JayaHadADream

Jamaican-Irish rapper JayaHadADream is one of the UK’s most exciting new voices, blending raw lyricism with grime and hip hop influences. Raised in Cambridge and shaped artistically in Nottingham, she left a career teaching Criminology in 2023 to pursue music full-time. Her breakout came after winning the Glastonbury Emerging Talent Competition, earning a main stage slot at Glastonbury Festival. Since then, she has performed at Reading Festival, Leeds Festival and Boomtown Fair, receiving support from NME, BBC Radio 1 and artists including Stormzy and Fred Again. In 2025, she won two Youth Music Awards alongside Breakthrough MC of the Year at the DJ Mag Best of British Awards, before becoming the first woman to be nominated for Best Grime Act at the MOBO Awards in 2026. Known for her heartfelt songwriting as much as her grime lyrics, Jaya moves effortlessly between introspective storytelling and shelling down high-energy sets, with several viral freestyle moments across worlds.