Sky’s the limit for Sean ‘Contractor’ Edwards - Producer explores dance music genre in ‘I’m a star’
Published:Friday | November 13, 2020 | 12:13 AMStephanie Lyew/Gleaner Writer
Coming off the success of the compilation albums Tropical House Cruises To Jamaica in 2018, and Tropical House Cruises to Jamaica: The Reggae Collector’s Edition this year, Sean ‘Contractor’ Edwards is setting even higher standards as he charts into new territory in his career as a music producer.
“For the first time in my career, I am venturing out into the dance music genre which is different for me,” Contractor told The Gleaner.
The music producer has collaborated with an eclectic array of artistes from reggae, Nature Ellis, Capleton and Sizzla, to dancehall and Afrobeats with Tommy Lee Sparta, Elephant Man and Kiprich among others, but says the first time he was introduced to the dance music genre was in 2005, on his first trip to the United Kingdom.
He said, “I was surprised first by the quality and standard of the music played popularly on BBC Radio 1, which my girlfriend at the time tuned into to listen to dance music. She was so into it, and I realised it reached a wide audience, people in their 20s, 30s and even 40s.”
Now, 15 years later, Contractor finds himself involved in a dance remix which involves New York-born rapper Nasir Willocks, known popularly as Locx ‘Mr Upstate’ and UK-based recording artiste and producer Jethro ‘Alonestar’ Sheeran, who is the cousin and long-time mentor of one of the world’s best-selling pop artistes, Ed Sheeran.
The project is a remix of two separate tracks Da Baby’s I’m a Star, and Ed Sheeran’s Raise ‘Em Up, shared Contractor, “so, to be clear, it’s not a new song by either of the artistes”.
“We decided to go with the title I’m a Star (Dance Remix) based on the message we’re sending, but because Locx owns the master of the Da Baby song and Jethro owns the master of the Ed Sheeran song based on how the music is registered, the artistes are now named as featured on the track,” he explained.
That message, says Contractor, who is the executive producer for the project, is heavily weighted towards uplifting spirits, which is what the genre is widely known for. The I’m a Star (Dance Remix) stands out with four very distinct artistic styles weaved together to create one unique musical architecture, but also as a track which employs the skills of several industry professionals, including popular Jamaican audio engineer Dohnzey Grindley of Sasaine Music Records and Ugandan beat maker Herbert Skillz.
The track hit all major streaming platforms today and is distributed by AWAL under the Kobalt Music Group in the UK.
“It took a lot of mental power put together and communication, which if any impression Jethro (Alonestar) has made on me, is to run through the possibilities, good or bad as a team. I wouldn’t say I learnt that from him, but we have exercised that and I think that one of [the] things we exhibit towards each other is respect, to keep it high, and it adds to the energy of the projects we’ve worked on,” he said.
HIGH HOPES
“The sky’s the limit with this dance remix track, and the expectation is that the streaming numbers will be very high and that it will make a lot of playlists that reggae and dancehall, throughout my career, don’t go to because the numbers will be a reflection of the stars on the track.”
Speaking on their partnership, Alonestar told The Gleaner, “After the success of not one, but two Billboard-charting albums, Contractor and I came together with the idea to put together a super-powered remix, and the songs selected [to] fit in that we could put out this dance hit to hear ourselves with no restrictions or creative control from any major labels.”
The Bristol-born and raised artiste and producer said while the lover’s rock style of reggae was more popular while he was growing up, he was keen on more hardcore dancehall such as Mavado. Anticipating the success of the remix, he says music fans can count on more collaborations with him and Jamaican entertainers like Sizzla and Capleton.
“ I’m a Star is a sure hit because we choose elements that work, and we work everything from the ground up. We all have incredible success with [a] combined number of streams of over 10 million that major labels have not managed to do yet,” he said.
Locx also added that, “The song represents everyone feeling like a star inside; motivating people to love themselves and that they have an inner star that shines bright, so go on and focus on dreams to bring them to reality. The idea was a wonderful idea to team up with Alonestar and make it bigger than life, and it was a pleasure to work with the team.”