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Shanika: the Gwada voice of Kay ve yo and Chocolate

Published October 20, 2026

Shanika is a West Indian singer from Guadeloupe, one of the most active female voices of the current bouyon and shatta wave. Her biography published by Music Story and carried by the Qobuz platform presents her as an artist immersed in music since childhood, who moved from covers to her own compositions in the shatta dancehall and bouyon style. Her track “Kay ve yo”, released in 2023, attracted particular attention and took her to stages in France, Germany and Guyana. This profile follows her verified releases track by track, from “Chocolate” with Le Bluff to “5 Kilos” with Lewismelo and Admiral T, and it records a detail other portraits miss: in the published credits, the songwriter behind Shanika is named Maeva Alphonse.

Who Shanika is: a Guadeloupe singer trained on covers

The biography published by Music Story and carried by Qobuz describes Shanika as a versatile West Indian singer from Guadeloupe. It presents her as immersed in music since childhood, with an early passion for singing and dancing. Her published path starts with covers of popular songs, before the move to composing her own tracks, in a style the same biography places between shatta dancehall and bouyon. That is exactly the zone where current bouyon gwada is played, fast, Creole and built for parties, the scene our bouyon gwada page documents.

That covers apprenticeship is no anecdote on the French Antillean scene of the 2020s. A whole generation of singers learned the trade there, in front of social media and small stage audiences, before turning that practice into an original catalogue once a studio followed. For Shanika, the studio is called Voodoo Studio: nearly all of her verified singles between 2023 and 2025 came out under that name, alone or with partners such as Aztec Musique or MF Music. The official “Kay ve yo” video even gives the studio booking address as her contact, which says how central that structure is to her organisation.

The second fact that structures this profile is in the credits. On the official platform listings, Shanika tracks are almost always signed, on the writing side, by one name: Maeva Alphonse, also written Alphonse Maeva, and in the long form Maeva Ingrid Alphonse on some recent features. “Chocolate” is credited to Alphonse Maeva for the lyrics. “Hot Gal” is co-written by Clifford Smith and Maëva Alphonse. “5 Kilos” is signed Christy Campbell and Maëva Alphonse. This profile reports those credits as published: they publicly identify the songwriter who writes under the stage name Shanika, and they show that she is not only a voice placed on other people productions, but a pen present on her own records and, as we will see, on the records of others.

In December 2025, the regional press confirmed that standing. In a long interview with Caraïb Créole News, the publisher Maïté Berchel-Bordin, head of the ThLab R et P publishing house and of LAKAZ AWTIS, names Shanika among the most emblematic bouyon artists of the moment in Guadeloupe, alongside Lejuh, 1T1, Theomaa and Aknose, stressing their creativity and their ability to gather an ever wider audience. Coming from a development and publishing professional, that mention carries particular weight: Shanika appears there not as a passing discovery, but as an established name of the current Gwada scene followed by our Guadeloupe artists page.

Kay ve yo: the 2023 track that took her travelling

The track that changed Shanika scale is “Kay ve yo”, released on May 27, 2023 on Voodoo Studio, according to the discography published by Qobuz. Her Music Story biography says the single attracted particular attention, blending traditional West Indian rhythms with contemporary sounds, and that it allowed the singer to perform in several countries, including France, Germany and Guyana. For an independent Gwada artist, that geography of stages says the essential: the track travelled far beyond the island, carried by the Antillean diaspora and by the bouyon and shatta parties of Europe.

The official video for the track, published on YouTube, gives its making credits, and they are worth the detour. The production is signed DJ Taffy, presented as Riddim Beast, with a FunnyRiddim mention. The video is produced and edited by Voodoo Studio, the camera work is signed Aurum Art, and the recording is credited to N.S.L.N.S Industrie. DJ Taffy is one of the recurring producers of this scene, and finding him behind the Shanika breakthrough track connects her story to the riddim makers who structure bouyon gwada: one producer, one studio, one voice, then a video built to travel everywhere.

