The story of Sean Kingston is one of incredible highs and deflating lows. "Beautiful Girls," the Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 single released in 2007, saw a teenaged Kingston reach meteoric heights. And while Kingston's early years established him as a pop star, they also introduced him to the harsh realities of the music business. A lack of creative control, bad record deals, and the changing industry landscape were just some of the challenges that pushed him take a step back from the limelight to regroup and refocus.
Yet Kingston was always working in the background, writing and crafting hits for others, like Chris Brown, while simply being a friend to many of the biggest names in music.
Chris Brown is featured on Kingston's current rapidly rising single "Ocean Drive," and their friendship goes way back. "I've known Sean since we were both kids starting out," Brown tells GRAMMY.com. "We've worked together a few times professionally, but I also know the other Sean when we're just playing video games and hanging out."
And while Sean's home in Los Angeles was a hanging out spot for like-minded artists, it was also a hub of creativity. "I wanted to accomplish something for myself…when I came to L.A.," says rapper Trippie Redd. "Sean's been in the game for a while; his spot was where I met many creative people."
Road to Deliverance, Sean’s comeback album, will be released Sept. 30. The album is heavily influenced by reggae and dancehall music, and will be followed by a more pop-leaning album titled Deliverance due early 2023. Kingston spoke with GRAMMY.com about his time at the top of the music charts, the pitfalls of being a young and hungry new artist, what songs he's most excited about on his new album, and what happened to that lost mixtape with Justin Bieber.
Before the interview, I was checking out your YouTube and the "Beautiful Girls" video is almost at a billion views. How does that make you feel when you hear that?
So blessed. It feels amazing. It feels like I created something I always wanted to: timeless music. I am always going to create something with the intention that it's going to be around for ages and something that people are always going to remember.A billion views that's something a lot of people don't have, so it's definitely a great milestone.
There's a perception that following the release of your last album Back to Life in 2013 to the present day, Sean Kingston disappeared from the music industry, and I assume that wasn't the case. What was going on during that time? And why was now the right time to return with greater visibility?
I was caught in some bad situations. I was in some bad [record]deals. When I was younger, I signed a lot of contracts. I was hungry. I didn't know about the music industry like that. I was just trying to get from point A to point B and trying to get discovered.
They weren't terrible, terrible deals, but they were situations I didn't want to be in where I didn't have creative control with my last label. I couldn't drop when I wanted to drop. I wanted to go the independent route, but I had to wait a bit. I regrouped and got some good lawyers —shout-outs to Won-G. Won-G came in on the music management side and helped me get my stuff back on track. Now we're starting from fresh. Everything is cleared up, and I'm good.
I never fell off. I was still giving hits to other people behind the scenes. I wrote a lot of stuff for Chris Brown that people don't know about. It wasn't ever about "oh no, I won't be able to write another hit record again." I didn't want to put out music because my situation wasn't right.
Take us back to the mid-2000s when you had your monster single "Beautiful Girls." What was something you learned about yourself during that time?
How focused I was; I had tunnel vision. I wanted my fans to get more music from me every three weeks. I feel like a new artist again. It's a blessing. I'm excited to start going at it again as I did back then. I love that the sound that I started is still flourishing. The island/pop sound.
A bit of a random question. Whatever happened to the Our World mixtape you recorded with Justin Bieber back in 2010?
We just got busy. He was doing a lot of stuff, and I was doing a lot of stuff. Believe it or not, those sounds are still on the hard drive. I was listening to some of them the other day. Justin's voice sounds so young. My voice sounds so young. I wish we could have dropped it.
Me and Justin recorded fast. He would come on my tour bus, and we had a studio in the back. We didn't have any features on it. Actually, I think Jaden Smith was on one song.
You got your start by messaging producer J.R. Rotem on MySpace. What do you remember about that day you clicked send on that message back in 2007?
I remember it like it was yesterday, me copying and pasting the message and just kept sending it. I'll never forget the day when I got the message. He said, "I'm in L.A., you're in L.A. Let's have a meeting. You need to meet me here now," and I'm like, wait, what?
At the time, I was doing very badly. My mom was in prison. I had to catch two city buses to the meeting, which was in Culver City, and I was in Burbank. I have the meeting with J.R. Rotem, Tommy Rotem, and Zach Katz. I'm playing the first two songs, and they're looking at me, kind of serious but bopping their heads. And when I played the last song, J.R. said, "Yo, we want to sign you to Beluga Heights."
Amazing story. Let's talk about the music on the new album. I got to hear some of the tracks; I dug "Side" and "Lucky Him," which had some of those "Beautiful Girls" vibes. But the song I want to hone in on was "Satisfaction," built around an interpolation of Terror Fabulous' classic dancehall song "Action." How did you come back to "Action" to help develop that record?
Adam, I'm scared of you, man. You really know music. Those are the songs everyone is going crazy about. With "Satisfaction," I feel like we're in an era right now where a lot of people are sampling, but they don't know how to sample and make [their] record have the feel of the original record. But you also put a new twist on it.
With "Satisfaction," I wanted a real repetitive part of the hook, and I wanted it to be chanty, sing-a-long and have a catchy, ear candy vibe. Me and Supa Dupes did that record in Miami.
Regarding the dancehall vibes running through your music, does that happen organically for you in the recording process, or is it intentional?
That's just part of who I am. It just comes from listening to old reggae songs from my parents. I've got the essence in me, and I'm always looking for a good island vibe.
You mentioned a lot of sampling happening. We hear many people say that everything has been done before when it comes to new music, and nothing's original. How do you feel about that? Is it simply harder now to come up with new ideas?
I love bringing old records back to life. Like on "Beautiful Girls," I sampled Ben E. King's "Stand By Me," so I've always been interested in sampling and bringing back records. So as far as "Satisfaction" and sampling Terror Fabulous, to me, the 1990s was one of the best eras of music.
The music industry is turning a corner regarding revenues being up. And we keep hearing this is the best time for artists because there are so many channels to promote your music, and it has never been easier to create music. As someone who began their career at the end of the physical sales era and the beginning of the mp3 era, do you agree that this is the best time to be an artist?
It's easier to go viral and sell records, but you've still got to create something special. It's easier and smoother than when I first came in.
Talk to me a bit about the business of Sean Kingston. You haven't released an album since 2013, but you still have upwards of 11 million monthly listeners on Spotify. How do you make your hits work for you so many years? And what did you do in those early days to establish your brand?
[I established] my original sound. When you come up with a sound, people will never forget that. We are living in a nostalgia moment right now where people miss stuff and want stuff they grew up with. It just happens that a lot of my songs stuck with them. A lot of my stuff goes viral on TikTok. I think it's dope. I go to my shows, and I'm seeing these kids that are 18 singing these songs, and I'm like, wow, you guys were like 6 years old when this came out.
To close things off, I wanted to ask what advice you would give to an artist starting out today.
Do you. Keep God first. Stay hungry. Be original and stay in your lane and be consistent. Nowadays, these kids want music consistently.
Ari Lennox’s 'Age/Sex/Location' Explores Online Dating, Never Settling & Old School Romance