Shenseea Says She Has Bigger Dreams Than Being ‘Queen Of Dancehall’
Shenseea says that the five years she had given herself in Dancehall has come to an end, and she will now pursue the genre she has long said was her first love: Pop music.
In an Instagram Live over the weekend, the Tie Me Up artist, 25, pointed out to her followers that she has never had any desire to be a “Dancehall Queen” and was not inextricably tied to Dancehall music.
“I told myself I’m gonna do Dancehall for five years. I have given myself to Dancehall; I have given y’all hits upon hits, upon hits, upon hits, upon hits, for five years bro… And I am not leaving Dancehall because I could never. What you f-kin thought? I did not say that,” she said laughing.
“But I have such a bigger dream for myself ever since I was a child; I am going to achieve it, because at the end of the day it is my life and it is what I want and it is what I’ve always dreamt of. And I’m gonna get that for myself…,” she added.
Shenseea’s Live came following harsh criticisms from Dancehall producer/selector Foota Hype, who said that she was, among other things, “a disgrace to Dancehall” for her lyrics and Sapphic shenanigans with Megan Thee Stallion in her Pop-Soca fusion collab Lick. She explained that she was living up to her own expectations and the goal that she had set for herself, which was to become an “International Pop artiste within five years”.
“And I am only gonna address this once. Because I see some tags in like my mentions saying that I should focus back on Dancehall more, and I’m gonna be the next Dancehall queen. I have never aspired to be a Dancehall queen in my life. Neverrrr. I have never aspired to be a Dancehall queen. Because I am not going to be doing only Dancehall. I can do a lot of other different genres. I am not gonna put myself in no box to please nobody,” she declared.
“So please don’t expect that from me. I have been doing it for five years, because I told myself I am going to give myself to my Caribbean people strictly and my country, for five years, just to show that I can do it. I have done that! That’s off my list,” she continued.
Many of Shenseea’s critics, who erroneously hold the Jamaican singer to Dancehall and Reggae’s intrinsic spiritual standards, might not be aware that she has, over the years, made it clear that her long-held desire is to be an “International Pop Star” and not only a Reggae or Dancehall star.
Pop is a genre of music characterized by very simple, nursery rhyme-like lyrics, catchy melodies and repeated choruses that are easy to remember and sing along to. Songs in the genre place a significant emphasis on rhythm, and are usually centered on joys and problems of love and relationships — cases in point are Rihanna’s Umbrella, Beyonce’s Halo, and Shenseea’s own Blessed.
“By next year I want to be international, and when I say that, I don’t mean just as a dancehall artiste, but an international pop star who incorporates the Dancehall culture and my accent while majoring in pop music, because that is my first love,” Shenseea had told the Star in January 2018, in an article titled Shenseea aims for pop-star status.
“In five years, I will be an international artist and in seven years I want to pursue a career in acting,” she had also told Donovan Watkis’ World Music Views in 2020.
And, in July 2021, ahead of the release of Run Run, the first single from her upcoming Alpha album, she had expressed the same to the Jamaica Observer noting that “ever since I was a kid, I’ve always wanted to become an international pop artiste. When I achieve mainstream success in the United States, is when I would have achieved my first goal.”
On Friday however, Foota Hype had rebuked Shenseea, describing Lick as a ‘dirty, nasty, demonic song’. He asserted that she was copycatting foreign artists instead of pushing Dancehall, and that he would not allow her to tear down Jamaica’s ‘moral values’.
“You do not do music. You do Reggae and Dancehall music. Big, big, big, big difference. Do not tell me that you do music and you have all kina fans,” Foota had said.
“Shenseea, is this what you want for your life?” he added, among other things.
However, during Shenseea’s Instagram Live session, she had said that dominating Dancehall was now a “been there and done that” thing for her.
“Like my friends can tell you. Everything that I have achieved, I tick them off, because I said I was gonna achieve dem. I’ve ticked that off now. Now is time to go to the next level. I’m never gonna be an artiste that you can seh, oh I sound the same because y’all do be killin female artistes especially sayin dey have no style, dey sound di same, dey got di same flow, some sh_t to put dung women rather than say you know this person to excel at this… instead you say they can only do that so it doesn’t entertain you,” she declared.
“Dats what you can’t say about Shenseea and you would never, so please, please don’t even complain that I’m versatile…,” she added.
The question of Jamaicans mislabelling their compatriots, who are not even faintly doing Dancehall or Reggae, as being part of the two genres, has come up for discussion in recent times.
In March 2021, hosts of the Let’s Be Honest podcast Jaii Frais and Chevi had pointed out that Jamaican artists such Jada Kingdom and Dexta Daps are, to their own disadvantage, mislabeling themselves as Dancehall artists, when in reality the songs that they are putting out are all totally R&B and Hip-Hop. According to the two Dancehall pundits, the mislabeling of the two artists was impeding them from tapping into the lucrative R&B and Hip Hop Markets as there was no question that their vocal talent was impeccable and their aura appealing, to lovers of that genre.
“Wha mi a seh though, why don’t dem label demself as R&B? I think that that would be betta fi dem, because R&B is a bigger genre dan Dancehall and Reggae music. It can still put di country out there more, rather than from you being a Jamaican you have to do Reggae/Dancehall,” Jaii Frais had said.
Jaii Frais added that Dexta and Jada ought to not limit themselves and insisted that they would not be judged as being foreign-minded if they appropriately label themselves and their music as R&B.
“Suh di man dem need fi start branch out and stop box up demself inna dis Jamaican ting. Our music inspire di world, suh why wi a guh jus box it up as ‘yow dancehall- reggae, dancehall- reggae? No sah,” he continued. “Dem supposed to list dem ting properly. Dem demself suppose to tek it up and seh: ‘leggo dis Dancehall ting’. Because first of all Dancehall fans a guh find you. Because a oonu, we a guh find di song…,” Chevi had said.
Shenseea and Megan Thee Stallion’s Lick is currently No. 14 on the iTunes Hip-Hop and Rap songs chart. Alpha, Shenseea’s debut album, is due out on March 11 via Rvssian’s Rich Immigrants/Interscope Records.