Just the Right "Temperature": Measuring the Success of Dancehall Icon Sean Paul
A few weeks ago, I presented some of my ongoing research at the the 15th Annual Communication Graduate Caucus (CGC) Conference at Carleton University. Under the theme of “Beyond Boundaries”, the conference sought to explore the ways that communication and media cross social, political, technical, and cultural boundaries. My research project advocates for a move beyond the purely quantitative metrics for assessing success in the music industry and considered the longevity of Sean Paul’s career, his performances, his collaborations, the frequency with which he releases new songs, his lyrical relevance, his social media following and interventions, and his general recognizability. My presentation at the CGC Conference focused on one aspect of this research project - Sean Paul’s collaborations.
Who is sean paul?
Just in case you haven’t heard of Sean Paul - or, more likely can’t remember the title of any of his songs - a good place to start is this 2017 compilation video by Creative Juices Media, that pulls together more than 25 of Sean Paul’s singles.
Sean Paul is a Jamaican singer, rapper and record producer. He started recording music in 1994 and was first featured on the soundtrack for the 1998 film Belly. His first album, Stage One, was released in the year 2000. His second album, Dutty Rock, won a Grammy for Best Reggae Album in 2004. At the same time, Sean Paul was collaborating with Beyoncé (launching her first solo album) on the nine-week Billboard #1 single Baby Boy.
Since then, Sean Paul has released four studio albums - The Trinity, Imperial Blaze, Tomahawk Technique, Full Frequency - and the Extended Play Record Made Love the Prequel. In addition to Beyoncé, he’s also collaborated with Blu Cantrell, Eve, Rihanna, Keri Hilson, Meghan Trainor, Jay Sean, Lil Jon, Arash, David Guetta, Sia, Major Lazer, Oryane, Simple Plan, Magic!, Alexis Jordan, 2 Chainz, Nicki Minaj, Iggy Azalea, The Saturdays, Dua Lipa, and Idris Elba, just to name a few.
Sean Paul performs in Jamaican Patois and has been referred to as a crossover artist - his music falls into and blurs the boundaries of several genres: dancehall, reggaeton, as well as hip-hop, pop, and afrobeat.
what is dancehall music?
Dancehall music originated in the late 1970s and became mainstream in Jamaica in the 1980s and 1990s. In the 2000s, dancehall gained mainstream success worldwide and, more recently, it’s been said to have influenced the work of performers like Rhianna, Justin Bieber, and Drake.
It’s mostly commonly performed in Jamaican Patois - or Jamaican Creole, an English-based creole language with West African influences - and places an emphasis on riddims (the track instrumentals). Stolzoff (2000) states that riddims are “the primary musical building blocks of Jamaican popular songs” (p. 128). He states that, at any given time, ten to fifteen riddims are widely used in dancehall recordings, and one riddim can serve as the basis for several songs.
key concepts and terminology
My study relies on several key concepts:
The Independent “Indie” Performer: The definition that I use does not focus on whether the performer is affiliated with a big, mass media label, but rather on the behaviour, attitudes and perceptions of the performer. Walzer (2017) states that an independent performer’s artistic and aesthetic preferences are inspired by personal choice, individuality and intrinsic values (p.21).
The Creative Entrepreneur: According to Jackson & Olivier (2003), the creative entrepreneur prefers to operate in communities of like-minded people who feed their knowledge infrastructure and ability to generate partnerships. Walzer (2017) equates independent artists with entrepreneurs, noting that irrespective of distribution format, independent artists pool their resources in a deliberate way that results in “an independent community that releases creative music inspiring culturally diverse listening experiences…” (p.21).
In their study of consumption-field driven or hobby-driven entrepreneurship, Daskalopoulou & Skandlis (2019) note that non-financial resources such as cultural and social capital are important to the entrepreneurial journey.
Cultural capital here refers to the collection of symbolic elements such as skills, tastes, posture, clothing, mannerisms, material belongings, credentials, and the like that one acquires through being part of a particular social class or group.
Social capital refers to the strength of one’s social networks and relationships, formed of members who are willing to help each other. It’s thought that these networks perform best when they are diverse.
All of this brings us to…
Sean Paul’s single “Get Busy” (2003) became the first dancehall single to reach number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. Since then, he’s won a Grammy, released 5 more studio albums, one EP and many more singles. He’s collaborated with artists from across geographical borders and across genres. He continues to tour worldwide, performing in solo gigs, collaborative concerts (he recently toured with Shaggy in Australia), and at major festivals. It seems as though Sean Paul has staying power.
This project argues that his staying power goes beyond musical talent and ability, and is routed in the strength of Sean Paul’s social and cultural capital and, ultimately, his standing as a creative entrepreneur. My presentation at Carleton examined the frequency, caliber and reach of Sean Paul’s collaborations as an indicator of his social capital. In so doing, it attempts to answer the question:
What role do community and collaboration as an indicator of social capital play in the success of Sean Paul?
To begin, I started my list with all of the songs from Sean Paul’s 6 studio albums and 1 EP. At first glance, it was evident that this was incomplete as it did not contain many of Sean Paul’s recent releases such as Cheap Thrills with Sia or Rockabye with Clean Bandit and Anne-Marie, nor did it contain older singles such as Summer Paradise with Simple Plan and K’naan or Make It Clap with Busta Rhymes and Spliff Star, all of which were released as singles from the albums of the other artists. In addition, Sean Paul has been featured on several smaller independent ‘riddim’ albums as well as soundtracks and has released his own singles directly through the Internet and online distribution platforms.
