" Success is not how far you get personally , how much money you ’ve come in the bank , how many people love you or look up to you . It ’s about how many changes you made for other people in their lives . "
Known for hits like " Down " ( ft . Lil Wayne ) and " Do You call back " ( ft . Lil Jon andSean Paul ) , Jay Sean is venturing into music executive territory by partnering with Virgin Records to support approaching South Asian artists . Alongside his latest individual , " Heartless , " featuring Ikky , the Isaac M. Singer / songwriter / record book manufacturer sat down with BuzzFeed in a TV call to discourse the making of his new song , being one of the first Indian pop stars in the music diligence , and his hullabaloo about launch his late label speculation .
What would you be if you weren’t a singer, songwriter, or music executive?
Jay Sean : Well , I was actually on my means to becoming a doctor . I did two and a one-half yr of med school . It was in England , so that ’s halfway through because in England , it ’s five geezerhood and you ’re a full certified doctor . That ’s where I would be right now if I was n’t doing music .
Whatmade you want to switch to music?
Jay Sean : Music was always a hobby of mine , but it was n’t needfully a naturalistic life history because there ’s no app form you may fill up in to become a pop star . Whereas with everything else , I go : Do this degree , fill out this var. , apply for this job , do this interview . And for me , it was a far - off dream , butit was my openhanded passion , and I just never give it up . It was a hobby . I used to be in med schoolhouse during the twenty-four hour period , revising for exams , and then in the eve , I would be part juggling aesculapian schooling and also throwing concerts and doing festivals and written material tap and bring forth Song dynasty . And it was just something I hoodwink for a long time until it became very clear that music was what I was intend to be doing .
Do you have a specific moment of when it did become very clear?
Jay Sean : The short answer is when the record contract was correct in front of me on the board . That ’s when it was very , very obvious that this is no longer something that may happen . It was going to happen if I signed the declaration . And that bechance with Virgin Records , actually 20 years ago . So I was still in med shoal . But when it got to that gunpoint where all the treatment and the " hmm , maybe , allow ’s see " became ink on report , that was something that was very obvious to me that this was now a route that I was go bad to follow .
BuzzFeed : Was that your " we made it " moment ?
Jay Sean : You know , it ’s funny , Brittney , I have never told myself I made it . I give myself frequent pats on the back , and I go , " Well done , mate ! You ’re doing well . " But I recollect — this is my personal vox populi — the bit I say " I ’ve made it " is the day I discontinue attempt . It ’s the day I stop challenge myself . It ’s the Clarence Day I stop trying to grow , and I want to rise consistently through life . I do n’t ever want to stop and go , " Oh , that ’s enough . " There ’s so much more to be done . So many more sport adventures to be had .
“Success is not how far you get personally, how much money you’ve got in the bank, how many people love you or admire you. It’s about how many changes you made for other people in their lives."
BuzzFeed : I have it off that mindset !
Jay Sean : give thanks you ! Just to jump in on part two of that — were there moments where I travel , " Pinch me ? " Did the little Indian kid from a small townsfolk in London ever think he would get this far ? When I was standing on stage in Madison Square Garden inNew York , which is probably one of the most illustrious arenas on planet Earth , I was whistle my songs , and 20,000 multitude were singing back every single Word of God . And I just think , " This is one of those moment I dreamt of . " That was soon after I had the number one [ on ] Billboard , which was another " What ? Who gets the number one Billboard song when there are meg of songs on Earth ? " So those present moment , I do say , " Well done , mate . " And it ’s authoritative to have those .
Do you remember the first song you ever wrote?
Jay Sean : Yes , I do . I used to be a rapper before I was a singer . I compose many , many , many , many , many , many raps . But the first full , complete song that I save where I was sing was a song called " One Minute . " Prior to that , I had always been rapping in the verse and singing only on the lure , and this is my first complete song where I did n’t knap , and I just sing a whole call . And surprisingly , it made its way onto my first record album . The first song I ever wrote made its way onto the first record album , and that does n’t usually materialise . Most people have to write 100 songs before they ’re like , " All the right way , I call back I ’m pretty good now . " So it was nice to have that document in my discography .
Do you remember the first album you bought?
BuzzFeed : What was your pet song from the album ?
Jay Sean : It ’s either " Do It to Me " or " My Destiny . " " Do It to Me " start up off with that sax . It just immediately transports me back to my puerility .
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 soul on set during the music video ? Sure . For representative , 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 thought I ’d ever do a song with Mary J. Blige ? " Mary J. Blige was the female monarch of R&B and somebody , and when she asked us whether we ’d wish to feature on a song , I was like , " You ’re Mary J. Blige . Are you kidding me right on now ? " There are band of amazing collaborations that I ’ve done , also some that never in reality got heard . Lupe Fiasco is one of my deary ; that one never became a exclusive . I ’ve done two songs with Busta Rhymes , four songs with Lil Wayne . There are so many collabs that we ’ve done that was n’t bring out , so they all withstand a special space in my center .
BuzzFeed : What was one of your preferent memories of make " Do You commemorate " ?
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 become , " I wish somebody knew blah , blah , blah creative person . I ’d have it off for them to be on this . " It was never that . I never told my managing director or record company , " Hey , I want so - and - so on a criminal record . " It was always somehow , some means , our track spoil , and we forgather each other at an effect or somewhere , and we had a mutual appreciation for each other ’s euphony . It was a very organic process . The way that Sean Paul happened was we were at theMTV VMAsin New York . I total from a small town in London and came over to America . By then , I had become bang in England . But " dark town " to somehow cease up on the red carpet for MTV . Who ’s correctly next to me ? Sean Paul . I was like , " Oh my god , why am I on the same carpet as this guy ? " It was all so freakish and new and kind of fun and fresh . So me being me , I just said , " No way , are you standing mightily here next to me ? This is crazy . " He was like , " Yo , yo , what ’s your name ? " I suppose , " Jay Sean , " and he was like , " Yo , you obtain the biggest song in the country right now . " I was like , " Yo , but you ’re Sean Paul , we should do something . " And that ’s exactly how it happened . It was just a reciprocal beloved for each other ’s music , and it ended up becoming a bighearted , massive hitting .
Who’s an artist you’re loving right now?
Jay Sean : One of my favourite for a while has been JP Saxe . As a songwriter , he moves me the same way that Ed Sheeran did when I first get wind Ed ’s music . But there ’s so much more geeky stuff behind why I wish JP ’s euphony or the way he records . It sounds like he ’s just talk into your ear , and it ’s a very specific selection that he ’s made about how he emotes and how he manage to get his euphony across . His song " 25 in Barcelona " is one of my favorite songs in the world . I just conceive it is an utterly beautiful , bright song .
What has your experience been like in the industry?
Jay Sean : My experience has been an incredible journey of so many tremendous highs , some lows , some moments of squeeze me , and some moments of " How has it already been 20 year , and we ’re still going?“People are at the show across generation now . My early fans now have kids , but their younger brothers and sis are now the new fan at my shows . It ’s just really improbable . The hard thing to do is to abide the trial of time . In this day and old age that we ’re in right now , you ’re prosperous if you have one song that multitude remember for longer than two calendar month . mass take heed to something , and everything is so disposable now . It ’s like , " Oh , that was great . What ’s next ? " And you ’re like , " I expend it this morning . How about listen to it a little longer than just one day ? " That ’s the multiplication we live in now , so I ’m pretty proud of the fact that I ’ve managed to last 20 days in an ever - shift environment . I ’m proud of that .
Being one of the first Indian pop stars in the music industry, how does it feel to be able to help represent the South Asian community?
Jay Sean : That has been my biggest and most important destination from the day I tread foundation onto a phase . I very speedily realized that there were n’t other multitude that look like me on these stages . And I very apace realise that this can be one of two thing : This can be about me and I could go , " Woo hoo , look at me . I ’m the only one . I ’m kill it . Yay , yay me . " Or , I could be like , " Yo , dude , you got an chance to fly the flag here for your people , as well as give yourself a little tap on the back . You have an opportunity here to represent the masses who never got seen , the masses who never got to be on these microscope stage . The mass who dreamt but think that it would never happen because nobody ever did it . " For me , the moment I realized I was on these larger platforms , the moment I clear I was on these mainstream meshing and channels where I could talk about me and my culture , that was something really important . For the long time , people have had an mental image of pagan minorities because there are stereotype . The stereotype sometimes become so unattackable that it ’s difficult to break out of that box seat that society has put you in because it ’s the pop thought . You hump how long it takes to be able to go , " No , no , we ’re not all like that . No , I know you suppose you have that one Amerindic friend who works at 7 - Eleven , or his dad drives a hack , or whose sister is a doctor . But you eff what ? There are billions of us . We ’re the biggest demographic on planet Earth . We do different thing ! " This is something that I am still consistently striving to exchange , andI wo n’t rest until people see our culture a bit more and give it the regard it deserves for the talent that ’s in that pool . It deserves to be go steady .
Tell me about the label you’re launching with Virgin Records.
Jay Sean : It ’s called 3AM , and it ’s myself and my two longtime collaborators in music , who are also two of my best friends now . Jared and Jeremy Scott , who both were necessitate in all my bragging hits . We all spell them together . We produce them together . There ’s a long history there . Jared is also a cooperator at Range Media Partners , which is just a massive direction way representing some of the biggest whizz on satellite Earth like Bradley Cooper , Mariah Carey , you name it . Virgin Music Group , of class , is a titan ; it ’s global . We have a really dear infrastructure now . We have better half that believe in our sight : to be able to offer a political platform where we can promote more inclusivity and more multifariousness into the euphony industry , something that has not really happened at the moment . It ’s not an even playing field , and we need to polish the limelight on the citizenry who just are n’t being run into . Virgin and Range both trust in our mission , so we ’re excited !
What excites you most about this new label?
Jay Sean : I’m changing people ’s perception , making even a couple of mass go , " Wow , I finger embarrassed that I did n’t even recognise that all of this was going on . Now , because of 3AM and what they ’re endeavor to do , I now love . And now , I ’m going to concerts listening to Punjabi medicine , which I may never have done because I never knew I liked it . " It ’s the same way of life I could go to a Bad Bunny concert as an Indian guy , and nobody would turn their head . They ’d be like , " It ’s Bad Bunny . Of course , everybody loves Bad Bunny . " I require that to bechance for our masses , too . Bad Bunny can tattle and knock in Spanish as well as in English . My people are scorch in Punjabi or Hindi . Same affair with K - pop , with Afrobeats , they ’re getting globally accepted and recognized , and I really palpate like that can take place for our people . That ’s what I ’m most unrestrained about .
BuzzFeed : I’m excited about that , too ! I personally love green - pop . So a lot of the time , I ’ll learn the words , but I do n’t have any idea what they ’re saying . I ’ll sing whole communication channel of Korean , mixed with English language , just because it ’s so undecomposed and catchy . I ’m unrestrained to hear the songs you aid acquire and do that for those songs .
Jay Sean : You pick up it ! That ’s what I want to see , and what a wonderful minute that would be .
How does it feel to give people the opportunity to thrive in the music industry?
Jay Sean : My pappa has this saying,“Light someone ’s standard candle . “I take after my pop a lot because I like his mentalities and values in spirit . He says,“Success is not how far you get in person , how much money you ’ve got in the coin bank , how many people do it you or admire you . It ’s about how many change you made for other people in their lives . light up somebody else ’s candle is a beautiful matter to be capable to do . If yours is already shining , have ’s lift some other people up , too . rent ’s make a difference in other citizenry ’s lives . “If I am in that position to do that , then I want to do that , and that ’s something that is very , very authoritative to me .
What excites you about the future of Asian people in the music industry?
Jay Sean : As time go on and my kids originate up — my daughter ’s 9 , my son ’s 5 — I want them to live in a creation where they no longer have to remember that the colour of their hide or their heritage or their spoken language or the food for thought they exhaust and all of that stuff should be in any path stopping them from doing what they love . When I was a kid , I was a first - coevals , British - born Indian . My parent are Amerind , born in India . I was British because I was born in England , but also Indian . That identity crisis was material — to understand who you are and seek to figure out your place in society . When you ’re sit at the lunch mesa , and your mommy ’s made you a lovely roti with daal , and you require to eat up it , but your friends are like , " Ugh , what ’s that ? It smells . " That was real stuff . We could n’t be proud of our polish without feeling sometimes ashamed because hoi polloi would n’t allow us to take in . And that was difficult for people of my coevals , and I do n’t ever need that to be the case for my kid . That ’s what I hope to see alteration in the earthly concern . And yes , people are starting to open their eyes a wad more . We ’re control a lot more Asians on idiot box , South Asians on TV . We ’re date them in less stereotypical roles than we used to . We still see them in the stereotyped function , but we would care to see it be like , " Hey , I ’m just a regular guy rope . " I can play any purpose . It does n’t need to be at a marriage . My daddy does not need to address like this [ a stereotypical Native American accent ] all the time . It can change . It might be late in the game , but at least we started .
BuzzFeed : Yes ! I ’m noticing Netflix is starting to have a lot of shows with Asian leads that drift away from the stereotyped characters we ’re used to seeing . There ’s a show calledHeartbreak gamy , amazing show , with an Amerind main character . They do n’t mention her ethnicity in the show at all , but she is Indian . Her polish does n’t have much to do with her type versus some other shows where your culture is your character .
Jay Sean : You’re absolutely right . There was a show I really enjoyed calledOne Clarence Day , and they did n’t make a big deal out of the fact that she ’s an Amerindic girl who ’s playing the lead-in . It was just a girl being a daughter in this world . And I consider that was just so fresh to see them not fiddle into the stereotypes .
What advice would you give to young creatives now?
