Shenseea: ‘Alpha’ Album Review
After giving her fans a scare with Lick, R U That and Deserve It which spurred protests that she had ditched her Jamaican sound and authenticity, an unfettered Shenseea rose to the occasion like a true Alpha, not only showing her musical mettle but that she has a heart of steel.
In proving that she had not ditched her Dancehall dexterity, Shenseea starts her 14-track debut album on Target, riding The Stereotypes-produced beat with precision, in her unmistakeable Jamaican accent. She begins with the song’s catchy hook on the Dancehall-fusion where she calls for her collaborator Tyga, to “aim fi di taagit”, singing and deejaying a song produced for “bubblin” and TikTok dance moves. Tyga, who’s known to body his many features, embellishes the song with his rap lines, flawlessly.
Can’t Anymore, an R&B/Hip-Hop track about a salacious afterparty in the car, is a slower groove that makes for perfect club music. Produced by London On Da Track, it is a song that demonstrates that she’s capable of standing on her own and shining without features.
Can’t Anymore is followed by the previously released Deserve It (produced by Rvssian) and R U That featuring 21 Savage (produced by Dr. Luke) and the song regarded as a wasted effort by critics and fans: Lick with Megan Thee Stallion, for which, the less said about that—the better.
In the Hip-Hop/Pop-sounding Bouncy, which featured Offset and was produced by Smash David (Khalid, Tory Lanez, Chris Brown) and Western (Drake, Meek Mill, Camila Cabello), Shenseea wades into uncharted territory but scores big again with her singing voice in a whisper at times and her “gunman voice” — as she described her hardcore deejaying voice — chipping in at intervals.
For the Chimney Records/Banx & Ranx-produced Henkel Glue, which has elements of Steelie and Clevie’s Gi-Gi riddim, some might find it awkward listening to a near-50-year-old Beenie Man telling 25-year-old Shenseea lascivious things such “ p_y good like gold, mi c_ky yuh drape up”, and singing explicitly about her “tight” private parts, which feels like the adhesive, which is popular in Jamaica for gluing wood and paper. However, the two Jamaicans complement each other on the beat, in exciting Dancehall fashion, while unwittingly giving the distributors of Henkel at Red Hills Road in Kingston, a free endorsement on what might be the biggest hit of the album.
Shenseea takes on Reggae with Sean Paul in Lying If I Call It Love, which was co-produced by Miami duo Cool & Dre and Miami-based Jamaican Supa Dups. The duet flows smoothly and beautifully and seemed headed for greatness, until the singer begins to use profanity midway, diminishing the potential of the track which would have had massive wherewithal to dominate free-to-air television and radio airwaves. Hopefully, she will have a radio-friendly version, as this song is, albeit the expletives, magnificent.
In the Rvssian-produced Hangover, Shenseea comes in like a champion, low-keyed at the beginning until she takes charge of the hook, and tells her lover that while she knows her relationship was destined for destruction, she was hell-bent on enjoying the moments. Full of good melodies, inflections and well-written lyrics, the track should get heavy rotation.
In Body Count, she appears to address the well-known lust that Yankees have for her, as a “Yardie”, noting that the man, who saw her as the subject of his affections should not concern himself with her number of past lovers, but ensure that he steps up to the plate when they connect in the bedroom, or wherever.
Known for her stance on cheap, parsimonious, trifling men, Shenseea reminds the world that she is unwavering on that position on Egocentric (co-produced by Slyda Di Wizard and DJ Blackboi) where she disparages “mean men” while expressing her dislike of them, outlining that while she would not beg because “mi a nuh pauper, dat don’t mean yuh nuh fi offer”.
Similarly, on Shen Ex Anthem, produced and co-written by her first manager Romeich Major, Shenseea scolds a low-life ex, which with one of the punch lines being “why yuh dweet drankro?” should chalk up much laugher in Jamaica. The phrase gained popularity following an online rant by a Seaview Gardens woman, who cursed out the father of her seven children referring to him as Dutty Goola while asking “why yuh dweet drankro”. Drankro (John Crow) is the Jamaican name for a vulture, but is commonly used to describe those deemed “good-for-nothing”.
Her six-year-old son Rajerio Lee has songwriting credits on the Rvssian-produced Sun Comes Up, an inspirational, upbeat song about perseverance and hope, again, masterfully delivered by the 25-year-old. In an endearing mother-son moment, an audio clip of him giving her directives as to the manner in which she should deliver her lyrics, for the song, serves as the outro.
“You’re welcome,” a delighted Rajerio responds politely after Shenseea thanks him and tells him that he “is a producer”.
Blessed, her 2019 collab with Tyga, completes the set.
Alpha is a brilliant album. And it is brilliant not because of the features with older or more established artists. It is brilliant because Shenseea stamps her authority as a singer and a deejay, with her rich Jamaican accent, which was not ditched as most people feared she would have done based on the content of the pre-released tracks.
She does not sound like “everybody else.”
She is distinctly Shenseea and even with the direction she has taken her sound. Those connoisseurs of Dancehall, with misgivings after Lick, should be well-satisfied with Alpha.