Love Is Wicked: Little-Known Story Behind Split Of Brick And Lace

Jamaican duo Brick and Lace, born Nyanda and Nyla Thorbourne, were two sisters whose globally acclaimed hit song, Love Is Wicked, earned them a global reputation following its release in 2007.

The dancehall beats that composed the popular song remain a vibe that people of all ages move to and one which they enjoy. Countless remixes have since been made as millions of music lovers continue playing the popular song that changed R&B/Soul and dancehall Reggae music as we know it today.

Nyla and Nyanda were moreover celebrated for their musical artistry and beauty, with their ravishing good looks pulling hundreds of thousands of netizens to their social media pages to date.

Over 78,700 people follow Nyanda on Instagram for example, with her sister amassing over 102,000 followers on the same platform.

Brick and Lace during their 'Love Is Wicked' music video. /YOUTUBE

However, despite their rise to fame, the two parted ways after singing together, releasing separate projects, more than 15 years since Love Is Wicked's release. This led to speculations on why the two broke up, despite being sisters.

Nyla recently took to social media to address the behind-the-scenes events that culminated in the split of the popular music duo.

“Hi guys, I just wanted to come here (TikTok) and address a comment. Somebody had asked why after Love Is Wicked, my sister and I stopped singing, and I just wanted to address certain points.

"First of all, we did not stop singing after Love Is Wicked, we actually shot another music video but it was not as big as Love Is Wicked but it had some marginal success…we did some other stuff after that too that really could not take the place of Love Is Wicked," she addressed.

Focusing on the aftermath of pursuing different projects alone, Nyla touched on the achievements she made working with other global music stars after the split, including writing for Jennifer Lopez, Christina Aguilera and Nicole Scherzinger.

"We did a lot of stuff after Love Is Wicked. But I wanted to touch on why I decided to leave the group; or why we split.

"You know, Nyanda and myself, we are sisters; and I was in a group from my adolescents even before Brick and Lace being a group on a professional level- meaning getting signed, doing it on a bigger scale," she added.

According to Nyla, she had got to a point where she felt underappreciated and after discussions with Nyanda, they decided to part ways to find out their true potential as individuals.

"We were in a group, and I was much younger so just to cut the long story short, I got to a place where I did not feel like I was not being served anymore. I didn’t feel – and I know people may find this weird or funny to digest- but I feel like I needed to find my own voice.

"And you know, we just came to a place of ‘we need to just take a break’ and after being together and being in a group for so long, we kind of had to figure out who we were as individuals,” stated Nyla.

The group officially disbanded in 2013. Their Brick and Lace name was chosen to represent femininity’s tough and soft sides.

Nyanda was already juggling motherhood with her solo career when the renewed spotlight on Brick and Lace was flung into the mix.

She dropped a four-song EP in 2021 and was in the middle of pushing the project’s title track, All Fruits Ripe with Stonebwoy, when she got the call that Love is Wicked was taking flight once more.

The song went viral on TikTok and Nyanda even shared a TikTok video of Kenyan dancers jamming to the hugely-popular beat on her Instagram page on September 8, 2022.

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