Our 20s are often seen as this golden decade, our time to be carefree, make mistakes, and figure out our lives. But what can psychology teach us about this time? I'm Gemma Spegg, the host of The Psychology of Your 20s. Each week we take a deep dive into a unique aspect of our 20s.
from career anxiety, mental health, heartbreak, money and much more to explore the science behind our experiences. The psychology of your 20s, hosted by me, Gemma Spegg, listen now on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
Hello, from Wonder Media Network, I'm Jenny Kaplan, host of Womanaka, a daily podcast that introduces you to the fascinating lives of women history has forgotten. We've always been intrigued by stories of disappearances, whether it's a fraudster from the 17th century who kept evading the authorities or a novelist who taunted the Nazis and faked her own death. We all want to know what happened next. To find out, listen to Womanaka on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
How do you feel about biscuits? Hi, I'm Akula Hughes, and I'm so excited about my new podcast, Rebel Spirit, where I head back to my hometown in Kentucky and try to convince my high school to change their racist mascot, the rebels, into something everyone in the South loves. The biscuits. I was a lady rebel. Like, what does that even mean? It's right here in black and white and prints. They like it. Bigger than a flag or mascot.
Listen to Rebel Spirit on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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I lost myself. Even when I was behind the mic singing it, there was no smile on my face. It was me against everyone else in the music industry. Next guest is taking America by Storm, cocking up serious and huge hit. Jason! I would get in my car and just cry because I was so lost and so scared. Who else gets a major record deal and then walks away from it?
Before we jump into this episode, I'd like to invite you to join this community to hear more interviews that will help you become happier, healthier and more healed. All I want you to do is click on the subscribe button. I love your support. It's incredible to see all your comments and we're just getting started. I can't wait to go on this journey with you. Thank you so much for subscribing. It means the world to me. The best-selling author and host. The number one health and wellness podcast. On purpose with Jay Shetty.
Hey everyone, welcome back to On Purpose, the number one health podcast in the world, thanks to each and every one of you that come back every week to listen, learn and grow. Now, one of my favorite things about this platform is I get to sit down with friends who are changemakers, incredible influencers, doing amazing things in the world, but I have this behind the scenes friendship with them.
And I get to hang with them. I get to invite you all into a genuine truthful conversation, a sincere conversation that we probably have had at dinners and when we're hanging out. But then we get to record it and share it with all of you. And today's guest is someone that I was a fan of ever since I was in my teens. Like I remember when his first song that I discovered him through dropped.
And it literally felt like it changed culture for me and my friends, and we knew what we wanted to play, we knew what we wanted to listen to, we were sharing it with all our friends, and to watch his career from afar, rise in the way that it did, and the changes that he's made, the moves that he's made,
was phenomenal for Little J aged 14 and beyond there. I'm speaking about British Indian singer-songwriter Jay Sean, who emerged in the American pop music scene a decade ago with his Billboard Hot 100 number one single down. The pop music titan changed the game stateside for both Asian and UK acts alike, hitting historical strides and breaking down multiple doors as a solo artist.
Jay was the first Asian artist in history to have a Billboard number one in America. He was also the first Asian and first British artist to have two simultaneous top 10 Billboard singles. Jay's also the first British and first Asian artist to have a Spanish language number one in America. Welcome to the show, my good friend and amazing human Jay Sean, bro. Wow.
Thank you, man. I mean, what a beautiful introduction. I mean it, dude. I love that, man. It's great to be here, brother. It's so good to have you here, man. And obviously, I got, I met you. So, for everyone who doesn't know, and you probably don't know this, I met Jay the first week I moved. When I say Jay also, I'm now talking about Jay Sean, not referring to myself. The first time I met you was the first week I moved to LA. Wow. Because I met Jeremy, who's you've been working with for a long time. I love you, Jeremy. And Jeremy introduced us. Love you, too.
And this was in 2018. And I loved how genuine you were, how down to earth you were. It was so easy to chat to you. Thank you, bro. We hit it off right away. And I wish you lived in LA still so we can hang out all the time. I know, bro. I know. We keep talking about that, right? But now it is. It's so lovely to be here with you, bro. So proud of you and what you've done. You know what I mean? I know that you have guests on and it's about them. But what you've been doing, I've been watching everything.
