Chinsea Linda Lee (born 1 October 1996), known professionally as Shenseea (), is a Jamaican

dancehall Dancehall is a genre of Jamaican popular music that originated in the late 1970s. Initially, dancehall was a more sparse version of reggae than the roots reggae, roots style, which had dominated much of the 1970s.Barrow, Steve & Dalton, Peter (2 ...

singer-songwriter and dancer. She is best known for her guest appearance alongside

Roddy Ricch Rodrick Wayne Moore Jr. (born October 22, 1998), known professionally as Roddy Ricch, is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. Born and raised in Compton, California, Moore rose to fame in 2018 following the release of his song "Die Young ...

Kanye West Ye ( ; born Kanye Omari West ; June 8, 1977) is an American rapper, singer and record producer. One of the most prominent figures in hip-hop, he is known for his varying musical style and polarizing cultural and political commentary. After ...

's 2021 song "

Pure Souls "Pure Souls" is a song by American rapper Kanye West from his tenth studio album, ''Donda'' (2021). The song features uncredited vocals from fellow American rapper Roddy Ricch and Jamaican singer Shenseea. The song peaked at No. 52 on the Billboa ...

," which entered the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Through its parent album ''

Donda ''Donda'' is the tenth studio album by American rapper Kanye West. It was released by GOOD Music and Def Jam Recordings on August 29, 2021. The album features a broad range of guest performances from artists, including The Weeknd, Jay-Z, Maril ...

'', she was nominated as a featured artist for Album of the Year at the

64th Annual Grammy Awards The 64th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony was held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on April 3, 2022. It recognized the best recordings, compositions, and artists of the eligibility year, running from September 1, 2020, to September 30, ...

. Shenseea signed with

Interscope Records Interscope Records is an American record label based in Santa Monica, California, owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture ...

to release her debut studio album ''

Alpha Alpha (uppercase , lowercase ) is the first letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of one. Alpha is derived from the Phoenician letter ''aleph'' , whose name comes from the West Semitic word for ' ...

'' (2022), which peaked at number two on the

Top Reggae Albums The ''Billboard'' charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in the United States and elsewhere. The results are published in ''Billboard'' magazine. ''Billboard'' biz, the online extension of the ''Billboard'' charts, p ...

chart. Her second album, ''

Never Gets Late Here ''Never Gets Late Here'' is the second studio album by Jamaican singer Shenseea. It was released through Rich Immigrants and Interscope Records on 24 May 2024. The album contains guest appearances from Coi Leray, Masicka, Rvssian, Di Genius, Wiz ...

'' (2024) was nominated for the

Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album The Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album is an award presented at the Grammy Awards for quality works in the reggae genre. Originally called the Grammy Award for Best Reggae Recording, the honor was presented to artists for eligible songs or albums. ...

. Her accolades include two

MOBO Awards The MOBO Awards (Music of Black Origin, also known as the MOBOs) are an annual British music award presentation honouring achievements in " music of black origin", including hip hop, grime, UK Drill, R&B, soul, reggae, jazz, gospel, and Ba ...

Early life and education

Shenseea was born in Jamaica to a Jamaican mother and a Korean father, from whom she is estranged. She graduated from

Mona High School Mona High School is a high school in Saint Andrew Parish, Jamaica. In 2015 the school reportedly had about 1,200 students, and in 2018, the school self-reported that it had 1,460 students. Five students and a teacher were injured in an explosion i ...

and attended Excelsior Community College (Exed) in Kingston, where she studied Entertainment Management before dropping out due to financial difficulties. She aspired to become a singer at a young age.

Career

After spending a few years as an aspiring artist, Shenseea was signed by the music label Rockstar. She gained recognition after remixing the well-known

Vybz Kartel Adidja Azim Palmer (born 7 January 1976), better known as Vybz Kartel, is a Jamaican dancehall Toasting (Jamaican music), deejay. Among his various nicknames, he is referred to as Worl' Boss, Teacha and King of Dancehall. As summarized by ''Roll ...

