Shenseea Defends Portrayal Of Same-Sex Relationships In Her Music

Shenseea has fired back at critics who disapprove of her representation of same-sex relationships in her music and music videos.

Speaking with Angela Yee on the Way Up With Angela Yee podcast, the Jamaican singer championed personal liberation and said that expressing herself, as she did in her song Curious, should not be a big deal.

“Are we still even speaking on this? And that’s why I don’t feel the need to even address anything because, like, hello? Just stop! Let it go,” she retorted. 

“It’s getting so annoying now. The weirdest thing is that it’s not even my first time doing this. I did it in Blessed. That’s when everybody was shocked. So, now it’s just like, come on—you know this ain’t nothing new and I do represent for women, period. I love women. I love men, I love women… I just like to represent for people who can be themselves and be free like be yourself. Do anything you wanna do. That’s what I represent,” the singer added.

Curious, released on April 13 and produced by London on Da Track, Fred Ball, and Jamaicans BEAM and Dunw3ll, hints at Shenseea’s desire to have sexual rendezvous with women.

The risqué music video has since attracted nearly 5 million views on YouTube.

The Rebel singer also responded to those criticizing her stated desire to be an “international Pop singer.”

Undeterred, Shenseea advised them to be more open-minded, especially since her upcoming sophomore album—nearly 90 percent complete—promises more of that sound.

“My dream is to be a singer. Like, yes I can write good, and I can rap and I can freestyle; but my dream is to sing. I think it’s really unfair because you can’t judge me if you haven’t heard what I’m about to do,” she said.

“Say for instance, I didn’t expect to do Dancehall this good, but I did it though. So, how are you gonna even think to doubt me without seeing what I can actually do. I did Dancehall great. Yeah, I love Dancehall, but, this is also something that I love over here. You can’t judge and you haven’t even heard it yet…you probably even love it more than anything I’ve ever done—more than my first album,” Shenseea added, revealing that Curious will be part of her second studio project. 

Her debut album Alpha, released in March 2022, peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Reggae Albums chart, with the highest first-week sales for Reggae/Dancehall albums since Popcaan’s FIXTAPE in 2020.

It was 2022’s second highest-selling album by a Jamaican artist, registering 63,000 units in combined sales and streams in the United States, according to data provided to DancehallMag from Billboard’s sales tracker Luminate.

During the sitdown with Yee, Shenseea said that she and her team have been adopting a more intentional and calculated approach to guide her career.

“We gotta be real strategic about where we wanna be and the image…how we want me to look when I’m on stage. My team and I, we weren’t doing no tour managers or nothing like that. We were just like really street. We weren’t working with a band, no screen behind us,” she said.

“Now, it’s really about strategy and less is more now. So, I would do even a one show for the month or two months when it counts and we’re not used to that but I can definitely see why we had to do that and just with my releases too. I was releasing songs every three months. Now? It took me two years and y’all just getting two solid singles from me. I’m definitely not used to that either and I think that plays a lot of my mental because I’ve been so used to chopping songs like this, and now I have to be slowing it down so it can reach a broader audience.”

When quizzed about how she, as well as long-time co-manager Romeich Major, have adjusted to the changes and her extended team, Shenseea they’re now more comfortable.

“Before, I was very impatient… we’re both adjusting to the new team. So, it’s like taking somebody off drugs. For now, I’m more comfortable with what they’re doing because I can see that it’s actually paying off. Now, I definitely trust them more on certain decisions.”

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