Amazing makes you proud and you know obviously we're both from England, you know both from what part of London were you from North London? Okay, so I was West London obviously hounds alone Yeah, south and of course first standard as cliche's against for any Indian, but you know, it's not easy right Having these lofty dreams, you know and then being here in LA, which is literally the land of dreams
And broken dreams. Let's be honest about that. There's people who have goals, but there's also broken dreams. So to be able to do what you're doing and what I'm doing, it's really beautiful. So yeah, thank you for having me, man. Yeah, man. Well, let's start there because I think I find it really interesting
At one point in my life, I think I had big dreams when I was a teenager, but I never actually believed the dreams could be real because I didn't have raw models, people I could see doing those things. Did you always have big dreams and a belief that your life could go down that way? You know, bro, the one thing about me ever since I was a kid, I always wanted to a, work my hardest, try my hardest and apply myself.
I've been a very driven person ever since I was a kid, and I think really, and so is my brother. I have one brother in a group, and I think both of us have that. We share that same quality. We're very, very highly driven people. Now, that comes solely from my parents. It really does. My dad is a big, big dreamer.
Big Dreamer, bro. And I only found out recently, like, when I started going into music and my brother went into film, that these were also my dad's dreams, but they were hidden. My dad always, you know, my dad used to write poetry. And nobody ever knew it, but he ended up being a businessman and a very successful businessman.
But seeing my dad's drive, and my mum is super hard working as well, we were always inspired by that, like, wow, like, how did dad do this? He had three factories, they used to manufacture denim, they were like, you know, top man and River Island and all these places, they used to make all the jeans. And it came from nothing, came from just a vision.
So that was them, but then also they put us into private school. Now private school in England, as you know, it costs a lot of money. Now, I could have gone to a school in the area that I lived in Houndslow, but it wasn't the most affluent area time. It wasn't the best school system at the time. So my parents wanted to be able to put us into an education system where they felt like we could excel. And so they did, but that was a sacrifice.
They didn't get to go on holidays every summer and go to Barbados and that money they invested into me and my brother. And I think because I saw that sacrifice, we always wanted to work hard. So we knew what they were doing. It was for us.
Um, but the school that we went to was, I think, and Latimer up a school. I'll have to shout them out because an incredible school because not only did you have to be smart to get in. So you had smart kids, but they weren't like, oh, stuffy. I go to Latimer and I don't do anything fun. No, it was creative. They were fun. We had so much of a laugh and it was an old boy school. And the reason I'm telling you that is we weren't getting dressed up during the day to impress girls.
I wasn't doing my hair to impress girls. So how did you make friends? How did you become the popular one? Everyone was smart. You had to have something. You had to either be the funny guy or you had to be the athletic dude or you had to be like the captain of the football team. So everybody excelled in a competitive way but like in a nice friendly competitive manner.
So that has always been my nature to do well and to apply myself to whatever I do. And I think I've been like that my whole life. That's why I always, you know, I'm always doing different stuff picking up different projects because if this is all we got, bro.
You know, why not make the most of it? Do the things you enjoy and try to see how far you can get with them. Yeah, definitely. What was it like having those conversations with your parents in those early days? Yeah. Because we've talked about a million times and every Indian has that pressure and even... Of course.
You know, the other night I was at an event and it was the same thing where like, Indian parents were talking about this idea of just like Dr. Lawyer, and you know, we've heard it a million times, but you were on that path. You were on that path to make your parents the proudest Indian parents of all time, becoming a doctor.
And I think there are a lot of people who listen to this and even if they don't have an Indian upbringing, they may have an upbringing where their parents' expectations mean something. Absolutely. And their parents' expectations are important to them because they love their parents and they see their sacrifice. A lot of people who are listening may be thinking, my parents work so hard. I look ungrateful if I follow my dreams.
What was that like? Absolutely. Listen, that's such a good point, Jay, because I, of course I get asked that question a lot, right? Like, and some people might not know you're right. I was on my path to being a doctor. It's not just necessarily an Asian thing. We can really break this down because as a parent now, myself, I understand what it's like to want the best for your kids. You want them not to struggle.
You want them to have a profession. You don't want them to be like, oh yeah, you know, have this dream. I want to be an artist or painter and this and you're like, that's great. I love that. But I also don't want you to struggle for money. So you don't have to be an Asian parent to want your kids to do well in school job.
