SHEENWRKS ‘Magic’
Singer taps into ‘people who have soul’
Published:Sunday | October 31, 2021 | 12:09 AMSade Gardner - Staff Reporter
The misty haze of Holywell surrounds soul singer SHEENWRKS as he belts falsettos for his Afroed lady love in the music video for his latest release, Magic.
The track, produced by Noden (Mixtapesoul), tells the heart-tugging tale of being spellbound by new love. The singer, who also goes by SHEEN, co-wrote Magic with rapper/songwriter Rude Jerms, based on their own experiences with love.
“I want to be fully transparent and be me with my music,” SHEEN told The Sunday Gleaner. “When you hear Magic you should go, ‘Wow, this sounds real’ or ‘It sounds like him in love’… I just want to bring positive, good energy, love and enlightenment in my music and so far the feedback has been really good.”
The single premiered last April, but SHEEN didn’t get to execute his desired promotion because of the pandemic. Thanks to life’s unpredictability and good friends, it earned video treatment in August.
“I linked up with a few friends of mine, industry stylist Shampagnex and video director DJuvii, and I wanted to do a live acoustic performance of the song with my other song Love Triangle,” he explained. “We got somewhere in Red Hills to shoot and I wanted to collaborate with somebody to do the live set, but that person ended up flying out and the concept got cancelled. One of my friends said, ‘Why don’t we just do a video for one of the songs?’ and we just end up doing it. Everything happened so smoothly, it was unbelievable. I give thanks for good friends; they are the ones who really helped it to happen, so I wouldn’t take all the praises.”
NO NEWCOMER
At 31 years old, SHEEN has spent his life heavily involved with music. Growing up in Mandeville, Manchester, with his grandparents, he was surrounded by gospel, soul and classical music and taught himself how to play the recorder by ear. The latter skill later impressed a music tutor at the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts when he visited the campus for Career Day, while attending Cross Keys High School. The tutor encouraged him to enrol in a music theory programm.
“I ended up getting a scholarship through the Red Stripe Diageo Learning for Life where I got to learn how to play the piano a bit, theory wise, and I also did vocal performance,” he shared.
From there, he earned an internship opportunity at Sharon Burke’s Solid Agency where he learnt more about the music business through the mentorship of acts like Shaggy, Agent Sasco and Wayne Marshall. He also got into production and has worked with the likes of Salim Stines, Zac Jone$, Projexx, Anju Blaxx, Big 12 Records, Payday Music Group and Majah Label Music Group. He has also provided supporting vocals for artistes like Sean Paul, Mavado, Dexta Daps, Konshens, I-Octane, Agent Sasco and Roe Summerz.
SHEEN commenced his recording career as Ashani, forming part of Runkus & The Old Skl Bond, which went on a European tour in 2017. The gig spanned two years and he decided to focus on a solo career afterwards, using SHEEN, a play on his middle name Ashene, as his new moniker.
SHEEN’s catalogue, which includes Spotlight, Lot to Lose and So Amazing, is primarily soul music with exceptions like the dub number, Herb Call, featuring Roe Summerz. His style of music hasn’t been warmly welcomed by some people, with SHEEN recalling, “When I started music, people said my sound wasn’t going to work in Jamaica and I was like, ‘How do you know it’s Jamaica I’m relating to?’”
TIMELESS MUSIC
His intended audience is “people who have a soul. My music connects with the soul and I’m making timeless music. I want the music I’m doing overall to reach a wide range of people, not just Jamaica because it’s relatable globally”.
Having gained behind-the-scenes knowledge of the inner workings of the music business, SHEEN is focused on building his brand as a recording artiste.
“I’m working with a few people I’d consider team players who are much more experienced than me in terms of knowing certain things like marketing, which helps,” he said. “I’m working on as much music to build a catalogue because yuh haffi have the content, so I try my best to work on everything that needs to be there so when the right time comes, there’s no mishap. You have to have financial support to maintain and develop yourself as an artiste, so that’s in my plans as well.”