Jay Sean On Being Asian In The Music Industry

Do you take note the primary tune you ever wrote?

Jay Sean: Sure, I do. I worn to be a rapper earlier than I used to be a singer. I wrote many, many, many, many, many, many raps. However the first complete, whole tune that I wrote the place I used to be making a song used to be a tune referred to as “One Minute.” Previous to that, I had all the time been rapping within the verses and making a song simplest at the hooks, and that is my first whole tune the place I didn’t rap, and I simply sang a complete tune. And amazingly, it made its method onto my first brochure. The primary tune I ever wrote made its method onto the primary brochure, and that doesn’t generally occur. Maximum crowd have to jot down 100 songs earlier than they’re like, “All right, I think I’m pretty good now.” So it used to be great to have that documented in my discography.

Do you take note the primary brochure you purchased?

Jay Sean: Yeah, I do take note vividly. He’s wonderful, however while you’re a 9-year-old child and you purchase Lionel Richie’s Again to Entrance as your first brochure — relatively fascinating selection there. Again nearest, you worn to advance into shops like HMV, our weighty tune bundle, or Tower Data, they usually’d have headphones, and it’s essential to pay attention to them. They have been showcasing his brochure, and I assumed, “Oh, let me put this on.” And truthfully, I fell in love with the melodies, with the sensation, and I feel that’s very detectable in my tune, too. A quantity of crowd say the way in which that I incrible songs, a few of the ones extra pop songs have a tiny soulful, nation edge to them. I used to be like, “I don’t know where the country is coming from, but Lionel Richie is known for that — some of his songs sound country — and I think that shaped my taste in melody, in feeling, and in emotion. So it was meant to be, I was meant to pick up that CD.

BuzzFeed: What was your favorite song from the album?

Jay Sean: It’s either Do It To Me or My Destiny. Do It To Me starts off with that saxophone. It just immediately transports me back to my childhood.

Which artist was your favorite to collaborate with?

Jay Sean: It’s an impossible question to answer because they’re all very, very different. Were there collabs where I had more fun with that person on set during the music video? Sure. For example, me, Sean Paul, and Lil Jon had so much fun on set for Do You Remember. That whole collaboration was just memorable for so many different reasons. But then there are other collabs where I’m like, “Wow, who concept I’d ever do a tune with Mary J. Blige?” Mary J. Blige was the queen of R&B and soul, and when she asked us whether we’d like to feature on a song, I was like, “You’re Mary J. Blige. Are you kidding me at the moment?” There are lots of amazing collaborations that I’ve done, also some that never actually got heard. Lupe Fiasco is one of my favorites; that one never became a single. I’ve done two songs with Busta Rhymes, four songs with Lil Wayne. There are so many collabs that we’ve done that wasn’t released, so they all hold a special place in my heart.

BuzzFeed: What was one of your favorite memories of making Do You Remember?

Jay Sean: The way that Do You Remember came about itself was just so organic. Never in my career, and I’m pretty lucky to say this, have I done a song and gone, “I want any individual knew blah, blah, blah artist. I’d love for them to be in this.” It was never that. I never told my managers or record company, “Hiya, I need so-and-so on a file.” It was always somehow, some way, our paths crossed, and we met each other at an event or somewhere, and we had a mutual appreciation for each other’s music. It was a very organic process. The way that Sean Paul happened was we were at the MTV VMAs in New York. I came from a small town in London and came over to America. By then, I had become known in England. But ‘obscure town’ to somehow ending up on the red carpet for MTV. Who’s right next to me? Sean Paul. I was like, “Oh my god, why am I at the identical carpet as this man? It used to be all so atypical and fresh and more or less amusing and new. So me being me, I simply stated, “No way, are you standing right here next to me? This is crazy.” He used to be like, “Yo, yo, what’s your name?” I stated, “Jay Sean,” and he used to be like, “Yo, you got the biggest song in the country right now.” I used to be like, “Yo, but you’re Sean Paul, we should do something.” And that’s precisely the way it came about. It used to be only a mutual love for every alternative’s tune, and it ended up turning into a weighty, immense strike.