Shenseea Says She Relates To Bob Marley’s Musical Journey: “I Watched The Movie Twice”

Shenseea says Bob Marley’s musical journey reminds her of herself, so much so that she’s watched the recently released ‘Bob Marley: One Love’ biopic twice. 

During an interview on Hot 97’s Ebro in the Morning, Shenseea discussed her new album, Never Gets Late Here, and the challenges she faced with her evolving musical style. She spoke with hosts Ebro Darden, Peter Rosenberg, and Laura Stylez about her determination to expand her sound beyond her Dancehall roots despite facing criticism from some of her core fans.

“I personally felt like I had to do something different to capture different people, and it worked, but for the core it was like ‘oh you’re leaving us too long,’” she explained, addressing the criticism. She emphasized the difficulty of balancing her dancehall style with her desire to reach a broader audience. 

“You know so it’s kind of hard just doing both but we just have to really find the balance I think I was so too focused on bringing my people over by showcasing what we do in this new audience because I was still performing like a lot of my dancehall songs when I do Rollin Loud, Summer Jam you know I was doing both but I think I was doing one more than the other,” she said. “I think that I would have to like mix it up with some English with Jamaicans is like nah it’s a little bit too proper but it’s what we have to do. We still have to do it.”

Added Shenseea: “Bob Marley did it, why you think he’s so big? Because we can we can digest the music, people all around can digest what he’s saying. you know but I guess just not put too much English so it still feels like real core authentic. It’s just finding the right balance.”

Shenseea ‘Never Gets Late Here’ album cover

When Ebro noted that even Bob Marley ‘caught flak’ during his career, Shenseea agreed and shared her personal connection to Marley’s story.  “Listen, I watched Bob Marley movie twice because it reminds me of myself so much,” she said.“That’s why I’m saying like I can’t take it too personal because I am not the first and I will not be the last to go through it. You have to go through it.”

The Bob Marley: One Love biopic, promoted with the tagline “first he changed music then he changed the world” premiered in Jamaica in January 2024 and then had a wider release in the United States by Paramount Pictures on Valentine’s Day.  The film did quite well, raking over $177 million worldwide, on a reported budget of around $70 million.  Shenseea, who attended the LA premiere of the film, was also featured on the deluxe version of the Bob Marley: One Love – Music Inspired By The Film album, on which she covered the iconic song, No Woman, No Cry.

Shenseea and Ziggy Marley attend the Los Angeles Premiere Of Paramount Pictures “Bob Marley: One Love” at Regency Village Theatre in Los Angeles, California (Photo: FilmMagic)

In 2022, with the rollout of her debut album, Alpha, some longtime fans of Shenseea, particularly those from Jamaica and the Caribbean, perceived a shift in her music away from its Dancehall foundation towards pop and hip-hop sounds. Undeterred, Shenseea remained resolute in her pursuit of a global audience, a decision that strained her relationship with her core fanbase. “If you’re no longer a fan, I’m ok with losing you 🙏🏽 I started this journey ON MY OWN. I hope I inspire others to follow their dreams NO MATTER WHAT,” she wrote at the time.

During her recent conversation with Hot 97, Ebro pointed out that strong criticism from core fans was perhaps “a dysfunctional way of saying I miss you and I love you and I don’t want to lose you because you mean a lot.”

He added: “And some people don’t know how to say it that way, so it comes out like yo ‘you ******* switching up,’ or yo ‘you sold out.’” 

Shenseea responded, “I hate to hear that one man.”

She related this to other artists, mentioning, “I did see them doing it to [UK rapper] Central Cee. I was under his comments and he was dropping like some nice love tunes for the girls and we’re like ‘we don’t want this’ I’m like it sounds good. You don’t have to be street.”

“So I’m like okay so this is just a thing. It really is you know that artists have to go through and I think every great artist go through it.  The Weeknd went through it Every artist.  Even Nikki, Nikki went through it too.”

The singer stressed the importance of resilience, saying, “As an artist you just have to be strong enough to go through the fire because what I’ve seen they’re going to not be sure about you when you come on the scene, you’re going to prove yourself they’re going to love you, they’re going to hate you afterwards but if you can get through the hate they’re going to love you forever. That’s what I’ve noticed.”

Ebro commended Shenseea for her current attitude towards her fans. 

“I think it’s commendable that you care enough about who you represent what you represent to even say ‘I heard you, I see you, I care about you, and I’m going to make sure that I do things the right way on your behalf,’” he said. “Not everybody does that by the way.  We’ve seen artists get mad defensive you know go to war with their fan base, you know….. so I just want to want to salute you for how you’re handling it,” he added.