Jamaican dancehall superstar Sean Paul broke into the global mainstream in the early 2000s with his pop-friendly party jams, while a late-2010s resurgence introduced him to a fresh generation of fans via high-profile collaborations with pop and electronic artists. Born Sean Paul Francis Henriques on January 8, 1973, the multi-ethnic Paul grew up comfortably in St. Andrew, Jamaica; his mother was a renowned painter. He was a skilled athlete, excelling in swimming and especially water polo, playing for the Jamaican national team in the latter. Although his education was enough to land him a prosperous career, dancehall music remained Paul‘s first love, particularly crafting rhythm tracks. He became a DJ after he began writing his own songs, patterning his style largely after Super Cat and finding a mentor in Don Yute; he also found contacts in several members of the reggae-pop band Third World in 1993, which helped him foster business connections. In the years that followed, Paul would appear on notable singles by Enrique Iglesias, Major Lazer, and Pharrell Williams, but it wasn’t until 2016 that he would experience massive chart resurgence, appearing on hits by Si (the Grammy-nominated “Cheap Thrills”), Little Mix (“Hair”), Clean Bandit(“Rockabye”), and Dua Lipa (“No Lie”). After Paul signed a deal with Island Records, he returned to the studio to record his seventh album. The first single from the album, “Mad Love” with David Guetta and Becky G, arrived in early 2018.