Shenseea Opens Up About Depression And Finding Herself Again

Jamaican artist Shenseea recently opened up about her personal struggles after the release of her major-label debut, Alpha, including battling depression, anxiety, and intense pressure to meet industry expectations.

“I was feeling all that,” she confessed in a new interview with NPR, “and I’m like, ‘I’m not gonna crack doing this. It doesn’t make any sense.’ I’m the type of person I believe in true happiness for life. That is my end goal, true happiness and financial freedom. And if I’m not getting happiness with financial freedom, I don’t want it. I’m good with just having a little as long as I’m happy, you know?”

The Blessed singer further elaborated on her despair while creating her second album, Never Gets Late Here.  “Last year, I was completely in depression,” she revealed. “I felt very snappy, very miserable, almost anything that came around that was right for me, it didn’t feel right because of the mind state I was in.”

Shenseea described feeling “mentally blocked” to the point where she “stopped writing everything.”  This creative paralysis was further compounded by criticism from some fans who felt her music had become ‘too commercial’ and had strayed from her Dancehall roots.

“I didn’t really understand it,” she said of the backlash.   “I was wondering, ‘Why are people mad about going higher?’ If anything, people should love to see the growth and want to be a part of the journey, if they were there from before, too. So I never understand the mindset, even up until now. I can’t wrap my head around it, and I won’t drive myself crazy, because I’m not the first artist that [fans] did it to, and I’m definitely not going to be the last.”

She continued:  “If somebody else can come and change it, you know, kudos to them. But if it’s gonna take too much of me to do so, I’m not gonna drive myself off the edge trying to do that. You know, Jesus already did that for all of us. I’m not gonna go to that extent of killing myself on a certain level, mentally, to even please the world.”

Shenseea, who migrated to the US after introducing her new management in 2021, credits her recovery to reconnecting with her family and core team.

“….I started coming back around myself last year December. At the end of the year, I was like, ‘I can’t do this anymore. I got to go back to whatever it is that makes me happy,’” she said.

“I almost lost myself to the point where I had to find myself again. And doing that, it really helped me to be around the people who I came up with, like my core team, and going back to my roots. My country, my family, that really kept me in tune to get me back to myself. So yeah, that won’t ever happen again.”

She emphasized the importance of maintaining one’s authenticity and mental well-being in the face of industry pressures.

“I will never be one of those people who lose their self to gain fame,” she asserted. “I’ve seen it way too much, and I think I was almost in that position just by going commercial, where I was around many different types of people, and I finally understood what it felt like to be like, to be like, ‘OK, this is what you have to give up your values and your principles to gain this.’ And I was like, ‘No, I can’t do that.’”

The singer recently wrapped up her 12-city ‘Never Gets Late Here’ North American tour.

“Completed my first NA successful headline tour, without any cancellations, injuries or sickness🎊 Thank God 🙏🏽To all my opening acts, guest artistes, amazing dancers, DJs, engineers, designers, photographers, Managers and Agents THANK YOU. I LOVE YOU guys soooo much for making the journey so smooth, all while being my teachers and being teachable,” she wrote on Instagram on Thursday.

Shenseea, who will celebrate her 28th birthday on October 1, has a “birthday festival” planned for September 27 in Plantation Cove, Jamaica.  The event promises to be a star-studded affair with “guest appearances by friends from all around the world.”