Sean Paul Spills The Details On His Two New Albums
Jamaican superstar Sean Paul is gearing up to release the first of two new Dancehall albums this year, Live and Living, on March 12. The second album, Scorcher, will arrive sometime later.
With a global pandemic still running rampant, the Grammy Award-winning artist is enjoying the extra time at home with family, no doubt but it’s not just all fun and games for the 48-year-old dad of two. Paul had revealed in an interview on Radio Jamaica two weeks ago that he has actually been using his time wisely and will be dropping the two albums in one year.
Yesterday he gave radio host, DJ 4eignXchange more details on what to expect with the new compilations. The first, and what Sean has described as his hardcore Dancehall LP, Live And Living, is inspired by the phrase he uses to define the current state of Dancehall music right now. The other, Scorcher has softer feels and will incorporate more of a “poppy” type of track collection.
Live And Living
Though currently signed to Island Records, Live And Living will be released on March 12 under Paul’s own label, Dutty Rock Productions, and will feature his hardcore cronies in the Dancehall fraternity and a few Reggae acts. These include Mavado, 6ixx Boss Squash, Skillibeng, Masicka, Intence, Buju Banton, Busy Signal, Serani, Bugle, Jesse Royale, Junior Gong, Chi Ching Ching, Mutabaruka, and a deliberate choice of the only non-Jamaican act, Ghanaian deejay, Stonebwoy.
In efforts of truly branding the culture, the Temperature deejay decided not only to go hardcore with the line-up for the Live And Living album but also stage an all-male troupe of just local acts void of any international collabs. The idea was sparked in the pre-production stages he said after assessing and mixing riddims with production heads such as Chimney Records, Demarco, LeftSide (who is also on the album), Money Matters Entertainment, and members of his Dutty Rock camp, i.e. Coppershot’s Copper Shaun and Jigzagular as well as Suku of Ward 21.
Sean further added that Live And Living, though comprises of exciting fusions with hot Dancehall acts, amazing riddims, and his own mastery of course, is a project that has mended rifts between deejays.
He elaborated on a scenario with the making of the track Everest on the album that features Masicka and Skillibeng, which was produced by Demarco who Sean revealed never always got along with Masicka. He also disclosed that for years, Masicka and Skilli weren’t “clicking” well either but asked the deejays to appear on the track together regardless of their differences and to do it for the culture, which in the end they decided to do.
The Like Glue deejay has said in the past that he’s a man of peace and harmony within the music biz, having turned down numerous pleas to appear on the infamous Verzuz Battles, as he doesn’t endorse what it represents and promote, and that is deejays ‘clashing’ against each other.
Scorcher
As for his other album Scorcher, Sean has already released the flagship track, also titled, Scorcha back in December. The single is featured on the Style A Style Riddim produced by Chimney Records.
The international hitmaker said fans can expect to hear the “regular type of tunes from Sean Paul,” more pop-infused tracks, and lots of collabs with the females.
Scorcher is produced by Island Records and will feature another teaming with Australian singer-songwriter, Sia on a track called Dynamite. Paul’s previous release with Sia, Cheap Thrills is one of his most successful collaborations to date, sweeping up more than 1.5 billion views on Sia’s YouTube page and scored him a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Duo.
There is also a collab with Dancehall princess Shenseea, and American singer Gwen Stefani on a single he described as a Reggae-rock tune called Light My Fire, and then another teaser with Jada Kingdom.
Sean also has a second teaming with Swedish singer, Tove Lo; the two have seen great success on their smash hit Calling On Me, which has racked up more than 13 million views on YouTube.
Other acts on Scorcher will include Ty Dolla Sign, Stylo G, and Mambo.
Other Projects
For the other upcoming projects he has in the pipeline, we can expect to see six new music videos between now and March. Sean says his track with Busy Signal will be the first video treatment for any of the collaborations on the Live And Living album and is slated for release in March.
In addition to that, there is a remix and new music video underway for his previously released track Guns of Navarone, which he recorded with Jesse Royale and Mutabaruka, this is also set to officially release sometime in March. The remix expands the team to include Stonebwoy, who Sean said visited his studios on Thursday (yesterday) to voice on the new rendition and subsequently shoot the video a few hours after.
He also plans on releasing music videos with Buju Banton and another with Shenseea soon. The visuals for his lead track, Scorcha will be shot next week but didn’t disclose the exact date that it would be officially released for streaming. Until then, fans can lookout for a new song with himself and Charly Black coming in about two weeks!
There are also his features on upcoming albums belonging to Spice, Agent Sasco, Demarco, and Chi Ching Ching. He was especially excited to share an approaching banger from what he styled the “Big S’s” with himself, Shaggy, and Spice.
Watch the full interview with DJ 4eignXchange below –