Jada Kingdom Caps Busy Week With New Single ‘Budum’

Jada Kingdom glides through the cheery “Budum,” her first single to be released on Diplo’s Mad Decent label.

“Budum” is produced by Emudio, who concocts a pinging, shuddering beat; Kingdom sings in similarly percussive bursts, slinging drumming syllables across the chattering instrumental. “It’s been such a crazy year with the pandemic,” Kingdom said in a statement. “I just wanted to release a song that is fun and will make people happy and want to dance again.”

“Budum” follows the release of E-Syde Queen – The Twinkle Playlist, a sub-30-minute mixtape Kingdom uploaded to Audiomack earlier this week. On that release, the singer re-worked several recent radio hits — including Ella Mai’s “Boo’d Up,” Megan Thee Stallion’s “Savage,” and Drake and Chris Brown’s “No Guidance” — along with tracks that would have been massive radio hits in a more just world: Mr. Eazi and Juls’ collaboration “Cake” and Toyé’s “Attitude.”

Kingdom has been prolific in recent months. She released another solo track, “Win,” at the end of July, and collaborated with Popcaan on “Suh Me Luv It,” which appeared on his Fixtape project last week. In addition, Kingdom teamed up with the breakout singer Skillibeng — whose “Brik Pan Brik” has amassed nearly five million views on YouTube — on “Tek It,” which also came out this month.