As I found during my research, there is no single or authoritative source that lists all of Sean Paul’s songs (I’m in the process of building one here). In addition to his studio albums, the list that I have complied comes from websites including A to Z Lyrics, Billboard.com, YouTube/Sean Paul Vevo as well as Apple Music. I have - to date - located more than 220 songs that Sean Paul has released or contributed to. One of the challenges that I have encountered is that songs - both new and old - are being continually added to some of these sources as they are released, re-released or ‘discovered’.
In order to develop a better understanding of the strength of Sean Paul’s network, I sought to assess the quantity, frequency, and reach of his collaborations. A collaboration was defined as a song or single with more than one musical performer. There are different types of collaborative works:
Duets, trios and the like: Musical compositions co-written or co-produced by more than one performer, usually indicated by the word “and” or an amperstand (“&”)
“Featuring” or “feat.”: Musical compositions of one performer that include a ‘guest appearance’ of another performer
“vs” or “x”: Musical compositions which suggest some kind of contest or competition between performers.
Greater emphasis has been placed on Sean Paul’s singles as singles generally receive more airtime and are more widely known than unpromoted songs from studio albums. In addition, the music industry appears to have moved away from the development and release of full studio albums and now places greater emphasis on singles and EPs.
Ready to hear how it turned out?
My preliminary findings suggest that:
More than half of Sean Paul’s songs are collaborations: 52% of Sean Paul’s songs are collaboration of one form or another.
This number increase for singles: Nearly 80% of Sean Paul’s singles are collaborations.
Sean Paul is increasingly doing more and more collaborations: From 1994-1999, 33% of his songs were collaborations; from 2000-2009, 38% of songs were collaborations; from 2010-2019, 63% of his songs were collaborations; and so far in 2020, 67% of songs have been collaborations.
The ratio of collaborations to solo ventures is more pronounced when it comes to singles:
From 1994-1999, 50% of Sean Paul’s singles were collaborations.
From 2000-2009, 69% of singles (22 out of 32) were collaborations.
From 2010-2019, 73% of singles (62 out of 85) were collaborations.
So far, this year 66% (2 out of 3) of Sean Paul’s singles have been collaborations.
These findings need to take into consideration that there has also been an increase in the number of singles that Sean Paul releases annually and over time. In addition, more and more of his singles are released directly to Apple Music, YouTube, and similar distribution platforms, instead of on studio albums. This shift parallels a trend in the music industry generally away from studio albums and towards singles and smaller EPs.
My preliminary findings suggest that collaborations are an essential component of what makes Sean Paul successful. Nearly 80% of his collaborations have been released as singles, either by himself, by one of his collaborators, or both. Singles garner much attention and publicity in the music industry and are generally more well-known than other songs found on studio albums.
In addition, Sean Paul has collaborated with performers from different genres - dancehall, hip-hop, R&B, dance, punk, EDM - and different countries - Jamaica, Iran, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Canada, the United States, and Ghana (to name but a few) - which has the potential to increase the reach of his music and expose him to new audiences, who may in turn listen to Sean Paul’s other songs.
Finally, Sean Paul has collaborated with some performers more than once, and states himself in media articles that he’s been connected with potential future collaborators by past collaborators. This suggests that Sean Paul is building, contributing to, or at the very least is part of a community of performers that he can leverage in the form of social capital.
This is only the beginning…
The presentation marks the first part of the “Sean Paul Project”. The next steps in my analysis are outlined below:
Assess the impact of Sean Paul’s collaborations and the power of his network: One limitation of my project has been finding a way to consistently measure the success and impact of Sean Paul’s collaborations. For contemporary singles released through online distribution platforms with official music videos such as YouTube, it’s easy to see the number of times that a video has been viewed - although it’s impossible to account for unique viewers. In addition, sometimes multiple performers post the official music video on their YouTube or Vevo channel as well as the record label that releases it. In contrast, for older singles, Billboard.com tracks the Top 100 Hits. Perhaps different metrics should be used for singles released through online distribution platforms and those released offline or prior to the growth of such tools. Ultimately, analyzing the reach of Sean Paul’s collaborations will provide a better understanding of the impact of his collaborations, the strength of his collaborations and, hopefully, a measurement of the return on his social capital.
Undertake a lyrical analysis of Sean Paul’s singles: McFarlane (2013) suggests that entrepreneurship in the music industry is expressed in a series of acts (projects) and that the entrepreneurial process is ongoing, with each act informing how the next is undertaken. I posit that a lyrical analysis of Sean Paul’s singles will demonstrate a continuity and connectivity between songs that is demonstrative of this entrepreneurial process.
Evaluate the strength of Sean Paul’s (sub)cultural capital: Media interviews with Sean Paul suggest that he believes that he has stayed true to his Jamaican and dancehall roots. His continued use of Jamaican Patois in his solo songs and collaborations provides some preliminary support of this statement. Through an analysis of media interviews with Sean Paul, news coverage and critical fan reception of his career and musical endeavours, I will assess the strength of Sean Paul’s (sub)cultural capital in the world of dancehall in Jamaica and beyond.