Summer is quickly approaching, and dancehall princess Shenseea is here to deliver the soundtrack to the warmest months of 2024. Ahead of the release of her sophomore studio album, Never Gets Late Here (out May 24), Shenseea stopped by Billboard News to reflect on how she’s approached collaborating with other artists throughout her career.
“It helps me to get over my nerves,” she muses. “I feel like artists [are] easily intimidated by others’ success. Not to be badminded, not like that vibe, more of like, ‘Whoa, this is the pressure to have when somebody who’s this successful in the industry [is here.] What do I bring to the table?’”
Alpha, Shenseea’s debut studio LP, boasted collaborations with a slew of chart-topping artists, including 21 Savage, Beenie Man, Megan Thee Stallion, Offset, Sean Paul and Tyga. That set peaked at No. 2 on Top Reggae Albums and at No. 3 on Heatseekers Albums. Prior to Alpha, the Jamaican powerhouse began her crossover endeavors by throwing assists to American artists such as Masego, Christina Aguilera and Kanye “Ye” West.
“You will never know until you do it,” she says. “Doing it over time and taking on the challenge over and over and just trying to be myself, it helps that there’s nothing I can’t take on.”
Later in her conversation with Billboard News — which also traced the creation of her new LP, how she learned to harmonize and some of her earliest musical memories — Shenseea expounded on her career shifting link-up with Ye. The two artists joined forces alongside Roddy Ricch on “Pure Souls,” a track from the “All of the Lights” rapper’s Billboard 200-topping Donda album, which earned all three artists nominations for album of the year at the 2022 Grammys.
“One of the moments I knew things changed was when I did the collaboration with Kanye,” Shenseea gushes. “I felt like that opened a whole different type of doors — fashion, hip-hop, different artists just reaching out. I think that Kanye is cool, as much as how he’s artistic, he’s a cool person to look at. Always entertaining. I feel like me being associated with him, it has led me to a lot of open doors.”
Ahead of its full release later this month, Shenseea has delivered a few tastes of Never Gets Late Here. On Tuesday (April 30), she unveiled the LP’s full tracklist, revealing forthcoming collaborations with Coi Leray, Anitta and Wizkid. The set’s lead single, “Hit & Run” (with Masicka and Di Genius), has amassed nearly 40 million views on YouTube for its official music video.
Watch Shenseea’s full Billboard News interview above.