's song "Loodi" and performing on a side stage at

Reggae Sumfest Reggae Sumfest is the largest music festival in Jamaica and the Caribbean, taking place each year in mid-July in Montego Bay.Johnson, Richard (2014)All Set for Sumfest, '' Jamaica Observer'', 8 July 2014. Retrieved 8 July 2014 Sumfest started in 1 ...

in 2015. In 2017, she performed on Reggae Sumfest's main stage. As her notoriety grew, she toured internationally. In 2016, she won "Young Hot and Hype Artist" at the Youth View Awards; Break Out Celebrity of 2016, and Collaboration of The Year for her song "Loodi" with

. In addition to dancehall music she has shown skills in freestyling as a rapper. She teamed up with

Sean Paul Sean Paul Ryan Francis Henriques (born 9 January 1973) is a Jamaican dancehall musician. Paul's first album, ''Stage One'', was released in 2000. He gained international fame with his second album, ''Dutty Rock'', in 2002. Its single "Get Busy ...

for the 2017 single "Rolling" and on the leg of his 2017 European tour. In 2018, she was featured on

Christina Aguilera Christina María Aguilera ( , ; born December 18, 1980) is an American singer-songwriter, actress and television personality. Recognized as Cultural impact of Christina Aguilera, an influential figure in music and having received Public imag ...

's album ''

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'', on the song "Right Moves". Vybz Kartel and Shenseea then collaborated on the song "Secret (Remix)" in October 2018. In 2019, she signed with

Interscope Interscope Records is an American record label based in Santa Monica, California, owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture ...

records and released the hip-hop/dancehall track "Blessed" featuring American artist

Tyga Micheal Ray StevensonMicheal Ray Stevenson

, which accumulated over 58 million views on YouTube by April 2022. In January 2020, she collaborated with Jamaican record producer

Rvssian Tarik Johnston (born 12 April 1988), commonly known as Rvssian and previously as Russian (stylized in all caps), is a Jamaican record producer, singer, and entrepreneur. He is the founder of Head Concussion, a music production company situate ...

on a single titled "IDKW" which also featured American rappers

Swae Lee Khalif Malik Ibn Shaman Brown (born June 7, 1993), known professionally as Swae Lee, is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. Known for his wide vocal range and genre-bending, Lee first saw mainstream recognition as one half of the Mississ ...

and

Young Thug Jeffery Lamar Williams II (born August 16, 1991), known professionally as Young Thug, is an American rapper. Known for his eccentric vocal style and fashion, he is considered an influential figure in modern hip hop music, hip hop and trap music ...

. That same year, Shenseea appeared on Masego's album ''

Studying Abroad Learning is the process of acquiring new understanding, knowledge, behaviors, skills, values, attitudes, and preferences. The ability to learn is possessed by humans, non-human animals, and some machines; there is also evidence for some kind ...

'', and

Major Lazer Major Lazer is an American electronic dance music and DJ trio, which includes record producer Diplo, and DJs Walshy Fire and Ape Drums. They were founded in 2008 by Diplo and Switch, with Switch leaving after three years in 2011. He was the ...

's ''

Music Is the Weapon ''Music Is the Weapon'' is the fourth studio album by American electronic band Major Lazer, released on October 23, 2020, via Mad Decent. It is Major lazer's first studio album in five years since '' Peace Is the Mission'' (2015). First annou ...

''. Released on 28 August 2020 as an album track and later on 23 October as a single, her collaboration with

Tarrus Riley Omar "Tarrus" Riley, Order of Distinction, CD (born April 26, 1979, Bronx, New York (state), New York, United States) is a Jamaican-American reggae singer and member of the Rastafari movement.Kenner, Rob (21 August 2009"Reggae Singer With a Leg ...

and

"Lighter" proved to be a huge success in her native country Jamaica and the rest of the Caribbean after a singing challenge started by Shenseea went viral becoming one of her most successful singles and garnering over 100 million views on YouTube. In 2021, Shenseea collaborated with

on his album ''

'', appearing on the songs "

" with

and "

Ok Ok pt 2 ''OK'' (), with spelling variations including ''okay'', ''okeh'', ''O.K.'' and many others, is an English word (originating in American English) denoting approval, acceptance, agreement, assent, acknowledgment, or a sign of indifference. ''OK ...

