It’s about how many changes you made for other people in their lives."
What would you be if you werent a singer, songwriter, or music executive?
Jay Sean: Well, I was actually on my way to becoming a doctor.
“Success is not how far you get personally, how much money you’ve got in the bank, how many people love you or admire you. It’s about how many changes you made for other people in their lives."
I did two and a half years of med school.
That’s where I would be right now if I wasn’t doing music.
Whatmade you want to switch to music?
It was a hobby.
Do you have a specific moment of when it did become very clear?
That’s when it was very, very obvious that this is no longer something that may happen.
It was going to happen if I signed the contract.
And that happened with Virgin Records, actually 20 years ago.
So I was still in med school.
BuzzFeed: Was that your “we made it” moment?
I give myself frequent pats on the back, and I go, “Well done, mate!
You’re doing well.”
It’s the day I stop challenging myself.
There’s so much more to be done.
So many more fun adventures to be had.
BuzzFeed:I love that mindset!
Jay Sean:Thank you!
Did the little Indian kid from a small town in London ever think he would get this far?
And I just thought, “This is one of those moments I dreamt of.”
That was soon after I had the number one [on] Billboard, which was another “What?
Who gets the number one Billboard song when there are millions of songs on Earth?”
So those moments, I do say, “Well done, mate.”
And it’s important to have those.
Do you remember the first song you ever wrote?
Jay Sean:Yes, I do.
I used to be a rapper before I was a singer.
I wrote many, many, many, many, many, many raps.
And amazingly, it made its way onto my first album.
So it was nice to have that documented in my discography.
Do you remember the first album you bought?
BuzzFeed:What was your favorite song from the album?
Jay Sean:It’s either “Do It to Me” or “My Destiny.”
“Do It to Me” starts off with that saxophone.
It just immediately transports me back to my childhood.
Which artist was your favorite to collaborate with?
Jay Sean:It’s an impossible question to answer because they’re all very, very different.
Were there collabs where I had more fun with that person on set during the music video?
That whole collaboration was just memorable for so many different reasons.
Are you kidding me right now?”
There are lots of amazing collaborations that I’ve done, also some that never actually got heard.
Lupe Fiasco is one of my favorites; that one never became a single.
I’ve done two songs with Busta Rhymes, four songs with Lil Wayne.
BuzzFeed:What was one of your favorite memories of making “Do You Remember”?
Jay Sean:The way that “Do You Remember” came about itself was just so organic.
I’d love for them to be on this."
It was never that.
I never told my managers or record company, “Hey, I want so-and-so on a record.”
It was a very organic process.
The way that Sean Paul happened was we were at theMTV VMAsin New York.
I came from a small town in London and came over to America.
By then, I had become known in England.
But “obscure town” to somehow ending up on the red carpet for MTV.
Who’s right next to me?
It was all so bizarre and new and kind of fun and fresh.
This is crazy."
He was like, “Yo, yo, what’s your name?”
I was like, “Yo, but you’re Sean Paul, we should do something.”
And that’s exactly how it happened.
Who’s an artist you’re loving right now?
Jay Sean:One of my favorites for a while has been JP Saxe.
His song “25 in Barcelona” is one of my favorite songs in the world.
I just think it is an absolutely beautiful, brilliant song.
What has your experience been like in the industry?
“People are at the shows across generations now.
It’s just really unbelievable.The hardest thing to do is to stand the test of time.
People listen to something, and everything is so disposable now.
It’s like, “Oh, that was great.
What’s next?”
And you’re like, “I dropped it this morning.
How about listen to it a little longer than just one day?”
I’m proud of that.
I very quickly realized that there weren’t other people that looked like me on these stages.
I’m the only one.
I’m killing it.
Yay, yay me.”
The people who dreamt but thought that it would never happen because nobody ever did it."
For the longest time, people have had an image of ethnic minorities because there are stereotypes.
But you know what?
There are billions of us.
We’re the biggest demographic on planet Earth.
We do different things!"
It deserves to be seen.
Tell me about the label youre launching with Virgin Records.
Jared and Jeremy Scott, who both were involved in all my biggest hits.
We all wrote them together.
We produced them together.
There’s a long history there.
Virgin Music Group, of course, is a behemoth; it’s global.
