Sean Paul Reveals His Secret Formula For Finding Hits
Dancehall superstar Sean Paul appeared on Access Hollywood with hosts Kit Hoover and Mario Lopez to discuss one of his latest hits Calling On Me, which features Swedish singer and songwriter, Tove Lo. The song has been doing extremely well since it’s launch on February 14th and has over five million views on YouTube.
Paul revealed a little bit of his winning formula during the interview when he said that he hosts writing camps. It was one of these camps that he came across songwriter Nija Aisha Alayja Charles, who was instrumental in helping him find the right lyrics. He said that she also writes for some big names in R&B like Beyonce.
The Grammy award-winning artiste said that he sees Calling On Me as a track about unity and love and not as a ‘booty call’ song, which he jokingly added many people in the studio felt it was. In fact, he said the song has helped him get to get through the tough loss of his father about two years ago. It also represents the love that he is constantly surrounded by, from his family.
The Like Glue also revealed that he had a roller-coaster relationship with his father Garth Henriques in the early part of his life but that they became very close friends as the years passed.
He also reminisced about his first number one, Baby Boy in 2003, which was with R&B superstar Beyonce. He said that she came to him when she was working on her first solo album and he noticed that the track had a heavy Dancehall influence.
“This prove to me that my culture, Dancehall and Reggae music is such a strong thing.”
When it comes to collaborations Sean Paul says that his writing camps play an instrumental role and he usually chooses an artiste based on their sound and then he lets them put their touch on it. He also said that most of the collaborations don’t happen in the same studio.
He said that Rihanna, however, visited Jamaica and he was able to go around with her and show her a lot of the historic sites, like the Bob Marley studio.
Sean also shared about the challenges of being a parent and a sought after Dancehall artiste. He admitted that even though he was getting a lot less sleep he still finds the time to pursue his career and still makes frequent trips to the studio.
He also revealed that he produces music now and often takes the time to coach young and upcoming artistes which also adds to his already full plate. He admitted that a lot of the burden of raising the family falls on his wife, Jodi Stewart who recently started her own YouTube channel.
It’s also becoming much more difficult for him to leave his family to go on tour. “It’s kinna crazy, every time going away now, I get a little bit more and more apprehensive. I don’t wanna go away.”
Watch the full interview below.