Shenseea Says She’ll Never Ditch Jamaican Accent, But New Music Will Be ‘Dancehall That Americans Can Understand’

Jamaican singer Shenseea recently responded to naysayers who believed she was ditching her authentic Jamaican accent. 

“Somebody seh mi nuh have an accent nuh more. How?” she asked during a recent Instagram Live session. The Be Good singer promised that she’d never disassociate from her native tongue.

“Mi accent can neva leff. Born an’ raise inna Jamaica from mi yiy deh a mi knee—weh yuh mean? Dis nah guh nuh weh.”

Born in Mandeville, Manchester, the now 26-year-old star explained that any noticeable change in her accent was merely a skill that she, like most Caribbean immigrants, developed to get by in the United States. “But you know, mi deh foreign now suh mi haffi twang. Yaad gyal haffi know how fi twang when yuh come a foreign, yuh know?” she reasoned.

Shenseea, who released her debut album Alpha last year, has also said that her new music will be created to appeal to her American audience.

“I’m about to shoot my very first single from my second studio album real soon. I’m pretty excited about that. I think it’s gonna be amazing,” she said backstage during an interview with Billboard at the recently concluded Rolling Loud California.

She added that fans can expect “Dancehall that Americans can definitely love and understand.”

Last February, Billboard Magazine’s Patricia Meschino had urged the singer not to “dumb down” her capabilities to satisfy American palates.

“Shenseea, you know she has such a unique identity within this American music landscape, so why on earth would you want to give that up, renounce that, diminish that, to be just an imitation of something that is already out there in abundance?” Meschino said during the US Embassy’s Black History/Reggae Month Star-Spangled Sit Down.

“Some female deejays within the American landscape getting attention, but right now, she is getting the most attention.  So I would just love to see her capitalize on who she is, embellish who she is and where she comes from and make the best music she can as who she is,” the journalist added at the time.

During the recent Instagram Live, Shenseea said she had a stockpile of new music waiting to be released, but some viewers were adamant about what they expected for the singer’s first single in five months.

“Do you guys want it to be a Dancehall song? I mean…as I said, I’ve been making so much music. I have a lot. So, you let me know. Do you want my next song to be a Dancehall song?” to which the majority responded in the affirmative. 

The Trending Gyal singer then agreed with one fan who said they would be OK with “anything as long as it sounds good.”

Shenseea’s most recent releases were Bye Bye on Dunw3ll’s Playstation Riddim, and Rain with Skillibeng.

Alpha, released on March 11, 2022, via Rich Immigrants/Interscope Records, was an amalgamation of various sounds, including collaborations with Beenie Man, Sean Paul, Megan Thee Stallion, Tyga, Offset, and 21 Savage.

The 14-track album debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard Reggae Album chart.

It then sold 63,000 units in 2022, making it the second-best-selling album from a Jamaican artist to be released that year.

As for more international collabs, Shenseea hinted to Billboard that a third collaboration with rapper Kanye West might be in the works.

“It would be amazing. I absolutely love Kanye from even before I met him so…I’m not gonna spill too much.”