Shenseea

Lee was born in Mandeville to a Jamaican mother and a South Korean father, from whom she is estranged.^[2] She graduated from Mona High School and attended Excelsior Community College (Exed) in Kingston, where she studied Entertainment Management before dropping out due to financial difficulties.^[3] She aspired to become a singer at a young age.^[4]

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's song "Loodi" and performing on a side stage at Reggae Sumfest in 2015. In 2017, she performed on Reggae Sumfest's main stage. As her notoriety grew, she toured internationally.^[5] 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 Vybz Kartel.^[5] In addition to dancehall music she has shown skills in freestyling as a rapper.^[6] She teamed up with Sean Paul for the 2017 single "Rolling"^[7] and on the leg of his 2017 European tour.^[8]

In 2018, she was featured on Christina Aguilera's album Liberation, on the song "Right Moves".^[9] Vybz Kartel and Shenseea then collaborated on the song "Secret (Remix)" in October 2018.^{[citation needed]}

In 2019, she signed with Interscope records and released the hip-hop/dancehall track "Blessed" featuring American artist Tyga, which accumulated over 58 million views on YouTube by April 2022.^[10] In January 2020, she collaborated with Jamaican record producer Rvssian on a single titled "IDKW" which also featured American rappers Swae Lee and Young Thug.^[11] That same year, Shenseea appeared on Masego's album Studying Abroad, and Major Lazer's Music Is the Weapon.^[12] Released on 28 August 2020 as an album track and later on 23 October as a single, her collaboration with Tarrus Riley and Rvssian "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.^{[13][14][15][16]}

In 2021, Shenseea collaborated with Kanye West on his album Donda, appearing on the songs "Pure Souls" with Roddy Ricch and "Ok Ok pt 2" 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, marking her first Grammy nomination.^[12][17] In 2021, Shenseea also signed with Wassim "Sal" Slaiby, aka Salxo, who also manages the Weeknd and Doja Cat.^[12][17] She won Best Reggae Act at the 2021 MOBO Awards.^[18]

In 2022, Shenseea's 2018 song "Pon Mi" went viral on the video sharing platform TikTok.^[19][20] Shenseea was also nominated for a MTV Music Video Award in 2022, and also presented at the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards the following year.^[21] Later in 2023, she performed at the 22nd Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in April,^[22] and was also part of the Tropical Takeover Tour with Sean Paul and Myke Towers.^[23] The same year she received an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding International Song for her work on the song "Diana" by Fireboy DML. 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.^[24] "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.^{[25][26][27][28]}

Shenseea's album Never Gets Late Here received a 2025 Grammy Awards nomination for Best Reggae Album.^[29]

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.^[33][34]