A point of method, because this site holds to claiming nothing without a source: the phrase “Kay ve yo” also circulates as a riddim name on the same scene. Shazam lists a “Kay Vé Yo Riddim” published by Natoxie in March 2023, with the track “Kay Vé Yo Folle” by Natoxie and Chatix. The sources opened for this profile do not establish that the Shanika single and that riddim are the same project, so this profile does not claim it. What is verified is the published credit of the Shanika video: DJ Taffy on production. The rest is a shared formula in a scene where Creole expressions travel from track to track, and it is stated here as exactly that.

“Kay ve yo” also installed the Shanika sound: short sung hooks, writing in Creole and French, and productions built for dancing. The Viberate platform places it at the head of her most popular tracks, ahead of “5 KILOS” and “OKEII”. It is the base on which the rest of her catalogue was built, at a release pace that has never stopped since.

2023, the year of singles: Okeii, Chocolate, Tou pa tou

Shanika 2023 reads as a catalogue under fast construction, and every date that follows comes from the discographies published by Qobuz and Deezer. On July 18, 2023 came “Okeii” on Voodoo Studio, written by Alphonse Maeva and composed by Nicolas Zita, a track of 3 minutes and 9 seconds that stands among her most popular on the platforms. On July 22 came “Pa ban-nou gaz” on the label 5400436 Records DK. On August 10 came “P.L.S”, featuring Team Bwè Tou Sa, on the same distribution circuit. Three singles in one summer month: the pace is that of the new Gwada school, which releases fast and tests everything in public.

Alongside her singles, Shanika already appears as a guest on the tracks of others, which is the other signature of rising artists on this scene. On July 28, 2023, D0 Production released “Mantè”, featuring Shanika. On August 2, 2023, 1T1 released two tracks where she appears: “Sa Dou”, with Miky Ding La and Shanika, and “bla bla bla”, with HollyG and Shanika. Her Music Story biography indeed counts her collaboration with the HollyG trio among her notable facts. Those features place her voice at the centre of a network: the producers and singers of the moment pass her from track to track.

The peak of that first year is “Chocolate”, released on September 29, 2023 on Voodoo Studio, as a duet with Le Bluff. The Shazam listing for the track gives the full detail: lyrics by Alphonse Maeva, composition and programming by Jonathan ELUSCA, performed by Shanika and Le Bluff, and a tempo of 160 BPM, the reference tempo of modern bouyon. The Deezer version runs 2 minutes and 28 seconds. “Chocolate” is the track our own internal record already held as her signature, and the published credits confirm why: it is a fast bouyon, sung by two voices, written by the artist herself, and it remains one of the safest entry points into her world.

The year ends without slowing down. On November 18, 2023 came “Tou pa tou” on Voodoo Studio. On November 29 came “Fanm sé ... / nonm sé...”, featuring Niko, again on Voodoo Studio. In six months, Shanika therefore released or co-carried close to ten tracks, nearly all written under the name Maeva Alphonse. No album crowns that sequence in the published sources: her career is built in singles, like most of her generation, and our bouyon playlist is the right place to hear her inside the flow of that scene.

2024: Hot Gal, Knock Knock, On Fwa and Mwen ki pa bon

On January 26, 2024, Shanika released “Hot Gal” on Aztec Musique and Voodoo Studio. The credits published by Deezer speak plainly: writers Clifford Smith and Maëva Alphonse, composer Tyron, of the Wavemakers. Clifford Smith is the birth name of Mr Vegas, the Jamaican dancehall star, and the Viberate platform explicitly presents “Hot Gal” as a Shanika collaboration with Mr Vegas, whom her Music Story biography also lists among her notable collaborations. A Gwada singer co-writing a track with a name of that size in Jamaican dancehall, two years after her covers beginnings, measures the road travelled. The track runs 2 minutes and 32 seconds, an assumed club format.

