Interview: Stefflon Don Speaks On Dodgy Websites, Her Debut Album And A Potential Shenseea Collab
Stefflon Don often references world domination in interviews and, given the global appeal of her sound, it’s easy to see why. The British-Jamaican MC boasts skills equally suited for rap, Dancehall, Afrobeats, and R&B and she’s been blurring the lines between these genres for years. While others might face limited success in diversifying their palette, Steff has made a career out of it. Her confidence—on par with that of the baddest Dancehall deejay, and her life-long exposure to different cultures lend an authentic edge to her songs; a must-have for crossover artists that hope to push their music further and hit the charts doing it.
Two mixtapes into her career, Stefflon is now gearing up for the release of her debut album later this summer. In the midst of that, she’s made a point of collaborating with Get It Right from a Genuine Site and has recently starred in their video campaign, alongside TikTok star Jack Joseph, to raise awareness about the risks associated with illegal websites.
In this interview with DancehallMag, the 16 Shots deejay speaks on protecting the hard work of music professionals and protecting fans from risks such as personal data breaches. She also reflects on her plans for the year, SOJA’s Grammy win, a potential Shenseea collab, and more.
When was the first time you visited Jamaica? What was that experience like and how did it match up to your expectations?
The first time I visited Jamaica was when I was a young kid and was very different to how I experienced it being older. I feel like my experience now is more (pauses), I love it! I’m now able to go to the ‘ghetto’ parts as people would call it, go to the uptown parts as well as being with my family or going sight-seeing.
The sunshine, the vibes, the music, the people, the food – everything is just amazing and there’s nothing like Jamaica.
You’ve talked a lot about musical influences but it’s clear that you place a big emphasis on your visuals too. Not only that, you’re very involved in your music videos, co-directing many of them. Are there any artists, directors or videos in particular that have had a big impact on your visual style?
Yes – I am very involved with my music videos and co-directing. I directed a lot of my videos with the late Luke Biggins. He, unfortunately, passed away last year and things have definitely not been the same since. He shot at least 10 of my videos and we have co-directed most of them together. He definitely had a big impact on my visual style, and I hope to continue to get even more creative and make it more ‘movie-ish’ you know – give the fans something to watch.
And beyond the music videos, you recently starred in a video campaign collaboration with Get it Right alongside Jack Joseph. How did that come about and what are you hoping to accomplish with that?
The campaign for Get it Right alongside Jack Joseph was a really fun shoot. I enjoy acting but it’s been a long time since I stepped into the acting world. The purpose of the project is to support the creative industry and let young people know that using illegal streaming sites can really put your personal data at risk. Both the creatives and the fans lose out as a result when using dodgy sites.
I have been lucky enough to create a career producing music I love but it’s not just well-known artists that are impacted, it’s everyone – even behind the scenes, studio assistants, sound engineers, costume designers. Lockdown meant many of these people were missing income for a long time. So, for me, it’s really important for people to get their music, TV, film and games from genuine sites, rather than the ‘knock off’ stuff.
For the fans – go to genuine sites. Don’t risk the dodgy sites, because it’s not worth it.
Do you see yourself leaning more into film and television production in the future? In front of or behind the camera?
Yes! I do see myself doing more film and television in the future. I love acting and I definitely feel like I could kill (laughs) a good movie role.
Do you have any other collaborations in the pipeline, musical or otherwise, that fans can look forward to?
In terms of collaborations, I am currently working on an album. We’ve got a few collaborations on there. Don’t really want to talk about it too much yet though (laughs).
Any word on a Stefflon / Shenseea link up?
You know what, a lot of people ask about me and Shenseea, we’ll see! We will see! I’ll leave it to nearer the time to let you guys know if we have managed to get one for the album or not. Just keep a look out!
Much has been said about SOJA’s Reggae Grammy win with arguments supporting and criticizing it. As an international act whose music not only embraces but celebrates Jamaican culture and music, do you have any thoughts to share on that?
I actually checked out their music, I didn’t know them beforehand, so I thought let me see what these people are about. I think they have a nice album of just literally reggae, there’s no dancehall. It is a fully reggae album which I haven’t heard in a long time.
For me, I’m in no position to give my thoughts on if I feel that someone should win or not – I feel like they are an amazing group, they’ve actually been around for a long time so surprisingly I hadn’t heard of them but I’m sure I haven’t heard of many amazing artists. I feel like they know what they’re doing and their songs to me sound good so, big up to them and congratulations to them!
I think awards don’t define you, it’s up to the individual – whatever that means to them – If you feel like a Grammy means the world to you, then you know – Go for it! I congratulate anyone on a win – a win is a win – You don’t know how hard someone’s worked for it and you don’t know where they’re coming from so congratulations to Soja (I hope I’m saying it right) Congratulations to you! And big up everyone who was on the line-up, my good friend Sean (Paul) was on there, Spice, hopefully, next year they can grab something.
In late-2020, you said there were a couple of boxes left unticked as far as your goals go. What do those boxes look like today? What do you have left to accomplish?
I’d say there’s a couple of boxes left unticked – though I have ticked a few of them. What do I have left to accomplish? World domination (laughs) I definitely haven’t reached my potential yet – I feel like I have shown a great side to me, I feel like I’ve grown, and I have shown a great side of what people know but there’s so much more! I feel like I’m learning as I go on and learning myself and you know – you evolve, you change through the times. And there’s more things you want to do. I definitely want to sell out arenas, that’s on my bucket list and I know I’m going to accomplish that because I’m going to keep working and keep delivering music and hopefully once this project drops, the fanbase will grow more and more.
Hopefully, people will respect me more as a whole artist – I think people do, but I think it’s whole projects, it’s amazing albums that really make people stand out as an artist. I’ve never dropped an album before so I do hope after it launches people will really realise that I really am an all-around artist.
Looking forward to the album, the dates we are looking at are around August so let’s hope and pray, fingers crossed that we can make sure it happens in August – It’s going to be an amazing album so make sure you stay tuned for that one!
Big love guys!
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