Jay Sean : There are always conk out to be hurdles . It ’s going to be unmanageable . It ’s tough . The creative industriousness is intemperate , especially now , when everybody ’s a content creator . But gentleman’s gentleman , if you love it , you just love it . It might be a chore to get people to do it , like me . " You got to do more reels . " And I ’m like , " Why ? I already tape the birdcall and did the whole thing . " But no , you ’ve got to do it . And what I can say is , as long as you love it , whatever challenges and obstacle and hurdles come across , you will work out out how to get over them . The thing that weigh more is that you ’re passionate about it , and when you ’re passionate about it , you chance the answers . That ’s the same thing that happened with me and my career . It was n’t all placid navigation . I had to come across really stupid consultation where people would ask really dumb questions , unknowing questions , and sometimes racist questions . And I would cogitate , " This is derisory . " But what kept me going was my erotic love for medicine and my willingness to change masses ’s perceptions and educate them . So , love it . And the day you discontinue make out it , peradventure it ’s not for you , maybe you ’ll bang something else , but give it your all .
I’d love to hear about your new single, “Heartless.”
Jay Sean:“Heartless " is me fall to my R&B base a bit more . Before I came to America , I was known for being more of an R&B pop artist . I love that form of medicine , and this unexampled record album marks 20 age of my life history , so why not give a little nod to where it all get down ? The cool part about it is it ’s featuring Punjabi on the same track . It ’s me singing in English as well as sing in Punjabi , which I do n’t do often . I ’ve only done it two or three time in my life on disk . And of course of instruction , Ikky is an incredible producer and understands how to perfectly merge Punjabi and Western medicine and pelvic arch - hop and R&B. I think the collab was really nice , and people seem to be get it on it .
What are your favorite lyrics on the song?
Jay Sean : The whole stop of the song was about a guy who have it away this girl is not honest for him . But we , as human beings , have these weird tendencies to be force to poppycock that we know is tough for us . The unsound is just good enough to keep him with her . So it ’s " You only add up around and break my warmheartedness and say we ’re even . Say it , then you detest it , but you buss me when you ’re leavin' . “It ’s one of those toxic thing he comes around , and I think we ’ve all been in a situation like that , whether it ’s friends or partners who are a small bit toxic . But you keep him around anyway , you know ?
What was the songwriting and recording process like?
Jay Sean:“Heartless " was a petty bit unequaled because we only had one Clarence Shepard Day Jr. . Ikky had flown in from Toronto , I had flown in from New York . We both were in LA for a twenty-four hours , and we said , " All correctly , if we ’re both here , let ’s get in the studio apartment . " And sometimes , the chance of a smasher happening just in one daytime , it ’s slim . You usually catch to have a couple of sessions to get a vibe going , but we now flick , and the song was made on the fly . It was made as a freestyle . The track did not live . He was build the cut as I was singing along melodies , and I was recording my stuff on a hand-held mic , vibing to the stuff he was playing , which was also being recorded simultaneously . The song was being made on the fly ball , which was actually really sick because it does n’t always come about like that . Sometimes it ’s like , " Here ’s the track I made last week , " and then you seethe out some melodies , and then you come up with some words , but the fact that it was made during freestyle was pretty nerveless .
What’s your favorite memory from recording?
Jay Sean : Well , the album itself was really fun to solve on because I did it in three different places . I did it in LA , New York , and India . I went to India for a couple of months and work with some talented producer out in Mumbai and Delhi . That was just nous - blowing to me because , first of all , they were 21 , 22 years sometime , and just so unafraid . There was no thinking about anything . There was no " Oh , well , I do n’t know if this fit the top 10 Billboard chord structure . " People analyze music like that . They ’re like , " This is working . This BPM seems to be guide the charts . " Like , block man , feel the euphony , stop analyzing . It ’s not math , it ’s not science . This is music . It ’s witching . And these kids had that fervidness in them . They were just hardy , render all sorts of stuff , and I was like , " Yes ! Amazing ! Let ’s go , allow ’s do something new and unlike . " So I loved that . That was a really fun process for me .
Where do you see yourself in the next couple of years?
Jay Sean : It ’s funny because even though I ’ve set up the label , that ’s always going to be something that is the large , end - end picture , the dream : label drumhead , successful dissemble all over the populace . Yes . But hey , I still love performing , and I still have it away singing . Will this be my last record album ? I do n’t know . All I can say is I ’m very , very happy with what I have done so far . in person , as an creative person , I will go forward to go out there and make people happy and execute my songs . But I ’m also exceedingly excited about pass the baton on to the next propagation and learn them blossom . Simultaneously , let ’s see what happens , let ’s see where we cease up .
Jay Sean’s newest single, “Heartless” ft. Ikky, is out now!
Note : Responses have been redact for length and clarity .
