Cedella Marley Still Believes in the ‘Reggae Girlz’: ‘I Wanted the Music to Reflect the Journey of These Women’

“If it’s Reggae Girlz and it’s football, then it’s Cedella!” the three-time Grammy-winning reggae singer and eldest biological child of Bob and Rita Marley tells Billboard.

Next week (Oct. 27), Reggae Girlz, a new documentary following the journey of Jamaica’s Women’s National Football Team to the world stage, will be available to stream on major platforms, two months after its exclusive release on independent streaming platform Jolt. Executive produced by Marley and helmed by two-time Oscar-winning director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy and Trish Dalton, the film is set against the backdrop of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, a time when Marley (alongside her parents’ foundation) stepped in to assist the team as they struggled with limited resources. The Jamaican women’s team is the first Caribbean team (of any gender to qualify for two consecutive World Cups (2019 and 2023), and Marley served as their global ambassador from 2014 to 2024.

Marley joined the project as executive producer a little over three years ago, with her major roles consisting of facilitating select interviews with players and handling clearances for her self-curated soundtrack. Featuring nine previously released tracks from various members of the Marley clan (Bob, Damian, Stephen, Bam, Skip and King Cruff all make appearances), and one track from Jamaican soccer star and singer Tiffany Cameron, the compilation is now available exclusively on limited edition vinyl via Tuff Gong Collective, with 100% of net proceeds going to the Reggae Girlz Foundation fund.

“I tried to keep the documentary more positive than negative; the end goal is for everyone watching to learn something about Jamaica, football, the Federation and the struggle,” Marley says. “I didn’t want it to just be, ‘The Federation is bad’ because all federations have their problems, and we’re not immune to it. It wasn’t a big deal for me to say, ‘Let’s not go too heavy on the Federation; let’s think about how we can bring about change inside of the Federation.’ They’re there to watch themselves and see how they’ve acted and reacted to the girls. Little girls coming up now will see that [the women before them] paid a price to make a way for the next generation.”

The Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) has been at the center of several controversies surrounding the women’s team in recent years. In 2019, the team, led by star player Khadija “Bunny” Shaw, threatened to boycott qualification matches for the Tokyo Olympics unless an “embarrassing” pay dispute ended, with them receiving all the money they were owed from that year. The team ultimately did not qualify for the 2020 Summer Olympics. In 2023, ahead of the 2024 CONCACAF Women’s Gold Cup, the Reggae Girlz once again staged a boycott over payment disputes with the Federation.

That same year, the Reggae Girlz also took the JFF to task for its lack of financial support, adequate planning, transportation and access to training facilities for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup. And, in 2024, The Guardian reported inconsistencies in the JFF’s claim that women’s national team coach Hubert Busby Jr. had been cleared of allegations of serious misconduct by FIFA’s Ethics Committee. FIFA confirmed to The Guardian that its Ethics Committee closed a preliminary investigation without reaching a final judgement, and the publication also reported that witnesses to the alleged misconduct were never interviewed by the Ethics Committee.

“I wanted the music to reflect the journey of these women, while also reminding people where they come from and where they’re going,” says Marley. She became an ambassador and sponsor for the Reggae Girlz in 2014, after the team was reinstated from a nearly six-year hiatus, following their failure to advance from the group stage of Olympic Qualifying in 2008. “I wanted the soundtrack to tell a story just as powerful as the documentary, one of strength, resilience, pride, and of course, the spirit of Jamaica.”

Beginning with Stephen Marley’s defiant “Strike Hard” and closing with Skip Marley’s stirring, optimistic “Faith,” the Reggae Girlz soundtrack succinctly covers the winding highs and lows of the team’s journey. The compilation lineup is also personal: Cedella famously heard of the Reggae Girlz’ dilapidated state, and subsequently took them under her wing after her son, Skip, came home with a flyer in his backpack. Though the soundtrack mostly consists of her family’s tunes, Marley also wanted to include tracks by female reggae icons like Sister Nancy and Patra, the latter of whom snagged the Lifetime Achievement Award at last month’s Caribbean Music Awards (Sept. 18). “I wanted all these female voices in there,” she says. “But I’d rather use them in clips, while promoting the film, versus it being on the soundtrack.”

Enter Tiffany Cameron. A forward and midfielder who previously represented Canada (where she was born to Jamaican parents), Cameron was named to the Jamaican women’s team training camp roster in January 2019 and has been rapping since college under the name Tiff. She initially released the triumphant “For the Love of the Game” in 2018, and, this year, she teamed up with reggae singer Jah’Mila for “Victory,” the official anthem for Canada’s women’s soccer Northern Super League.

“It’s a Jamaican thing: you don’t do just one thing,” notes Marley, “Football is not going to be the rest of your life; the [career of an athlete in that sport] is not long. I’m glad that she’s on this journey of music and that she’s discovered her own voice. It’s just a beautiful song.”

Though she’s yet to watch the documentary — “I don’t watch anything that has my father, my mother, [or myself] in it,” she says. “Because then you start to judge yourself, you know?” — Marley is excited for the world to “watch the girls struggle and then succeed” as she did for the past decade.

“Women’s football needs to listen to the voices of the athletes and change structures that can benefit them, from the grassroots to the professional level,” she stresses. “It’s a lot of stuff that needs to be done.”

Reggae Girlz is produced by Red Bull Studios and Astronaut Films, in association with Polygram Entertainment and Tuff Gong Collective. The documentary will be available to stream on Amazon, Apple TV, Google Play, YouTube Movies, TubiV & Xumo on Tuesday, Oct. 27.