It’s been two-plus years since Sean Kingston was injured in a near-fatal jet-ski accident. But the 23-year-old singer is back, and with a fresh crop of tunes on his brand-new album, Back 2 Life, he’s ready to party.
The album, out Tuesday (September 10), is his first since 2009’s Tomorrow and reflects who the “Eenie Meenie” singer is now: grown up and turnt up.
That fresh, new attitude is captured on his latest single, the Wale-assisted “Seasonal Love.” “It’s like at the end of the day, most of the songs [on the album], I write off of experiences and situations I’ve been through,” he told MTV News. “Who doesn’t wish to have love, meet a girl or meet a guy, and just have that type of [relationship] that can last through different seasons?”
While he wanted to capture that sentiment, Kingston also made sure he made it club-ready, sampling Juicy J’s inescapable “Bandz a Make Her Dance.” He added, “And then to the pre-hook, that’s where I was feeling the strip-club vibe, where I was feeling ‘Bandz a Make Her Dance,’ throw a little bit of Juicy J in there.”
And while it’s Wale who is on the final version of the track, Kingston revealed that he did try to get the Three Six Mafia MC on the single. “I’m not sure [if Juicy has heard the song] but Juicy J is also a friend of mine and I was originally going to put him on the song, but the timing [didn’t work]. So Wale’s my big bro so… but Juicy J, I love Juicy. He’s amazing.”
He continued, “Wale’s also my friend. He’s Nigerian. He’s been there. I knew him for like a year and a half. He’s cool. Anytime I hit him up, he hit me right back. So I figured he would sound good. There’s not too much people that sounds good on a record like that. I figure his voice would add something to it.”
Kingston also dropped the video for the track on Tuesday (September 10), the same day Back 2 Life hit retailers. In it, the Miami-born singer heads to the strip club and falls for a lady. He hopes the video shows fans he’s not the same kid that dropped “Beautiful Girls” back in 2007.
“I’m excited … everything has been good. People, like, really love the video. People been commenting about it. For me, it was really, I just wanted to go back to Miami and show a different side,” he explained. “People see Sean Kingston like ‘Oh he’s in this light; he’s smiling…” Well, I’m older now. I’m 23. I’m going to strip clubs and, you know, having fun. It was one of them turnt-up type of vibe [videos]. Who does not like the strip club?”
