Sean Kingston: Life After Beautiful Girls

22 August 2009

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In the hot summer of 2007, no matter where you were in the world, from Thailand to Turkey, London to Louisiana, there was a certain something in the air - a melody which you couldn't escape, emitting from every radio speaker you went near.

It was somehow familiar and at the same time new. An upbeat R'n'B vibe riding on the back of Ben E. King's 1961 classic 'Stand By Me', topped with what, at first, seemed like the usual schmaltzy sugar coated lyrics of standard commercial track - although they took a strangely dark twist in the chorus as the singer told how he would be suicidal if a girl left him.

'Beautiful Girls' was - as well as being the most recognisable hit record in recent memory to happily talk about killing yourself - composed by then 17-year-old reggae/crossover artist Sean Kingston. In the space of three minutes he found himself catapulted from a smooth voiced teenager from Jamaica to the top of the international charts.

It wasn't a bad effort, for something Sean penned in a matter of minutes. After a day working with producer J.R. Rotem - who's made cuts with the likes of 50 Cent, The Game, Rihanna and Snoop Dogg - he told how he heard 'Stand By Me' on the radio and asked the producer if anyone had ever flipped it.

Sean explained: "He made the beat right there on the spot! And I wrote the song's lyrics in a few minutes. It's hard when you're in love and a girl tells you that it is time to end things. I know everyone can relate to that, so that's why I had to write about it."

It got massive airplay, but the tune also caused controversy in some places, due to its inclusion of the word 'suicidal'. Some radio stations banned the song outright, others replaced 'suicidal' with 'in denial' and MTV to cut it from the song completely. This didn't stop the single hitting the number one spot in the UK, US, Australia and Spain, among others, though.

Sean - who now boasts sales of six million downloads, five million ringtones and one million albums to his name - didn't get to the top off the back of a fluke single however. Although he has an undeniably syrupy voice, and his home territory is reggae and R'n'B, he's equally able to hold his own trading raps - his cut 'Colours 2007' saw him take on The Game, while its reggae remix had Sean trade with the much respected Vybz Kartel and prolific hip-hop artist Kardinal Offishall. He's also guested on a track with Flo Rida and produced a song with rap's man of the moment Lil Wayne.

Sean's eponymous debut, which accompanied 'Beautiful Girls', pulled together influences as wide as pop, reggae, Latin music and soul and helped cemented his success. Now he promises with his second record, 'Tomorrow', which will be released next month, that the world will see the full extent of his diversity.

The lead single from 'Tomorrow', 'Fire Burning', sums up Sean's new attitude. The track's upbeat reggae-thon influenced sound takes heavy synths and the deep percussion (currently popular through its consistent use by Lady Gaga) to push a catchy summer chorus. It's a step forward from the sugary 'Beautiful Girls', showing that even though he's now only 19, Sean's matured plenty.

Elsewhere 'Tomorrow' includes collaborations as diverse as Wyclef Jean and rockers Good Charlotte on 'Shoulda Let U Go' - which Sean has marked out as one of his favourites on the album. Although he takes huge steps across genres Sean benefits from an incredible knack for finding hooks and applying them to the sonic situation he's in - which is probably one of the reasons he's also such an in-demand producer, currently cutting some beats for Rihanna's new album.

BANG Showbiz caught up with Sean to find out what he thought about playing at the Playboy Mansion, his new record and if there's going to be any corners of the globe left to conquer by the time he hits 21?

Q: Hi Sean, how's the summer treating you?

A: I just performed at the Teen Choice Awards and that was crazy! Performing live is amazing, when I see the crowds and the smiling faces it's the best feeling ever.

Q: Well, the Teen Choice Awards are all well and good, but we hear you played at the Playboy Mansion - how was that?

It's hard when you're in love and a girl tells you that it is time to end things

A: Yeah [long laugh] - I did a three song performance there, it was crazy. It was my first time at the mansion and they had this, kind of, lingerie party and there was a lot of beautiful women. I was having big fun, Shaquille O'Neal was there, Hugh Hefner was there it was a big party.

I got to meet Hugh, he said he likes my music and that was cool. When I played I got a great reaction, people were feeling the vibe and lots of people told me I was tight, they were all going crazy, it was cool.

Q: Sure, but did you see anything, um, untoward while you were there?

A: [Laughs] Whoa! It was a crazy place, but really, I didn't see anything out there that was, y'know, out of the ordinary.

Q: You're working with Rihanna at the moment, what's that like?

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