But the Asian thing, the reason it's a stereotype, I think, personally, is because we were immigrants. So therefore, you couldn't come with a dream, and you couldn't come on a ship from India, come to England, and go, hmm, I want to be a professional gymnast. They were like, what's shut up, bro? You just left the bend, you've left the village, you need to earn money. So our grandparents didn't get to have a lofty dream. They just had to work hard. They had to work two jobs sometimes, three jobs, to put food on the table.
So then therefore that also gets passed down to their kids. But with my particular situation.
The medicine wasn't my parents dream for me. It was actually mine. I was a super nerd in school, bro. I loved getting straight eight grades. I loved working hard and then seeing the fruits of my labor. So when I used to get those top grades, it made me feel like I'd achieved something. And it wasn't like, oh, mom and dad will be happy. I knew they'd be happy as well. But it was like, I'm happy for myself. I worked hard for this.
Right? So, I actually got fascinated with science. Still am. Completely and utterly fascinated with the human mind and the human body. So, before I did medicine, actually, bro, I actually, not many people know this. I think you might be the first person who knows this. I actually did a degree in, a combined science degree in psychology and biology. Oh, I didn't know that, yeah. Right. So, I did a degree in psychology and biology, Bachelor of Science. I fully enjoyed it.
And then i was thinking i'm gonna go on to perhaps become a psychologist or a psychiatrist i wanted to help people i wanted to get into i was always been my thing ended up quite applying for medicine and did two years of medicine.
But like anybody, you have hobbies. My hobby was music. So I was probably about 12 or 13 years old when I got obsessed with hip-hop. I couldn't give it up. I was writing raps at the age of 13 because I was watching
These rappers, do you remember, I don't know if you remember this, probably yeah. Show my age here. Yo MTV Raps, okay, used to be, because in England, growing up in England, we didn't have access, eight of course we didn't have the internet back then, we didn't have access to all of these hip hop shows. So we had this cable show on MTV and it would come on and it was called Yo MTV Raps with Ed Lover and Dr. Dre.
I have MTV base where they govern Nelson. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah. And Westwood. Yeah. Westwood, all of that. Obviously, I'm going completely off top. Do it. I wanted to. But yeah, like point being, you know, that applying yourself and working hard and all that stuff, it was anything I took an interest in, I would take it to the extreme. So science, work, academia, interested in it, want to do well, took it to the extreme.
Let's go. One degree. All right, no, but I want to do this too. And in my head, there was nothing saying you can't do that. There was nothing saying you don't need a degree, bro. Chill now, go get a job. I was like, no, but I also want to do this.
And I think I've always been like that my whole life. So there I am studying medicine, but I also want us, for some weird reason, go on stage and rap. That was a rapper then. That wasn't a singer. Anyway, so I've always been juggling. Bro, I've always been juggling things that I'm passionate about. What's been something that you think you've taken to the extreme more recently? Or is that mindset still there? Or has that changed as time's gone on?
So, it's not necessarily taking things to an extreme recently, but I have really been interested in being the entrepreneur side of the entertainment industry. And it's for a number of reasons, okay? First of all, being an artist, this is going to look like next year is going to be 20 years of me being an artist. That's amazing, and it's cool, but it doesn't have to be everything I do for the rest of my life.
I've been so blessed to be able to do music. Literally, if you think about my job, I write songs, then I sing songs and I go around the world and I travel and I try to make people happy when I'm performing my music.
But that doesn't mean I don't have other interests. It doesn't mean that I'm like, for example, I love restaurants and bars. I love them. Anytime I go to a different city, first thing I do, either before or after my show, where can we go? Where do the locals go and eat? What's the local cuisine here? Where should I go and sample this city so that I can get to say I went to Milan and I knew what that felt like.
So I was like, my dream was always like, I want my own restaurant. I want my own bar. So then I did that, you know, set up an Indian restaurant, called Nama and a bar called Switch. And that was fun because it allowed me to use a different side of my brain space. And all of a sudden now I'm making entrepreneurial decisions.
which I never really got to do through music because it's a different field. And we have the yoga studio that you know, my wife Tara owns and runs. So all of these things keep life interesting for me. And I think that's the thing. I want to do as much as I can and enjoy it and see where I can take it. But it doesn't mean you try to do everything because you don't want to be a jack of all trays master of none.
