Shenseea joins a list of young, hot celebrities like Saweetie, Selena Gomez, Marshmello. Illenium, Black Coffee and Olivia Rodrigo who are first time grammy nominees.
Unlike the others, the Shen Yeng Anthem singer’s rise to the top has been a little different. For one she is from Jamaica, which may or may not work for her. She is also yet to drop an album but she has experienced Billboard and Spotify chart success, international endorsements, has a record with Interscope, and 2 collabs with Kanye West. She also shares manager with Nicki Minaj, The Weeknd and Diddy.
A few years ago I sat down with Shenseea at her home base studio at Romeich Entertainment in Jamaica. She made me listen to some of her new music and she was excited and hungry for success in the international entertainment industry. We talked growth, her ‘manish-womanish’ vocals, her anticipated collaborations, being a rapper, and who is her ultimate hero.
Since our 2018 talk, she has done numerous international collaborations and only this week snagged her first Grammy nomination. She appears on “Pure Souls” and Ok Ok Pt. 2 on Kanye West’s Donda album which is nominated for the prestigious Album Of The Year.
Her debut album is scheduled for next year with numerous top level industry features according to sources.
Anyone just now being introduced to Shenseea since her collaboration with Kanye and subsequent grammy nomination, or wondering what she had to do to reach the top of the charts, she describes a work ethic, drive and openness that led her to become a grammy nominated artist in 2021.
She has performed at several major events in the US and as far as Dubai in the past few weeks, however, the Be Good singer has been traveling and performing all over the world long before she announced a new management team lead by Sal XO.
“I travel a lot and I get to experience different audiences. Performing for me now is fun. Years ago anywhere I go I had to have dancers behind me to boost my confidence. I tell them if anything goes wrong they should take the attention (distract them). But now, it’s like the majority of the time I don’t feel like I need anybody on the stage with me. Many times I tell everyone to come off the stage because I want to grab their full attention.. you get me?” she said.
Crooning on Kanye’s tribute album probably was not in her 2020 plans at the start of the year but after she delivered a scintillating freestyle on Hot 97 with FunkMaster Flex, it drew Ye’s attention and he invited her to collaborate on his album and she joined him at his sold out Chicago listening party streamed live around the world on Apple Music.
“I was always an outspoken child and was told never to talk under my breath. I was always shouting. Even when I am expressing myself I was always loud so that was training my voice to be strong but the control comes from the beat. When I hear the bassline and kick in the rhythm, I know that’s definitely Dancehall and that chop “manish-womanish” sound comes out, and that helped me to channel my voice.” She said.
Many people were surprised to see that Shenseea was credited as a songwriter on Pure Souls and Ok Ok Pt 2 but like her infectious voice and captivating presence on stage, she has been developing her songwriting abilities for years.
“I write my music. I have over 100 songs and I wrote most of them. Doesn’t mean I won’t take a song from someone. We should be more open to songwriters but only if the song makes sense,” she said in 2018.
Inspired by Nicky Minaj and Rihanna but she more than some of her peers can effortlessly switch from rapping to DJing (rapping in dancehall lingua) to give herself a musical edge. Her American counterparts may try to do this with some practice but for Shenseea, she has lived the culture and is taking it to the world,
“Jamaican all the way. I can’t do rap 100 percent HipHop lingua I have to add some dancehall in it”.
When she announced new management in July people were speculating that she would have abandoned her former manager Romiech Major. However her gratitude for his involvement in her career has been constant.
“Well..Romeich is like a hero to me. Hero. I came from nothing, and if someone can see you and invest so much in you and work so hard and keep pushing and pushing he’s like a hero to me”.
