Ever since Jay Sean released Down, his debut single featuring Lil Wayne on American label Cash Money Records back in 2009, fans, industry and fellow artists have taken notice. Jay Sean became both the first UK urban act and first artist of South Asian descent to reach #1 on the Hot 100, selling more than three million copies in America that year and eventually reaching six million sales worldwide. Since then, the 29-year-old has gone on to receive numerous accolades including Best Urban Act and Best Album (My Own Way) at the UK Asian Music Awards and began working on his fourth record Freeze Time which was then scrapped due to legal issues.
Now that all the legal issues have been dealt with, Sean is about to release his fourth record entitled Worth It All, a pop-R&B album. “It’s really something I feel I had to grow into this one because I guess I had my fan base grow with me really,” he says down the line from New York, on his way back home in a cab. “It’s the album I always wanted to make in terms of – it is slightly more risqué – there’s those slow jams on there talking about some sexy stuff. I’ve got young fans but now they’re a little bit more grown up. The girls who were 16 when Down was out are now 18-19-year-olds and they kinda wanna hear this kind of stuff so for me, I feel like I’m allowed to go there. I’ve still got those beautiful romantic ballads on there and those energetic dance records that people know me for so it’s a really nice collection of R&B and pop music.”
Although Sean says it’s important to “live with the times”, experimenting with new sounds and equipment was not a primary focus when it came to the production of Worth It All. “I think it’s important to live with the times, it is, but at the same time, you have to understand that things can get out of fashion very quickly and the last thing I want is an album full of gimmick records,” he says.
“I always want to make albums that are timeless. I want you to be able to play them in 20 years time and it’ll still sound like a beautiful song, not like, ‘Oh what was that weird sound they used then?’. So for me, it’s important that I still focus on the actual songwriting element as opposed to putting too many production tricks in there, that’s really what I concentrate on.”
And, being signed to Cash Money Records has really allowed Sean to concentrate on his songwriting and be himself when it comes to music. “It’s been an amazing experience,” he says of his journey on the label. “I mean to really be signed to really the most prolific label in the world right now – we’ve got some of the world’s hottest stars on our label – what Cash Money have allowed me to do is, they’ve allowed me to just be myself as opposed to have to conform to the latest trends. I think that what happens with a lot of labels is that they don’t want to risk wasting money on stuff that might not work whereas Cash Money really believe in the art, they believe in the artist. Nicki [Minaj] is Nicki, Drake is Drake; no two artists sound the same. No one is in the same vein. They’ve always just had their own artistry and Cash Money allow us to do that.”
Excited to be heading Down Under for his upcoming Australian tour, Sean will be bringing a “very high energy, super fun, super off the cuff” show along with his DJ for this forthcoming tour. “It’s going to be great, I’m so excited,” he says. “I think for me performing in front of the Australian audience is always a pleasure because they’re so receptive and they’re so appreciative of just having somebody that they’re really into in front of them in a live environment. I think some people are spoilt, Australia, it doesn’t seem to be like that to me, they’re just always up for a good time.”
After his Australian tour, Sean will be focusing on getting Worth It All out and continuing to write for other artists. “Right now what I’m doing is writing for other people, I actually wrote Boom Boom for Justice Crew and I’ve written a couple of songs for JLS and [others], a lot of boy bands and stuff like that,” he says. “For me, it’s really the songwriting aspect which I really love because I feel like it’s a gift to be able to write a song which the whole world will one day hear and be able to sing along to it and know that you wrote that lyric or you sang that melody, it really is a blessing so that’s why I enjoy it.”
And yes, Sean is a One Direction fan. “One D are awesome,” he says. “Actually Zayne Malik [One Direction] oddly enough, I had no idea until he tweeted me and told me this – that I had actually gone to his school many years ago, six or seven years ago,” he says. “I used to go to schools and talk to kids about music and stuff and I said, ‘Who’s a singer here then?’ and he put his hand up and I said, ‘Come on then, come up here and sing one of my songs with me’ and now look at him, now he’s got bloody four times as many Twitter followers than I have (laughs).”
BY ANNABEL MACLEAN