It's just what fills me. I think that the recently that's been the entrepreneurial stuff. That's awesome. You spoke about earlier, breaking that stereotype of it's not only Asian families who want their kids to be taken care of and do well. In the music industry, walk me through what that was like, because I think even as a British Indian and an South Asian person, I don't think
we necessarily know what it was like because I think when you grew up in England, especially in London and around, I mean, to be honest, all across England, Indian culture is very accessible. Yeah, of course. It's normalized. It's everywhere. Yeah. And then coming to the US, I don't believe when you did that, it was like that, as far as I know. And what did you feel you were working with? What were you excited about? What did you come up against that you were trying to make sense of?
Because I think there's a lot of people even right now. I think everyone in different cultures, different traditions, different trajectories has to face some form of resistance, some form of stereotypes, some form of opposition. And I've always appreciated your way of navigating these things because I don't think you look at it as like, Oh my God, everyone's against me. I don't think you lived life that way. Walk us through what goes through your mind.
Yeah, of course, man. So I guess we should really just take it right back to the beginning, right? So to answer that question, you know, I'm there. I'm a student. I'm a medical student. I'm obsessed with hip hop still. I'm obsessed with music. My love for hip hop would also like then gone into R&B as well, because they were sort of hand in hand by then. Good times. Yeah.
I just saw Usher live in Vegas. Oh, did you? Oh, man. It's, you know, it's... Again, oh my God, the bro, there's so much that we can talk about about these things because you say that and he took you back to a... He literally transported you back to a period of your life. Yeah. 16. 16. Yeah. And what do... What were the stresses when we were 16? Nothing. Passing our exams. Yeah.
doing well in our GCSEs. Everything else was childhood. It was big dreams. It was your fearless. You can take on the world. You want to do anything and everything. And life is just good. Music was great then. Just, you know, vibes were there, right? And that's what I was experiencing. I was always listening to, you know, all of that same kind of stuff, Usher and, you know, and Jagged Edge and Black Street and all that stuff.
And I used to think to myself, every time we went out and we'd go out clubbing with my friends and stuff, it would always be, especially in London, as you know this, quite a heavy Indian demographic. Well, I should say, just like an Asian demographic. What we call Asian in England, they call South Asian here. Yeah. Tons of us in all these clubs, we go to concerts.
I'd go and see Fuji's in concert, I'd go and see, you know, Das FX, I'd go and see Lords of the Underground. All of these people, still a bunch of Asians there. And at that time I had started writing and, you know, I had a friend of mine who's a DJ and we used to make these mixtapes, me and my cousin, and we used to make mixtapes just for our own fun. And then our friends would be like, actually, that's pretty sick. Like, can you make me a copy? Fine, again, my copy.
And all of a sudden it was kind of spreading around school, and then that chubby, nerdy Indian kid became cool, all of a sudden in school. And that felt nice. But that was just in school. It wasn't happening on a major level anywhere. There was no Asian mainstream artist on stage that we could go and watch who would sing or rap
the music that we love. So we would go there and I'm like, I'd be at Anasha concert and I'm watching him and I'm watching tons of Asian Scream for Asha and I'm, I'm there. I'm in the Mosh Pit. But I'm going, why isn't one of us up there? We clearly love this music. If we can listen to this music and we can buy this music, why can't we make this music? Why can't we be the one up there on stage? And I think when that click switched for me,
that changed everything. Because again, talking about how I just thought nothing was impossible, I said, well, I'm going to do that. Why can't I? Okay, how do I do that? All right, I'll enter talent competitions. So I did. And I'm simultaneously studying, but then I'll be listening to choice of fame at the time. It was choice of choice. I love choice of them. Yeah. Right. One or seven point one or something.
It's something like that, right? And 96.9, I think it was. 96.9, I think it was both, I think it was one of those ones that was, yeah. Right, yeah, yeah, exactly. So anyway, I'll be listening to Choice FM, and there was this talent competition, and it was called Commander B's Night Flight, okay? It was around about midnight, and all you have to do, you have to pick up the phone, spit your best verse, or sing. At the time, I was just a rapper, right? I was obsessed with hip hop.
