Dancehall Singer Denyque Sizzles In New Photos, But Drama Ensues When Photographer Calls Her Out

Over the weekend, Jamaican singer Denyque showed off her rock-hard bod on the ‘Gram in sizzling new photos to promote her upcoming Champion music video, but the photographer, Ryan Mattis, has called her out for not properly tagging him in the credits.  Denyque clapped back and revealed that the snub was intentional since she would not recommend Mattis’ services to anyone.

The drama started when the Make Me Believe You singer shared the “transcendent” photos where she rocked a floral-patterned trench coat with a matching bralette top, pants, and knee-high boots courtesy of local designer Cavell McDermott of Levac Designs, along with styling and creative direction from Neko ‘Bootleg Rocstar’ Kelly and Denyque’s manager Sasha (@iam.blingblang).  Teeah Anderson and Get Nailed Ja were also tagged and credited for makeup and nails. However, even though she was pleased with the photos, the Dancehall artist said she did not similarly tag Mattis for his work, because of his allegedly unprofessional behavior. 

The snub turned into an uproar on Instagram and trended on Twitter last night, after Mattis vented about how “sick to his stomach” he was of the “blatant disrespect” experienced by photographers in the music industry.

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“Photographers constantly get the sh-tty end of the stick whenever we work with artists,” he wrote in an Instagram post yesterday, along with more photos of Denyque taken at the photoshoot.

“If you go to @thedenyque’s page you’ll see that everyone on her team is tagged EXCEPT the photographer. I immediately got so many messages about it from people who knew I shot the images. She edited the caption to then add my name in plain text to try and save face, but still no tag. It really irritates me that this continues to happen and its not hard to identify the blatant disrespect.”

Denyque quickly responded to the post and said, “Ryan.. lol. Don’t start this. I repeat, do not start this.”  The Watch Him Tone singer, who said she usually keeps quiet about these types of situations, decided to follow up with an explanation on her Instagram Live.

Denyque argued that despite word on the street of the photographer’s “unprofessionalism,” she sought his expertise, nonetheless, because of their friendship, and furthermore because she considered him an “excellent” talent.  She said that Mattis “did an amazing job” and that she was “really really happy with the product.”

However, according to the singer, Matthis’ work ethic in the aftermath caused her to leave him ‘untagged’ when she issued credits to the creative team behind the shoot.

“When I tag somebody, like when I tag their handle, it’s because that is my personal recommendation for that person,” she explained. “Now based on the experience, I didn’t feel like I should have recommended Ryan to somebody else.”

“Don’t get me wrong that doesn’t change how I feel about him. However, my tag is my personal recommendation but I did give him his photo credit because I’m like that. No matter the feelings there are about, it doesn’t matter, I will always give credit where credit is due. I will never take that away from somebody.”

She continued, “Based on the relationship that I had with Ryan okay, especially if the experience wasn’t so distasteful, I probably would have tagged him. But it’s the experience that I’m talking about that I won’t recommend him with a tag because I don’t want anybody else to have to go through that. If they want to go through that, they can do that on their own. His tag is there, his credit is there, you know who the photographer is, go search for him, go link him!”

Denyque also added that Mattis previously disclosed to her that he was quitting the photography business and her shoot may very well be his last. This, she said, gave her even more reason to not tag the photographer in her post.

Mattis, however, maintained that the ‘plain text’ credit (without a tag) was only added “after the fact”.  The photographer also argued that he was not disrespectful to Denyque or her manager at any point during the business arrangement.

“It’s interesting that I’m now being gaslighted for allegedly being disrespectful when I was mute for the entirety of the shoot,” he wrote in an Instagram Story.  “I responded to texts, albiet not in a timely fashion because of personal matters I don’t wish to discuss.  All of this was stated to Denyque prior to the shoot ending that I have a lot dealing with so there will be times I won’t be able to respond right away.  Images were still delivered.”

Mattis also shared screenshots for what he considered could be only the point, during the arrangement, where Denyque’s manager could have felt disrespected.

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Meanwhile, thanks to Supreme Body Sculpting, who Denyque credits for getting her in top form, the singer is now looking like a champion to match her mindset and the message of her Good Good Production-produced single Champion.

When she penned the single, Denyque said she felt like a “champion” coming back on the music scene after dodging a near-death experience during the birth of her daughter, Dylan Drew Mullings. She also wanted to inspire others to keep pushing despite life’s adversities.

“That’s my special project because I wanted a song to really kinda express how I felt coming back into the entertainment space. I wanted it to also speak to people. I wanted people to be able to use it as an anthem in a sense, a means of motivation to remind them that no matter what, they can do whatever. I want the message to be, ‘If you fall seven times, stand up eight because that’s what the life of a champion is about,” she told The Gleaner on Friday.

Fans may not have to wait too long on the new visuals for Champion as Denyque said it could be dropping any time soon. “I will be releasing the video for that track soon, and it’s going to be fire. It was done by Bling Blang with styling from Bootleg Rocstar, so it will be everything,” she continued.

Denyque’s single Champion has already been released, press play on the official audio for the track here: