Shenseea
Artist
Chinsea Lee, best known as Shenseea (Kingston, 1 October 1996), is a Jamaican singer-songwriter based in Kingston, Jamaica.
During a July 2022 interview for Billboard, the artist explained her early background and artistic path, saying quote:
Music was the only thing I aspired to do, and this is my dream ever since I was a kid. I’ve always seen myself as an international artist, something was just telling me that, “You’re going to be this, you’re going to be that.” But my family […] tried to drive me into different careers. I grew up in Jamaica, […] I usually moved around a lot during my high school years, because my mum was a singer. […] Music was definitely my first choice, there wasn’t a day that couldn’t pass and didn’t open up and say, “Music was all I ever wanted.” The first time I tried to write a song was in my eighth grade, and I couldn’t get past three lines, so I used to do a lot of covers, just going up throughout high school and singing other people’s songs, but [once] I gave birth to my son, it’s like the switch went on.
Shenseea first came to national and international attention following the release of her first hit single, “Loodi,” in 2017, building an ever-growing reputation within the Dancehall scene ever since.
In the following years, the artists recorded collaborations with international superstars such as Doja Cat, 21 Savage, Megan Thee Stallion and Tyga, the last of whom was featured on her 2019 hit single “Blessed.” Notably, she was also featured on Kanye West’s 2021 album, DONDA.
These accomplishments led up to Shenseea’s debut album, ALPHA, released in March 2022 which included the singles “Lick” and “R U That,” which saw the artist experiment with a different sound and showcase her versatility.
Following ALPHA’s success, she described what the genre of dancehall is all about from her point of view during the aforementioned interview with Billboard:
Dancehall to me means, you can be raunchy, you can be free, you can be yourself without being judged. We try to spread it across the world everywhere we go, because I enjoy the energy.