Spring and summer 2024 line up the collaborations. On February 8 came “La La La” on Voodoo Studio. On May 24 came “Feeling”, featuring Taje. On June 28 came “Knock Knock”, featuring Miimii and Mikado, on MF Music and Voodoo Studio: Miimii KDS is one of the other rising female voices of bouyon gwada, and that three voice track looks like a family photo of the female new wave, the one our women of bouyon page follows closely. On July 19 came “Sa ka bay”, featuring DJ Taffy, the “Kay ve yo” producer, back here as a billed collaborator.

Between those two dates, on July 10, 2024, came “On Fwa”, the Pinpin OSP track with Shanika, published on VGM Product. Our internal record already knew that collaboration, and the discographies confirm it with its date and label. Pinpin OSP is one of the sung pillars of the same Gwada wave, named by the regional press among the names dominating the scene, and Viberate holds “On Fwa” among Shanika popular tracks. The collaboration counts double: it ties her name to one of the most established male artists of her generation, on a track that keeps circulating in bouyon and shatta selections.

The end of 2024 brings the most consequential track, in every sense. On November 1, 2024, Lewismelo released his album “Premières Notes” on his own label, Lewismeloproduction. The second track of the album is “5 KILOS”, featuring Admiral T and Shanika, written by Christy Campbell and Maëva Alphonse. Christy Campbell is the civil name of Admiral T, which the listings of his own album “MAESTRO” confirm, where he is credited as writer under that name. Shanika therefore co-writes and sings alongside one of the biggest historical figures of Guadeloupe music. NRJ Antilles presented “5 KILOS” as a new hit signed by the three names, Lewismelo, Admiral T and Shanika. Fifteen days later, on November 16, 2024, she released “Mwen ki pa bon”, featuring Litleboy, on Voodoo Studio, closing a year in which she held every role: soloist, guest, co-writer.

The pen behind the voice: Shanika also writes for others

There is a level of Shanika career that quick portraits do not see, because you have to read the credits line by line to find it. On February 16, 2024, the singer Maureen released her album “BAD QUEEN” on Mau Art Production. The fourth track, “Ding Dong”, is co-written by Maureen Lucea and Maëva Alphonse, and composed by Axel Campier and Allan Meyapin Bordin. Maëva Alphonse is the name under which Shanika signs her own tracks. She therefore wrote, at least in part, a track on the album of one of the other major singers of the current Antillean scene, and Viberate indeed ranks “Ding Dong” among the notable tracks associated with her name.

That songwriter role for others sheds light on her whole catalogue. On her own singles, the constant Maeva Alphonse credit, from “Okeii” in 2023 to the recent features where the long form Maeva Ingrid Alphonse appears, draws an artist who holds her own pen, in a scene where many voices perform texts written by producers. On “5 Kilos” she co-writes with Admiral T. On “Chocolate” she signs the lyrics in full according to the Shazam listing. On “Hot Gal” she co-writes with Clifford Smith. The signature returns too regularly, across too many independent listings, to be an administrative detail: it is a career fact.

That position as a writing performer also helps explain her relative longevity. The Gwada bouyon and shatta scene produces tracks at a speed that quickly wears out plain performers. The artists who last are often those who control part of their repertoire. By writing for herself and, at least once in a verified way, for Maureen, Shanika gave herself a second trade inside the same ecosystem. This profile stresses it because none of the generalist sources consulted tells it: it took cross reading the Deezer listings of two different artists to make it appear.

2025 and after: Sé vou, Replay, Miaou, and an established place

The year 2025 confirms the cruising pace. On January 17 came “Sé vou”, featuring Dexterman and I Paf Hau, on Voodoo Studio. On April 11 came “Replay”, again on Voodoo Studio, which Viberate describes as carried by a catchy chorus. On August 28 came “Miaou”, featuring Dexterman, presented by the same platform as her most visible recent track. Dexterman returns on two of those three releases: loyal collaborations count as much as big names in building a Gwada catalogue, because they create listening habits in the audience.

