PHOTO: HINDUSTAN TIMES
NEW DELHI: Grammy Award winning Jamaican rapper Sean Paul became a global star after his second album Dutty Rock hit the music stores in 2002. While his dance hall oriented numbers often topped the charts, there were times when he also faded from prominence. But he believes that failure makes people stronger and that's what it has done to him.
Paul's monstrous hits like Get busy in 2003 and Temperature in 2006 enjoyed the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100. It was only a decade later that he regained the top position with singer Sia's Cheap Thrills.
Asked about coping with the low point in his career, Paul told in an email interview, "I feel you need failures to grow and succeed. They say that failures make you stronger and that's what it has done to me. If I failed, I got back up, learnt from it and got myself moving back towards my goal."
Apart from Sia, he has also collaborated with artists like Beyonce Knowles, Santana, Joss Stone, Enrique Iglesias and Clean Bandit.
"I usually go by something I like. So if I like the song and the content, I go for it. And collaborating with artistes, gives a different feel also as they come with their own genres. It just adds up to the music all the more," Sean said.
On his best collaboration, he said, "This would be quite difficult but yes, Baby Boy with Beyonce, Cheap Thrills with Sia and Rockabye with Clean Bandit are some of the best collaborations. They were also top 10 on the Billboard."
Born as Sean Paul Ryan Francis Henriques in 1973 in Kingston, Jamaica; he is one of the artists who has made dance hall, mostly characterised by fast rhythms, popular across the globe. While cemented in reggae and dance hall from his home country, Sean maintains a global presence with numerous collaborations in genres such as EDM and pop.
Sean was questioned on if he is happy with the cocktail of genres or does it annoy him as dance hall loses its authenticity. He answered, "At times it does but then it's cool because people who know what dance hall is, will listen. For people who don't know what it means, will still love my music so either way I'm on benefit."
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Speaking on making his return to India after six years, where people love his music, Sean stated that it took him a long time to return as he was preparing for his Indian audience more than ever.
He added, "I'm really excited to visit India again. The people of the country have always given me a lot of love. However, I can't really unveil anything about my new songs but just know that there is a lot in store. I'm sure everyone will love it as much as they loved my other tracks."
Last time, he praised Indian actor Priyanka Chopra and expressed a desire to meet her. In 2017, his song No Lie got featured in her Hollywood film Baywatch but he was still unable to the Bollywood beauty.
"I wish that desire came true but I didn't get a chance to meet her as we were very packed with our schedules. But being a part of Baywatch itself means a lot. I would still say that I would love to meet her as she's one of my favourites and I really like the way she performs," he said about Priyanka, who has also sung songs like In My City and Exotic.
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