Shenseea says her debut album Alpha is doing great, but she is taking full control of her forthcoming project.
The Jamaican singer hopped on Instagram Live on Friday to chop it up with her fans, aka ShenYengs, where she opened up about the success of Alpha and the direction of her sophomore album. Shenseea talked about a bunch of other stuff, including her dating life and the type of men she likes, but most of her fans were focused on her music.
Since dropping off her debut project in March, Shenseea has been busy performing and recording her next album between her show dates.
While the project was released with a lot of fanfare, some fans felt it should’ve done better on the streaming charts, and some critics, including Sean Paul, felt there should’ve been more dancehall packed into the project. Still, Shenseea says Alpha is doing what it should be doing.
“Alpha’s been doing great though,” she said on IG Live while noting that her fans know the songs line-for-line while performing them on tour. “I feel like it’s doing what it’s supposed to be doing.”
Shenseea, who is already recording her sophomore LP, says the new project will be what she wants while expressing her disappointment with label controlling her debut.
“My next piece of work is going to be everything that I want,” she said. “Like, the first album, my vision wasn’t really executed properly, and that was a turnoff for me. Like, yo, I know what the f*** I want. And when I don’t get what I want, it turns me the f*** off.”
Shenseea said she had complete control over her career and music direction since she started the game in 2016, but all that changed last year.
“When I get to do what I want to do, it’s a difference,” she said. “I’ve been doing what I’ve always wanted to do since the start of my career until last year. It’s not happening again though.”
While she did not elaborate on what changes in her career last year caused her to lose control over her music, there was one significant career move that sent shock waves throughout dancehall. In July last year, the dancehall singer, whose real name is Chinsea Lee, signed Wassim ‘Sal’ Slaiby as her new manager as her former manager, Romeich Major, fades into the background.
Slaiby is currently one of the most respected music managers in the industry, with some big-name artists under his stewardship, including Doja Cat, The Weeknd, French Montana, Ty Dolla $sign, and a host of producers like London On Da Track and Metro Boomin.
It’s unclear if that shift in management took away some control over her music or if it’s coming from her label, Interscope Records. Nevertheless, Shenseea and SAL seem to have a great relationship.
She also admitted that the politics of the music business behind the scenes is a major turnoff for her.
“Me no like the blood***t politics when it come on to my music,” she said. “Mi nuh like it. I don’t like it if anybody had told me that a lot of things that are happening behind the scenes artists go through it and it’s normal, I think they would be lying.”
Still, she insisted that her album rollout was not what she envisioned and vowed to correct her mistake on the next project.
“I love Alpha,” she said. “The execution of it though was not the way I wanted it. But you live and you learn and one thing with me, I don’t repeat the same mistakes twice.”
Shenseea says her focus now is on new music as she pushes past the bad experience with her debut LP rollout. She is currently touring Europe and has some big performances coming up, including her highly anticipated performance at Reggae Sumfest in Montego Bay, Jamaica, set for July.