The features continue in parallel, with the same regularity. On December 17, 2025, Safo released “Push and go”, featuring Shanika, written by Glen Safo and Maeva Ingrid Alphonse. On January 3, 2026, Edday released “She miss me”, with Shanika and Jixels, co-written by Eddy Eliezer Vanerot, Maeva Ingrid Alphonse and Johnathan Elusca, the composer of “Chocolate”. Three years on, the same writing team therefore reappears around her voice. An online radio playlist also programmed “B Love”, by Sodaade with Shanika, a trace of a circulation that goes beyond streaming platforms alone. No Shanika solo album is announced in the published sources at the date of this profile: her work remains, to this day, an archipelago of singles and collaborations.

Where does Shanika stand, at the end of that verified path? Bouyon was born in Dominica, with bands such as WCK, and bouyon soca was started there in 2003 by producer Dada, according to the first-hand testimony of Sean “Smokiller” Francis carried on our bouyon soca page. Guadeloupe made its own school of it, bouyon gwada, then shatta added its street layer. Shanika works exactly at that crossing: her own published biography places her between shatta dancehall and bouyon, her published tempos rise to 160 BPM, and her collaborations connect her to two generations, from HollyG and Pinpin OSP to Admiral T. Among the female voices of this wave, she is one of the most prolific, and one of the few who sign their own texts.

This profile also states its limits. No long Shanika interview was found in the sources opened for this page, no birth date and no private life detail is published here, and her songwriter name is reported only because it appears in the official credits of her own tracks. Listening figures are not carried, for lack of a stable source. What remains is solid: a dated and labelled discography of more than twenty tracks between 2023 and 2026, regional press recognition in December 2025, stages in France, Germany and Guyana, and a verified pen at home and for others. To hear her in context, our bouyon playlist and our history of bouyon are the two doors into this site.

Frequently asked questions

Who is Shanika?

Shanika is a West Indian singer from Guadeloupe, presented by her Music Story published biography as an artist immersed in music since childhood, who moved from covers to her own tracks in the shatta dancehall and bouyon style. In December 2025, the publisher Maïté Berchel-Bordin names her in Caraïb Créole News among the most emblematic bouyon artists of the moment in Guadeloupe, with Lejuh, 1T1, Theomaa and Aknose.

What is Shanika name in the credits of her songs?

That is the detail other portraits do not give: official listings credit nearly all of her tracks, on the writing side, to the name Maeva Alphonse, also written Alphonse Maeva, and in the long form Maeva Ingrid Alphonse on recent features. She signs the lyrics of “Chocolate”, co-writes “Hot Gal” with Clifford Smith and “5 Kilos” with Christy Campbell, the civil name of Admiral T. She also co-wrote “Ding Dong” on the Maureen album “BAD QUEEN”, released on February 16, 2024.

Which track made Shanika known?

“Kay ve yo”, released on May 27, 2023 on Voodoo Studio and produced by DJ Taffy according to the official video credits. Her published biography says the single attracted particular attention and allowed her to perform in several countries, including France, Germany and Guyana.

Who does Shanika sing “Chocolate” with?

With Le Bluff. The track was released on September 29, 2023 on Voodoo Studio. The Shazam listing credits Alphonse Maeva for the lyrics, Jonathan ELUSCA for the composition and programming, and gives a tempo of 160 BPM.

What is “5 Kilos”?

It is the second track of the Lewismelo album “Premières Notes”, released on November 1, 2024, featuring Admiral T and Shanika. The track is written by Christy Campbell and Maëva Alphonse, and NRJ Antilles presented it as a new hit signed Lewismelo, Admiral T and Shanika.

Where can I hear Shanika and the bouyon gwada wave?

Start with “Kay ve yo”, “Chocolate”, “Hot Gal” and “5 Kilos”, then hear our bouyon playlist and read our bouyon gwada page to place her among the Lejuh, 1T1, Pinpin OSP and Miimii KDS of her generation.

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