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. But the first full, complete song that I wrote where I was singing was a song called “One Minute.” Prior to that, I had always been rapping in the verses and singing only on the hooks, and this is my first complete song where I didn’t rap, and I just sang a whole song. And amazingly, it made its way onto my first album. The first song I ever wrote made its way onto the first album, and that doesn’t usually happen. Most people have to write 100 songs before they’re like, “All right, I think I’m pretty good now.” So it was nice to have that documented in my discography.
Do you remember the first album you bought?
Jay Sean: Yeah, I do remember vividly. He’s amazing, but when you’re a 9-year-old kid and you buy Lionel Richie’s Back to Front as your first album — slightly interesting choice there. Back then, you used to walk into stores like HMV, our big music store, or Tower Records, and they’d have headphones, and you could listen to them. They were showcasing his album, and I thought, “Oh, let me put this on.” And honestly, I fell in love with the melodies, with the feeling, and I think that’s very evident in my music, too. A lot of people say the way that I write songs, some of those more pop songs have a slight soulful, country edge to them. I was like, “I don’t know where the country is coming from, but Lionel Richie is known for that — some of his songs sound country — and I think that shaped my taste in melody, in feeling, and in emotion. So it was meant to be, I was meant to pick up that CD.
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? Sure. For example, me, Sean Paul, and Lil Jon had so much fun on set for Do You Remember. That whole collaboration was just memorable for so many different reasons. But then there are other collabs where I’m like, “Wow, who thought I’d ever do a song with Mary J. Blige?” Mary J. Blige was the queen of R&B and soul, and when she asked us whether we’d like to feature on a song, I was like, “You’re Mary J. Blige. 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. There are so many collabs that we’ve done that wasn’t released, so they all hold a special place in my heart.
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. Never in my career, and I’m pretty lucky to say this, have I done a song and gone, “I wish somebody knew blah, blah, blah artist. 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 always somehow, some way, our paths crossed, and we met each other at an event or somewhere, and we had a mutual appreciation for each other’s music. It was a very organic process. The way that Sean Paul happened was we were at the MTV VMAs in 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? Sean Paul. I was like, “Oh my god, why am I on the same carpet as this guy? It was all so bizarre and new and kind of fun and fresh. So me being me, I just said, “No way, are you standing right here next to me? This is crazy.” He was like, “Yo, yo, what’s your name?” I said, “Jay Sean,” and he was like, “Yo, you got the biggest song in the country right now.” I was like, “Yo, but you’re Sean Paul, we should do something.” And that’s exactly how it happened. It was just a mutual love for each other’s music, and it ended up becoming a big, massive hit.