Sean Paul: “I Do Straight Dancehall, I Don’t Do Pop. My Dancehall Goes Pop.”
“I do straight dancehall, I don’t do Pop, my Dancehall goes Pop,” Sean Paul reportedly declared on Wednesday morning, as he dignified the genre, which propelled him to international stardom, bringing him wealth, fame and musical glory.
The Temperature artist’s unequivocal statement came during an Instagram Live session, where he responded to fans about what to expect from Scorcha, his upcoming album which is set for release in April. Paul’s statements also came in the wake of a raging debate on Twitter over the weekend about Shenseea’s new “American Pop sound”, after her appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Friday night, and her subsequent Instagram post, in which she said that she was ‘OK with losing fans’ who were averse to her Pop transition.
In late January, the Dolly artist had said that the five years she had given herself completely to Dancehall had come to an end and that she was now pursuing Pop music, which was her first love. However, in light of the criticisms rained upon Shenseea, numerous Twitter users had juxtaposed her with Sean Paul claiming that the Get Busy deejay was a Pop artist, a claim that was repudiated by hardcore Dancehall fans.
Sean Paul, who has never resiled from maintaining that he was a Dancehall artist and nothing else, has had 19 songs on the Billboard Hot 100 chart—from as far back as 2003. It was through his impressive catalogue of Dancehall songs that he became one of the world’s most sought-after artists for collabs by Pop singers, among them Rihanna and Beyonce. Paul’s first Hot 100 chart-topper was the platinum-selling Get Busy, on Dancehall producer Lenky Marsden’s Diwali riddim. Prior to that Sean Paul had scored with his first hit single Gimme the Light on the Buzz riddim, which peaked at No. 7. Both songs appeared on Paul’s 2X Platinum Dutty Rock album, which won the Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album in 2004.
His 2005 hit single We Be Burning on the Stepz riddim peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 and received Platinum certification in 2017. His 2005 Billboard chart-topping single Temperature voiced on Dancehall producer Snowcone’s Applause riddim also received a triple-Platinum certification that year.
In addition, it is Paul’s hardcore Dancehall songs dating back to the early 2000s, which stood predominant in his top five most viewed during in 2021 on YouTube, albeit with his 2017 No Lie collab with Dupa Lipa taking the No. 1 spot. His sultry 2002 Dancehall duet, I’m Still In Love With You with Sasha, a remake of Alton Ellis’ 1967 original, was his second-most viewed in 2021 while Temperature was No. 3. She Doesn’t Mind, from his 2012 Tomahawk Technique album, stood at No. 4 while Get Busy came in at No. 5.
Last month, Sean Paul had told DancehallMag that although some of his biggest hit songs did not consist of hardcore deejaying patterns, they were still authentic Dancehall tracks.
“Some of my biggest songs [are] authentic Dancehall. Meaning it may not be the most hardcore, Dancehall song you ever hear and to a Dancehall enthusiast might be a more smooth-sounding song. Like a Like Glue, which had more melodies in it and that kind of stuff but it is authentic Dancehall,” he explained.
Today, March 10, he released the fourth single from his Scorcha album titled This Is How We Do It. Produced by the Canadian duo Banx & Ranx (Dua Lipa, Gorillaz, David Guetta), the song features American pop singer Pia Mia, who’s known for 2015’s Do It Again with Chris Brown and Tyga.
On Wednesday, Sean Paul’s ‘Dancehall declaration’ was reposted by broadcaster Debbie Bissoon on Twitter. This evoked a series of stamps of approval from Dancehall fans, who praised him for, among other things, not erasing his culture.
Sean Paul just now on his live, in response to the question, What kind of Album is it?
Sean: “Dancehall, I do straight dancehall, I don’t do Pop, my Dancehall goes Pop”
— Debbie Bissoon (@DebbieBissoon) March 9, 2022
“I love Sean so much he never changed his sound from day 1 have to respect that man!” Sanade said.
“All of Sean Paul hits have been home ground dancehall hits with actual Jamaican producers. So, He is actually speaking facts,” another follower said.
“I love this man 🤣 He just gets out there and say listen, I give Dancehall Dassit! Fit it into your song and make it WORK! Every song he gives.. WORKS! and he’s on every chart.. idk how 😮💨,” another woman stated.
Other fans used the opportunity to rebuke Shenseea for shunning Dancehall for American Pop.
“Somebody should tell miss thang cuz whatever her plan is, isn’t working,” Analyna said, while another commenter added: “Somebody needs to tell Shenseea this samething!!”
“Say it louder for Shenseea to hear,” DJ Melody declared.
One Twitter user, Imani, in responding to Bissoon, referred to the furore which took place on the weekend, where erroneous comparisons between Sean Paul and Shenseea were made.
“He saw ppls stupids tweets over the weekend trynna excuse Shenseea’s bullsh-t and he’s right. Stage One and Dutty Rock were not catering to mainstream audiences. They just blew up cus of bangers,” she said.
In one of the biggest debates about Sean Paul, last weekend, Twitter user kingofkgn, in apparent defence of Shenseea, had erroneously compared her switch to Pop with the Dynamite artist’s collabs.
“Did we also criticize Sean Paul? Cause he’s been a pop artiste now for how long lol… Gimme di light and dem song deh was huge but SP didn’t become a global mega star until he went into a certain direction…in my opinion,” he had written.
However, his remarks were repudiated by scores of Twitter users, who said Shenseea now sounds inauthentic.
“Shenseea sounds ridiculous. Why is that so hard to admit?” 8Christopher said.
“Yeah he got a lot of criticism. One such was sounding too UPT in Jamaica & also his stage presence. But man kept it 100% “Dutty yeah!” on his tracks and on collabs. He was versatile but he didn’t switch. You cannot miss his voice/style/language on any song. Love it or hate it,” one man said of Sean.
He was supported by another who added: “A LOT of criticism. They are too to young to remember or selective memory. 🤷🏾♂️ Nobody rated him until more recently and his money big. “Him caan perform, him flow bad, he is overweight, he is not singing, his albums are not really Jamaican” all sorts of things.
However, GerroKing differed somewhat, disputing the statement that Sean Paul was criticized.
“Nobody criticize Sean Paul bcuz he (stayed) true to his culture. He did pop with his Jamaican-ness. No twang, straight yaad,” he said while JasonXturn added: “Sean can’t even twang good him jus bun him weed an sing him song dem2.”
Sean Paul and Shenseea, who previously collaborated on Rolling in 2017, are teaming up again for a track called Lying If I Call It Love, which will appear on her debut album Alpha, this Friday.
The two singers also have a third upcoming collaboration with Gwen Stefani on a song called Light My Fire from Paul’s Sorcha album.