Virgin and Range both believe in our mission, so we’re excited!
What excites you most about this new label?
Now, because of 3AM and what they’re striving to do, I now know.
They’d be like, “It’s Bad Bunny.
Of course, everybody loves Bad Bunny.”
I want that to happen for our people, too.
Bad Bunny can sing and rap in Spanish as well as in English.
My people are singing in Punjabi or Hindi.
That’s what I’m most excited about.
BuzzFeed:I’m excited about that, too!
I personally love K-pop.
I’m excited to hear the songs you help produce and do that for those songs.
Jay Sean:You nailed it!
That’s what I want to see, and what a wonderful moment that would be.
How does it feel to give people the opportunity to thrive in the music industry?
Jay Sean:My dad has this saying,“Light someone’s candle.
“I take after my dad a lot because I like his mentalities and values in life.
It’s about how many changes you made for other people in their lives.
Lighting somebody else’s candle is a beautiful thing to be able to do.
If yours is already shining, let’s lift some other people up, too.
Let’s make a difference in other people’s lives.
What excites you about the future of Asian people in the music industry?
When I was a kid, I was a first-generation, British-born Indian.
My parents are Indian, born in India.
I was British because I was born in England, but also Indian.
That was real stuff.
That’s what I hope to see change in the world.
And yes, people are starting to open their eyes a lot more.
We’re seeing a lot more Asians on TV, South Asians on TV.
We’re seeing them in less stereotypical roles than we used to.
I can play any role.
It doesn’t need to be at a wedding.
My dad does not need to speak like this [a stereotypical Indian accent] all the time.
It might be late in the game, but at least we started.
There’s a show calledHeartbreak High,amazing show, with an Indian main character.
They don’t mention her ethnicity in the show at all, but she is Indian.
Jay Sean:You’re absolutely right.
It was just a girl being a girl in this world.
And I thought that was just so refreshing to see them not play into the stereotypes.
What advice would you give to young creatives now?
Jay Sean:There are always going to be hurdles.
It’s going to be difficult.
The creative industry is hard, especially now, when everybody’s a content creator.
But man, if you love it, you just love it.
It might be a chore to get people to do it, like me.
“You got to do more reels.”
And I’m like, “Why?
I already recorded the song and did the whole thing.”
But no, you’ve got to do it.
That’s the same thing that happened with me and my career.
It wasn’t all smooth sailing.
And I would think, “This is absurd.”
So, love it.
Id love to hear about your new single, “Heartless.”
Jay Sean:“Heartless” is me returning to my R&B bag a bit more.
Before I came to America, I was known for being more of an R&B pop artist.
The coolest part about it is it’s featuring Punjabi on the same track.
It’s me singing in English as well as singing in Punjabi, which I don’t do often.
I’ve only done it two or three times in my life on record.
I think the collab was really nice, and people seem to be loving it.
What are your favorite lyrics on the song?
The bad is just good enough to keep him with her.
So it’s “You only come around and break my heart and say we’re even.
Say it, then you hate it, but you kiss me when you’re leavin'.
But you keep him around anyway, you know?
What was the songwriting and recording process like?
Jay Sean:“Heartless” was a little bit unique because we only had one day.
Ikky had flown in from Toronto, I had flown in from New York.
And sometimes, the chance of a hit happening just in one day, it’s slim.
It was made as a freestyle.
The track did not exist.
What’s your favorite memory from recording?
I did it in LA, New York, and India.
There was no thinking about anything.
People analyze music like that.
They’re like, “This is working.
This BPM seems to be running the charts.”
Like, stop man, feel the music, stop analyzing.
It’s not math, it’s not science.
And these kids had that fire in them.
They were just fearless, trying all sorts of stuff, and I was like, “Yes!
Let’s go, let’s do something new and different.”
So I loved that.
That was a really fun process for me.
Where do you see yourself in the next couple of years?
But hey, I still love performing, and I still love singing.
Will this be my last album?
I don’t know.
All I can say is I’m very, very happy with what I have done so far.
But I’m also extremely excited about passing the baton on to the next generation and seeing them blossom.
Simultaneously, let’s see what happens, let’s see where we end up.
Jay Sean’s newest single, “Heartless” ft. Ikky, is out now!
Note: Responses have been edited for length and clarity.
