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Before Hanumankind started making waves on the Billboard Hot 100 with his Kalmi-assisted “Big Dawgs” (No. 23), Jay Sean was making history for South Asian artists on Billboard’s marquee singles chart.
In 2009, Jay Sean (born Kamaljit Singh Jhooti) topped the Hot 100 with “Down,” his Lil Wayne-assisted debut single. The achievement helped Sean become the very first South Asian artist to top the Hot 100 and helped kick off a fruitful pop career that includes Hot 100 hits like “Do You Remember” (No. 10, with Sean Paul and Lil Jon), “2012” (No. 31, with Nicki Minaj) and “Hit the Lights” (No. 18, with Lil Wayne).
15 years later, Jay Sean is back with a new album and an exciting new venture that he detailed for Billboard staff writer Kyle Denis on the latest edition of Billboard News.
“First of all, I’m South Asian. A lot of people still don’t know that. When I came here from England, people were speaking to me in Spanish a lot because they thought I was Puerto Rican or Dominican — I had the shaved head then,” Sean quips. “[They didn’t realize I was] South Asian, and the first-ever South Asian in history to have had a No. 1 Billboard record.”
The genre-melding singer continues, “When I was coming up and telling people I wanted to do music, they were like ‘Are you stupid? Look around you bro, do you see anyone like you onstage with Justin Timberlake and Usher? There’s no brown dude.’ So, I took it upon myself to create a platform for brown people. We’re the largest demographic [on] planet Earth, why aren’t we taking the scene over? That’s why I set up 3AM, so I can provide that structure for us.”
Co-founded by Sean, The Heavy Group’s Jeremy Skaller and Range Media’s Jared Cotter, 3AM Entertainment aims to support artists from the South Asian diaspora as they work to break through global music markets. The record label will operate under Virginia Media, with big releases from both Sean and Bridgerton star Nicola Coughlan already available.
Over the summer (June 28), the actress dropped “Shoes… More Shoes,” a campy novelty track produced by New York DJ Ellis Miah. Proceeds for the song were donated to two LGBTQIA+ charities: Not A Phase and the Trevor Project.
Sean has already launched two singles under 3AM previewing his forthcoming new album. “Heartless,” which features Punjabi hitmaker Ikky, is a guitar-inflected trap&B banger, while the Jai Dhir-featuring “Piche Piche” effortlessly blends Punjabi, Hindi and English into a smoldering R&B groove. The latter track also features a team of A-listers behind the scenes; it was co-written by two-time Grammy-nominated R&B maestro Eric Bellinger and co-produced by Sean Cook, one of the minds behind Shaboozey‘s historic smash “A Bar Song (Tipsy).” Both “Heartless” and “Piche Piche” will appear on Last Call, Sean’s forthcoming new album, which is due in 2025.
“When I did songs like ‘Piche Piche’ and ‘Heartless,’ it was very easy for me to do that because I live and breathe that,” he explains. “I speak Punjabi, I can sing in Punjabi, I can also rap and sing in English, it’s all very natural to me. To work with Eric TKTK — who’s obviously such an OG in the game — I’ve got so much respect and love for him. It was just great to work with an R&B legend like that. And Sean Cook is my boy. The whole album is basically me and Sean.”
Although he’s putting out a major project of his own next year, Sean remains focused on uplifting and highlighting rising South Asian artists and making sure that the door he cracked ajar with “Down” remains open.
“I hope that I can look back and say all the years that I dreamt of this happening have finally come true,” he muses.
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Jay Sean released “Down” 15 years ago, and the singer reflects on what it took for him to reach that level of success in the American market as a South Asian singer. He shares how he created “Piche Piche,” his aim for South Asian representation with his new label, 3AM, the spread and appreciation of Punjabi music, his new album in the works and more!
Kyle Denis: 2024 marks the 15 year anniversary of “Down.” Do you have a favorite memory or performance attached to the song?
Jay Sean:Man, first of all, that’s wild, isn’t it?
Crazy.
And it’s one of those songs that obviously it changed my life, but I think has been a part of a lot of my fans’ journey. It’s just like it’s ingrained in their cells at this point. And I think, you know, when I think back to the performances of that song, one of the most epic ones must have … it was probably Madison Square Garden, first time I did it. So I did, I did MSG two or three times, but the first time ever for a Brit from a small town in England called Hounslow, to be gracing that stage, it’s just wild. And then to have 20,000 New Yorkers sing back every word to you. You know, I mean, I think that was something that I’ll always remember.
Absolutely. You know, I remember listening and dancing to “Down” when I was a kid, and still doing that today, so, like, 15 years later, how do you assess the impact of such an iconic song?
I could delve deep here about …
Please do, please do!
But I think again, a song has the ability to take you back in time, you know exactly where you are. Bet you could remember where you were when you were listening to all of that.
Keep watching for more!