to son Nicholas, 18, and daughter Nicholatoy, 14 — tells PEOPLE she tries to attend church every other Sunday and encourages her children to embrace Christianity.
“My mom always made sure that every Sunday I’d reach Sunday school growing up,” Spice recalls. “And I have instilled that also in my children, so it’s a family tradition thing. It’s passing from generation to generation.
“The only time I don’t go to church is if I’m on tour or I have a performance, but if I’m home, I’m going to church with my family,” Spice continues. “I wish they would put me in the choir because I have a loud voice, but I think I get shy when it comes to that type of setting. Hopefully, I’ll find my way into the choir one day.”
Spex Photography
Spice, who attends Now Faith Apostolic Church in Atlanta, says her gospel songs have proven popular with the audience, who love the NSFW lyrics she’s known for, while also garnering new Christian fans.
She says her songs have also been used in TikTok videos by people sharing their encounters with God.
“I just smile reading their testimony and seeing more people just open up about God,” Spice tells PEOPLE. “I feel like I made a bold move as a dancehall artist. They see me and are like, ‘Hey, my artist is talking about her testimony. I can share mine.’ ”
“People have been sending me DMs and messages, ‘This is their worship song.’ So I’m pretty excited about it,” she says, referring to “God Don’t Play About Me.”
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She continues, “However, in everything you do, you are going to also have mixed reviews. So some people may drop a comment that, ‘Hey, I’m a dancehall artist. I should not be doing gospel.’ But for me, I always tell them about Matthew 7 from the Bible that says, ‘Judge not, that ye be judged,’ because God is all about your heart.
“Some people may see the colors that I wear, all the clothes that I wear, and feel like I am not worthy to sing a gospel song, but my heart is pure, and the Bible tells me that He came to call us to repentance and so I don’t listen to the naysayers,” Spice adds.
The dancehall star says she plans to continue the risqué performances she’s known for, but will close shows with her gospel music.
“I think that’s a good way to send people home — tell them to get home safe and remember to praise God,” she says. “I see myself performing this around the world. [When] I go on tour, I never pick and choose like, ‘This song is for this place or whatever.’ Everywhere I go, I try to spread the Word of God.”
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Spice reveals her dream collaborators for future gospel music include CeCe Winans, Grace Thrillers and Jekalyn Carr.
“I have plans to release a gospel album,” she tells PEOPLE. “I’ll keep dropping the singles and see which one people prefer until I can know how to put the album together.”
“I’m not an expert in gospel song, but I am an expert in worshiping God and I will continue to package it in the best way possible that I can until I know, ‘Okay, this is really what it is. I’m ready for an album,’ ” she says.
“So I’m not sure when that’s going to come, but I definitely know I have to do a gospel album. Gospel is my favorite genre. I tell my besties [fans] all the time, and they’re like, ‘Wait, what? That’s your favorite genre?’ But it calms me. It does a lot for me,” she adds.
Alongside her music and starring in Love and Hip-Hop: Atlanta, Spice is the owner of the clothing brand Graci Noir and runs a nonprofit foundation named after herself.
The multifaceted entertainer’s shift toward gospel music comes as she ditches her signature blue look for a new alter ego. On Friday, Jan. 23, she released the song “Soft Girl Era” to unveil her transformation.
She says, “I’ve created this persona with Spice that is very… I don’t know if I should use the word loud, but I think I’ve created a persona with Spice where when people hear Spice, they know that she’s the queen of dancehall. She’s probably raunchy.”
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“I always wear blue as Spice, but since the start of this year, I’ve changed my hair color. I’ve given her a whole different name, which is pumpkin ginger,” she continues. “I did a little British accent to her, the persona, because I used to live in England as well.”
“The era that I’m walking into is a softer version of myself, just showing up unapologetically, more calm, more at peace, just loving up on me and myself and accepting all my flaws,” Spice says. “It was important for me to show the transition with a new look.”
“Before this new color, I used to wear black hair versus blue hair,” she says. “And I’d always tell [my fans], ‘When you see me in my black hair, that’s Grace Hamilton. I’m with my children. I’m a mother. I’m not the dancehall artist flicking on speaker boxes and jumping off-stage.’ So they kind of grew with me and they know the difference between the personas.”
