Sean Paul is Live N Living on stage

Jamaican dancehall superstar “Sean Paul” Henriques, will host his first live-streaming concert of 2021 on May 8. He will drop the second of two new albums this month also.

The new album, Scorcha, follows on the heels of the Live N Livin album.

The Grammy-Award winning artiste has been back home since February 2020, after his Australian tour was cancelled due to the covid19 pandemic. Utilising the extra time productively in studio and for spending time with his wife, Jodi, and two young children, Levi and Remi, Paul is ready to share the stage and his new music with his fans and followers, while setting a new precedent and advocating for more collaborations among artistes in the dancehall fraternity.

Intent on showing the world that dancehall is flourishing and still birthing stars, Live N Livin showcases over 20 artists on one body of work, including veteran artists like Buju Banton, Damian "Jr Gong" Marley, Busy Signal and Mavado, as well as the younger generation of artists such as Chi Ching Ching, Intence, Skillibeng and Govana, and more.

Commenting on Live N Livin in an interview with Overtime Media, Paul said, "It was important to me to show that in our genre of dancehall, we don't need to clash in order to attain the spotlight. We don't need to divide our fans to attain the rotations on the airwaves or streams. Over the years myself, Shaggy – and more recently Koffee, Shenseea and others are tapping into the world stage and we are not clashing our co-workers, nor are we dividing our fans. This album Live N Livin is an album I hold very dear to my heart because it shows the effort of collaboration over confrontation.”

Sean Paul reiterated his call for mainstream acts to respect the dancehall genre, while saluting Bajan bombshell, Rihanna for her honourable mentions of – and the respect she has shown to the genre.

“How come when Drake or Justin Bieber or Ed Sheeran make dancehall-oriented songs, they just call it their music and don’t give any credit to the genre?” he questioned, while explaining his views on the current state of the reggae and dancehall movement worldwide.

“Ah dat me wha kno... Is ah weird hypocrisy thing dat... But me always try fi say: if you think dancehall has gone somewhere, just listen to Bieber music…

“My answer to that is that reggae and dancehall is way bigger than it ever was right now. Funny enough, first time I go Trinidad, I expected to only hear soca everywhere here, but then I realise is only two or three months it really blow up like that, but then the rest of the year, you listen to popular music and popular music is a lot of reggae and dancehall in Trinidad still. So the genre is alive and well, it’s just some times when the numbers of the outside people from all over go down a bit, it seems like it has gone somewhere… but even in those times, it’s still the number one music in our countries and it’s constantly growing and inspiring new artistes and producers and performers…”

Now an elder statesman in the industry after more than 20 years producing performing and featuring on a variety of hit singles and multi platinum albums, Paul stirred polarising interest recently when he offered some advice to local dancehall acts operating under the “Trinibad” umbrella.

Having emerged on the dancehall scene in the early 90s, Paul has released six albums, won Grammys for Best Reggae Album in addition to several nominations, 19 certified Gold singles and several platinum-selling singles including the chart-topping hit, Get Busy.

The Scorcha album will feature appearances from established international acts such as: Sia, Gwen Stefani, Shenseea, Ty Dollar$, Stylo-G, Nicky Jams and Jada Kingdom. Tipping his hat to the people of TT for supporting his music throughout his career, he also gave special thanks to local producer/dancer/entertainer, Klase “1stKlase” Gonzales.

“Ah know the Becky-G song says David Guetta,” he admitted, “and David Guetta produced it, but ah wha tell you is really meh brother and Klase and people Banx & Ranx and Clean Bandits played the intro, so we put together ah whole thing and kinda gave it to David Guetta, but big up Klase – ah meh brethren from longtime. Trinidad people have always supported me so I give thanks and hope to be there live and in livin colour sometime soon…”

For more info: dreamstage.live

Album tracks

1. Buss A Bubble Remix – Sean Paul feat Sotto Bless, Looga Man, Ras Ajai, Chi Ching Ching

2. Boom – Sean Paul feat Busy Signal

3. Space Ship – Sean Paul feat Suku Ward

4. Real Steel – Sean Paul feat Intence

5. The Plug – Sean Paul feat Chi Ching Ching

6. Dem Nuh Ready Yet – Sean Paul ftt Left Side

7. Crazy – Sean Paul ft Buju Banton

8. Schedule – Sean Paul feat Jr Gong, Chi Ching Ching

9. Money Bags Sean Paul feat Govana

10. Protect Me – Sean Paul feat Serani

11. Lion Heart – Sean Paul

12. Guns of Navarone – Sean Paul feat Jesse Royal, Mutabaruka & Stonebwoy (Remix)

13. Danger Zone – Sean Paul feat Bugle, Scotto Bless

14. Life We Livin – Sean Paul feat Squash

15. I'm Sanctify – Sean Paul feat Mavado & Agent Sasco (Remix)

16. Everest – Sean Paul feat Masicka and Skillibeng

Story Courtesy Overtime Media