‘I never aspired to be queen of dancehall’
Despite negative feedback to her latest single, Lick, dancehall artiste Shenseea says she is about to take things to the “next level” in her career.
In an Instagram live session on the weekend, the entertainer shared that at the start of her musical journey, she made the decision to dedicate only five years to dancehall music before focusing her attention elsewhere. Having got her break in the industry back in 2016, Shenseea says the time has come to do much more.
“I have given myself to dancehall. Given ya’ll hits upon hits upon hits for five years. And I am not leaving dancehall cause I could never, but I have such a bigger dream for myself ever since I was a child,” she said, adding that she has never aspired to be ‘queen of dancehall’.
“I see some tags in my mentions saying I should focus back on dancehall more and I’m gonna be the next dancehall queen. I have never aspired to be a dancehall queen in my life. Never,” Shenseea said.
“I have never aspired to be a dancehall queen because I am not only gonna be doing dancehall. I can do a lot of other different genres. I am not going to put myself in no box to please nobody so please don’t expect that from me. I have been doing it (dancehall) for five years because I told myself I am going to give myself to my Caribbean people and my country strictly for five years just to show that I can do it. I have done that. That’s off my list.”
“Now it’s time to go to the next level,” she continued.
Seemingly brushing off comments that her much-talked about collaboration with international rapper Megan Thee Stallion was a ‘flop’, Shenseea stressed that she will never be a one-dimensional artiste.
“I am never gonna be an artiste that you can say ‘oh I sound the same’ because ya’ll be killing female artistes especially, saying they have no style, they sound the same, they got the same flow,” she said. “Ya’ll don’t even know the plans I have for myself this year.”
Shenseea has since announced that her highly-anticipated debut album, Alpha is set to drop on March 11. Sharing how much the body of work means to her, Shenseea said the title reflects who she is at the core.
“I named the album Alpha because it resonates with my personality. I have always felt like the head of my household. A me run things, not things run me,” she said. “Me lead, mi nuh follow people. People follow me. I lead. I am a leader.”
“It (also) means strength for me…alot of my shenyengs know what I have been through and what I have endured throughout these past five years and I am still here. To be an alpha is to be strong, to lead and to be dominant and I have been dominating.”