Nine-year-old Lake Anthony has gathered Anthony B, Romain Virgo, Ce’Cile, Pato Banton and Katchafire’s Logan Bell for a roots reggae single built around love, unity and hurricane relief. “World Needs Love” is set for release on October 16, 2026.
Lake Anthony is preparing “World Needs Love,” a roots reggae single that puts a nine-year-old artist at the center of an unusually broad collaboration. Produced by Loud City, the song interpolates the classic “What the World Needs Now Is Love” while recasting its message through a reggae lens. The reported release date is October 16, 2026, with the track expected across major streaming platforms. Rather than presenting the song as a standard children’s recording, the project places Lake alongside established voices from Jamaica, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and the United States.
The guest list includes Anthony B, Romain Virgo and Ce’Cile from Jamaica, Pato Banton from the UK, and Logan Bell of New Zealand’s Katchafire. Lake’s mother, Katherine Ramirez, also contributes, representing California’s Mystic Roots Band, according to the report. That lineup gives the single a clear international shape, but the purpose is direct: use familiar reggae voices to carry a message about compassion and shared responsibility. The collaboration also reflects how reggae’s audience and working community have stretched well beyond the genre’s Jamaican home without losing its roots in social commentary.
The song’s humanitarian angle reportedly came after Lake visited Jamaica and saw damage linked to recent hurricanes. Proceeds from “World Needs Love” are intended to support hurricane recovery efforts, connecting the recording to practical aid rather than leaving its message at the level of a slogan. Lake’s stated concern for people affected by the storms gives the release its strongest point of focus. Love and peace are common themes in reggae, but directing income from the single toward recovery gives those themes a concrete destination and raises the stakes around its October release.
Lake’s profile grew after a surprise moment at Burning Man, where Walshy Fire of Major Lazer praised him as “the future of Reggae,” according to the supplied coverage. That encounter has become part of the story around “World Needs Love,” though the single itself is the more useful measure of what Lake is trying to do next. At nine, he is working with artists whose careers span decades and different reggae scenes. The challenge will be matching that ambition with a recording that feels musical first and symbolic second.
For now, “World Needs Love” stands as Lake Anthony’s clearest statement: a young artist using a roots reggae framework to connect international collaborators with a relief effort tied to Jamaica. Anthony B, Virgo, Ce’Cile, Banton, Bell and Ramirez bring distinct histories to the track, while Loud City handles the production. If the song carries its message without sanding away reggae’s emotional weight, the project could show how a youthful voice enters the conversation without pretending to speak over the artists who helped build it. Its planned release date is October 16, 2026.
