Sean Paul, Dua Lipa’s ‘No Lie’ Hits One Billion Views On YouTube
Sean Paul is elated that the video for No Lie—his Dancehall-Pop collab with British singer Dua Lipa—has surpassed the one billion views milestone on YouTube, five years after its release. It’s the Jamaican superstar’s first song as a lead artist to enter the billion views club on the video-sharing platform.
The big milestone coincides with the 4/20 release of the fifth single from his upcoming Scorcha album, titled No Fear with Damian Marley and Reggaeton singer Nicky Jam. That song will appear alongside a slew of new Dancehall-Pop collaborations on the album, which is due out next month via Island Records.
The 49-year-old Grammy Award winner told DancehallMag in a quick interview today (April 20) that he was happy that his music continues to resonate with audiences worldwide.
“Feels good to know that you can do songs and they just grow and grow and grow,” he said. “Cause when it [No Lie] first came out that was a dope song. Nuff people loved it. It went on a lot of likkle streaming vibes and it just kept going. So awesome!”
Paul—who recently quipped “I do straight dancehall, I don’t do Pop, my Dancehall goes Pop”—has previously hit the billion views milestone as a featured artist on Clean Bandit’s Rockabye (2016), which is currently at 2.6 billion views, and Sia’s Cheap Thrills (2017), which is currently at 1.7 billion views.
The No Lie video had surged in popularity in 2021, racking up 239 million views that year, according to data gathered by DancehallMag, after amassing just 124 million in 2020. It had picked up most of its views (275 million) in 2017—the year of its release. The hypnotic video, which featured Sean and Dua singing and dancing in mirrored rooms, was d irected by Tim Nackashi, who is known for his work with Maroon 5, OK Go, and Icona Pop, among others.
It is ranked at No. 22 on Kworb’s list of “classic” videos (those over 5 years old) with the highest current views per day. Overall, the No Lie video is ranked at No. 305 among the most viewed music videos on YouTube.
The Concrete deejay also praised Dua Lipa, 26, for working with him on the song, which was produced by Sermstyle and Phillip Kembo as the lead single on his Mad Love The Prequel EP in 2016.
“Big up Dua Lipa, who was so gracious when she did the tune with me. She wasn’t as big as she is now, so I’m proud to feel like I was ahead of curve,” Sean Paul told DancehallMag.
The song was later included on Dua Lipa: Complete Edition in 2018, the super deluxe reissue of Dua Lipa’s debut studio album. Now known for hits such as Levitating, Don’t Start Now , and IDGAF, Lipa has since racked up several platinum certifications in the US and UK, and three Grammy Awards from eight nominations. Her most viewed music video is New Rules, which currently stands at 2.6 billion views on YouTube.
Paul had explained that after he, Emily Warren, and Andrew Jackson wrote No Lie, someone in his management group suggested Lipa be approached.
“Emily did a demo of it and there’s a certain thing about her vocals that just stands out. Nobody could hit it. I didn’t know what Dua sounded like, but when I heard her demo, I knew it was it,” he told AskMen. “Just the look of her whole vibe and her voice is dope. Her voice is the first thing that really spoke to me. The tone and the vibe were very sexy, so I was there from the beginning,” Paul also told Genius.
The other Jamaicans with videos in the billion views club are Clarendon-natives OMI with Cheerleader (2015) at 1.1 billion views and Cutty Ranks with El Chombo’s Dame Tu Cosita (2018) at 3.9 billion views.
Walshy Fire, of the DJ trio Major Lazer, is also in the club for Lean On with DJ Snake & MØ (2015) at 3.1 billion views and Cold Water with Justin Bieber & MØ (2016) at 1 billion views.
Meanwhile, Sean Paul’s No Lie is also his most listened-to song on Spotify (as a lead artist) with over 670 million streams, while the 3X Platinum Temperature stands at over 480 million streams.
Interestingly, No Lie does not yet have any certifications in the US but it was certified double platinum in the UK in February 2022. It had spent 30 weeks on the UK Singles chart, peaking at No. 11.
The song also peaked at No. 1 on the discontinued Billboard Reggae Digital Song chart and is currently No. 152 on the Billboard Global Excl. US chart dated April 23, 2022.
Paul’s 8th studio album Scorcha, which is due out on May 27, 2022, will feature several other Dancehall-Pop collaborations including the already-released How We Do It with Pia Mia, Dynamite with Sia, and 2020’s Calling On Me with Tove Lo. It will also feature Light My Fire with Gwen Stefani and Shenseea and Bouncing with Jada Kingdom.
The No Fear single, released today, was co-produced Tainy, Supa Dups and Sean’s brother Jason ‘Jigzag’ Henriques.
His last album Live N Livin had spent one week on the Billboard Reggae Albums chart at No. 9 and was nominated for Best Reggae Album at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards.