Sean Paul On Why Jamaicans Embrace Gwen Stefani
Sean Paul has rained praises on No Doubt lead singer Gwen Stefani, whom he says, regularly visits Jamaica and shows great appreciation to the island and its music, unlike many non-Jamaicans who do Reggae recordings, yet steer clear of the island.
Sean was speaking with Siobhan Dixon during a Vibe Magazine interview when he was asked to speak on ‘why Stefani was so greatly embraced by the culture and music.’
He pointed out that through her words and deeds, Gwen had demonstrated that she truly values Jamaica and its music culture, and that this was among the reasons Jamaicans, including himself, gravitate to the American singer, whom he readily coopted to feature on his Light My Fire track on his Scorcha album, which also features Shenseea.
“She’s been awesome. She’s a dope artist. And she loves Reggae from long time,” the Temperature artist explained.
“Her son is named Kingston! She loves the vibes. She wears the colors, has the arm bands. I’m like, ‘Yo, she down with the movement’. She represents for the country. From her No Doubt days, she was coming [to Jamaica] to record,” he added.
Similar to how he lauds Rihanna for visiting Jamaica to record and immerse herself in the culture, Sean said the same of Gwen.
“So, it impressed me that she wants to come to Jamaica. A lot of people do Reggae, a lot of people do Dancehall-oriented tracks, but they never come. She comes to Jamaica. She goes to the studio in Portland, and she grinds it out. They drink their Red Stripe and smoke a likkle ting. Yeah. And they catch a vibes,” he added.
Last year March, during an interview with DJ Khaled, Gwen Stefani had said that her trips to Jamaica, to record with some of its biggest musical legends, for what later turned out to be Grammy-wining songs, had been among the most awesome times of her life.
“We worked with Sly and Robbie, Steelie and Clevie and we did Underneath it All (with Lady Saw) and we did Hey Baby (with Bounty Killer). We went to Jamaica, stayed at Golden Eye, basically waited for two days (soon come) for someone to show up to work with us,” she quipped. “It was one of the most incredible experiences of my life.”
Released in 2002, Hey Baby and Underneath It All were certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on March 8, 2021 after both tracks sold over 500,000 units. Both songs were produced by veteran duo Sly & Robbie for the group’s 2X Platinum Rock Steady album.
Hey Baby copped the Grammy award for Best Pop Performance by a duo or Group with Vocal in 2003. No Doubt also took home a similar Grammy Award in 2004 for the hit Underneath it All with Lady Saw, now Minister Marion Hall.
That song peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100 (No Doubt’s highest ranking single to date on that chart), while hitting number two on Billboard’s Adult Top 40 and number one on Billboard’s US Mainstream Top 40 charts.