CURTIS CAMPBELL, STAR Writer

Twelve-year-old singjay Atika is being promoted as the new child star to rise from the local music industry.

The artiste, currently a student at Our Lady of the Angels Preparatory School, Kingston, has already released one single and is receiving steady airplay on local radio.

She toldThe STAR she has always had an interest in music because of her mother. "My mother likes music and so I have grown to like it as well. I am always listening to her songs and trying to make my own. I am very happy about getting a chance to record songs, and people are telling me that they like my music. It is very exciting," she said.

Her single, Too Young, was produced by Stashment Records. The single tackles social issues and sells the idea that children are not too young to understand problems facing Jamaicans.

"I made the song because people told me when I was just about to start music that I was too young. I wanted people to understand that, yes, I am young but I am aware about stuff that is going on," she toldThe STAR.

"Dem sey mi too young; a wey mi know bout dis, but nuh too young fi see di bag a slackness. Mi nuh too young fi see di country a miss. Mi a worry bout crab inna barrel, mi a worry bout the wharf and gun inna barrel," she sings in Too Young.

Atika is already working on a follow-up single called Daddy Sey. A music video for Too Young will be released in the coming weeks.

Atika also assured that she will be able to juggle both music and school, citing that she is an active member of Red Cross, Brownies, dance and swim clubs.