'Damn it! He did it again'

In the city last week to promote his latest single, With You, Jay Sean on the words he'd like his fans to mouth when they hear his upcoming line-up of singles

Jay Sean's mantra for making music is to make sure he never gives audiences a track he isn't proud of. But then, creating music is not just about his own whims. What his fans want, obviously matters. "There are some songs that are so bad, they may be guilty pleasure. If I'm not proud of a track, although I know it'll be a hit, I won't put it out. I'm not doing that; no, thank you," says the British musician during a round of promotions for his new single, With You.

For many Indian music aficionados (shout out to all the '90s kids!) Sean himself was once a guilty pleasure of sorts, especially for the English pop music snobs, who'd critique him for being too desi, but play his songs on loop behind closed doors. Bridging the gap between this group and the actually-desi-but-wannabe-angrezi-music-listener, Sean, with his initial chartbuster, Dance With You, was a regular feature across playlists. That the entire world eventually warmed up to the Indian origin musician — his tracks, Ride It, Maybe and Do You Remember went on to become best-sellers across the globe — was a validation for them.

For Sean, though, distancing himself from India was never an option. Even as he continued to make waves on international turf, he would seek collaborations in the country, ever so often treating fans to a duet with Sonu Nigam or rendering Hindi remakes of his popular singles. Decades later, Sean continues to do the same. "I've done a number of songs with Rishi Rich now. We took out time to see how we could do something that is different that still suits the current climate. We want to add [our flavour], and some masala, so people can say, 'Jay Sean! Damn it, he did it again!' These numbers will be out in the next four months. I know that currently, in Bollywood, they [music composers] are re-branding the old stuff, and a lot of people are getting sick of that. I miss the '90s tunes too. But, we all want to move forward. So, there's a way to marry the vibe of the '90s with current times without [rehashing a song]. I want to do that; get back the sweetness of that classic era today."

For an audience still accustomed to consuming music via albums, Indians began to question his 'absence' from the music scene after his last album (Neon, 2013), wondering why he had limited his work to collaborations, here and there. The 'here and there' he tells us, amounts to as many as 15 to 20 singles. "The concept of an album is funny. I've put out, maybe, 20 songs since then, including my collaborations, then another six or seven from my mixtapes, and then a few other singles. So, I've put out music, but the singles didn't fit together as a cohesive album. I'm not going to give you an album of disjointed songs, right? But, you want music, and I'm giving that."

An ardent admirer of Sean is unlikely to have his evolution as an artiste go unnoticed. Even as he moved on from being a pioneer of Bangra-rap to R&B, Hip-hop and pop music, Sean didn't let his transitions affect the quality of his sounds. "As a vocalist and songwriter, I realised that I am versatile. I can write you a country song, Punjabi track, dance number or even make you cry, right now. I love that I could cross genres. A lot of that understanding happened through collaborations too. For instance, when Hardwell sent me a song, I didn't know [if I could pull it off]. But, I felt I could, so I did, and it was beautiful. That was also the case with the other collaborations that had me explore [other genre]," says the singer, whose celebrated track, Make My Love Go, was part of one such association.

Even as he delivered an array of club bangers, it is a discussion on his "favourite passion project", his mixtape, The Mistress [now, a three-part edition] that brings out a change in his demeanour. "When you [deliver] a big hit, people want another one that's just like that. It happens to every artiste. Even Marvin Gaye was demanded of another track like Sexual Healing, after it released. And as an artiste, you're like, no man, Sexual Healing was that. Let me do something else. [Production houses] can dismantle [a song] if it doesn't fit their business format. But, there's a part of my heart that wants to write other stuff. I'm going to do that. I don't care if you [studios] don't put it out. It's the digital age, so I'll put it out myself. I'm going to give it to my fans. That's what I did with The Mistress, and it was beautiful. The entire body of work was telling a story. I knew that it had to be a journey; an emotional one, and it was amazing. My mixtapes are not for everyone."

A frequent visitor of the country, Sean admits this outing, away from his daughter, and six-month-old son, is different. Often sprinkling his news feeds with his musical interactions with daughter, Ayva Loveen Kaur Jhooti, Sean is certain that she has a deep understanding of music. "When listening to a song, she can pick up the chorus by the second time that it comes. And, she always predicts where the song is going to go. She thinks like a songwriter; like her parents."

Sean on his favourite picks from The Mistress:

1 She Has No Time. It was one of the most brutally honest songs I've ever written. I loved it
2 From Mistress 2, my favourite would be Tears In The Ocean. There's also Jameson which I really enjoyed [working on]
3 Cherry Papers and Say Something. Of the two that are yet to come out, there's Beautiful, which is gorge-ous

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