" with Rooga. She has also appeared onstage during West's Chicago event for ''Donda''. For her collaborations on West's album, Shenseea received an Album of the Year nomination, as a featured artist, at the 2022

64th Grammy Awards The 64th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony was held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on April 3, 2022. It recognized the best recordings, compositions, and artists of the eligibility year, running from September 1, 2020, to September 30, ...

, marking her first Grammy nomination. In 2021, Shenseea also signed with Wassim "Sal" Slaiby, aka Salxo, who also manages

the Weeknd Abel Makkonen Tesfaye (; born February 16, 1990), known professionally as the Weeknd, is a Canadian singer-songwriter, record producer, and actor. He is best known for adding Pop music, pop, electronic music, electronic and hip-hop stylings ...

and

Doja Cat Amala Ratna Zandile Dlamini (born October 21, 1995), known professionally as Doja Cat (), is an American rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer. Born and raised in Los Angeles, California, she began making and releasing music on SoundCl ...

. She won Best Reggae Act at the 2021

. In 2022, Shenseea's 2018 song "Pon Mi" went viral on the video sharing platform

TikTok TikTok, known in mainland China and Hong Kong as Douyin (), is a social media and Short-form content, short-form online video platform owned by Chinese Internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which may range in duration f ...

. Shenseea was also nominated for a

MTV Music Video Award The MTV Video Music Awards (commonly abbreviated as the VMAs) is an award show presented by the cable channel MTV to honor the best in the music video medium. Originally conceived as an alternative to the Grammy Awards (in the video category) ...

in 2022, and also presented at the

2023 MTV Video Music Awards The 2023 MTV Video Music Awards were held at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, Newark, New Jersey on September 12, 2023. The show was hosted by Nicki Minaj, marking her second consecutive year in the role. This was the first time the ...

the following year. Later in 2023, she performed at the 22nd Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in April, and was also part of the Tropical Takeover Tour with

and

Myke Towers Michael Anthony Torres Monge (born January 15, 1994), known professionally as Myke Towers, is a Puerto Rican rapper and singer. He was recognized as New Artist of the Year by the ''Billboard'' Latin Music Awards in 2021 and has been nominated ...

. The same year she received an

NAACP Image Award The NAACP Image Awards is an annual awards ceremony presented by the U.S.-based National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) to honor outstanding performances in film, television, theatre, music, and literature. The over 40 ...

for Outstanding International Song for her work on the song "Diana" by

Fireboy DML Adedamola Oyinlola Adefolahan (born 5 February 1996), known professionally as Fireboy DML, is a Nigerian singer and songwriter. In 2018, he signed a record deal with YBNL Nation, a record label founded by rapper Olamide. His debut studio album, ...

. In late 2023, Shenseea had made a work on her song " Waistline" and on 26 January 2024 released "Hit and Run" featuring Masicka and

Di Genius Stephen McGregor, known professionally as Di Genius, is a Jamaican record producer, singer, and songwriter. Di Genius comes from a musical family—his father is legendary veteran reggae artist Freddie McGregor and his siblings, Daniel "Chino" ...

. "Hit and Run" emerged as one of Shenseea's biggest hits in her native country Jamaica as well as multiple other countries in the Caribbean with the music video garnering over 60 million views on YouTube. Shenseea's album ''Never Gets Late Here'' received a 2025 Grammy Awards nomination for Best Reggae Album.

Endorsements

Alongside her singing career, she holds multiple corporate sponsorship deals with companies such as Telecom, Firm Flow, Boom and a Pepsi-Cola JA sponsorship.

Personal life

Shenseea has a son and lives in both Jamaica and the United States. She is known for her contributions to the dancehall genre and her role in bringing it to a wider audience.

Discography

Studio albums

Singles

As lead artist

As featured artist

Promotional singles

Other charted songs

Awards and nominations

Notes

References

{{Authority control 1996 births Living people Jamaican dancehall musicians Jamaican people of Korean descent Jamaican reggae singers Singers from Kingston, Jamaica 21st-century Jamaican women musicians