So I said, all right, well, I've got to lose. Picked out the phone, dropped a little rhyme. You either get flushed, you got the toilet flush sound, or you get passed on to the next round. I got through. Eventually, they chose the top 100 in the country, and then that 100 was cut down to the final 20. Then the final 20 had to perform live in Brixton Academy, okay?
That was my first time on stage ever. And when I looked around, Jay, I'm not lying to you, I was the only, only non-black, non-white person in that room. And I didn't think about it at the time because you're not going, you're not looking at that. You just got the mic in your hand and you've got an opportunity and you're going, this is amazing. How did I even get here? This is so fun. It was fun. But now looking back, I was like, I was the only Asian kid and it didn't scare me.
And so therefore, you know, I just did what I loved and I did it without fear. And I ended up coming third in the whole competition. And that's what gave me the confidence to know that I can. I think I can take this somewhere. How did you have that courage and guts of that age? And I guess it's part of that extreme focus mentality, but like,
I feel like today I have so many people in my life that I know that are scared of posting on TikTok or posting on Instagram or putting out like for you to like drop that verse on a phone call you know other people are going to hear it other people are going to find out about it when you're on stage of course you're laid bare in front of all the audience
I think so many people today get in their heads and they're like, well, I can't post that. I look stupid. I can't do that. I'm not good enough. And even people who are really talented stop themselves from putting things out there because they're scared of what their friends will say. I remember when I posted my first video.
It was the people closest to me that criticized it or ridiculed it. It wasn't the audience. The audience actually responded fairly well for day one. But it was the people around me that said, Jay, you talk too fast. Jay, that point didn't make sense. Jay, your editing's not as good as it should be. Like, that was coming from people I knew. Whereas the comments were like, oh, I love this. I just shared this with a friend. And so I feel so many people have that block. What was it for you that gave you that courage to say, this is fun. I love that idea. If this is fun, I'm doing what I love and I actually don't care.
How did you have that then i didn't care. And you're right you know the reason why didn't care back then because in order to find out somebody's opinion they had to actually be in front of you and talk to you about it in person. Right now we live in a day and age where we've got connection with every single human being on the planet.
We're not built like that, bro. Our brains are not built to have that many connections with that many people. We're just not built like that. That's why we get anxiety. That's why we get, because we know that I post this, it's going to go out to the world. And then 99.9% of the people who react are people I don't know. And I have to take their criticism on board, but we weren't built to be able to deal with that. We just not designed to be able to deal with that much.
So therefore, of course, it overwhelms us. Of course, it gives us anxiety. Of course, we get depressed because user Z1599 said this about me. But we don't know that person. So when I was a kid,
I just did what I did because I didn't have the opinions of too many people around me. And even if I did, like you said, and that's another great point, often the people who are around you might not have the courage to take a step out of the comfort zone like you did or I did. So therefore they're just like, oh no, bro, or maybe it's love, maybe they're just like, I don't want you to be sad if someone says something about you. I don't want you to be hurt if it doesn't work out.
I just loved it. That's the only truth of it all is when I tell you that it was an obsession, Jay. I was obsessed with hip-hop and R&B, but not just the culture, the technique, okay? So if I was to really break it down, obsessed with the fast rappers of that time, that's what it was. I was obsessed with Big L. I was obsessed with chip-food from Food Food Stickens.
I was obsessed with Jay-Z with original flavor and the way that they would rhyme, it was very, very fast and that to me was just so cool at the age of 14. How are you wrapping that fast? So I would emulate it and I would try to do what they were doing. I was like, damn, how did they do that? So it became like this nerdy obsession.
And then when it came to singers, it was vocalists. How are you singing like that? How are you doing those runs? How are you doing those riffs? So I would study them. I would study boys to men. I would study all these guys and copy their riffs and copy. And that's how I sort of learn how to rap and how to sing by literally just admiring these people who had such a great skill set.
Yeah, yeah. And so therefore, when I learned how to do it for myself, of course I wanted to just go and have a go at it. Yeah. So why not go up there and have a go? And it wasn't because the end goal was going to be a record deal. I didn't know. That wasn't thinking that far ahead. The end goal was, I love doing this. If you love football, you want to kick a football around. You don't want to just do it in your back garden. If you get a chance to play on a big pitch, are you not going to go?
Yeah, right. I love that. The simplicity of that answer is beautiful because I do think that it is love that carries you through. And I think today it's almost the opposite. It's the inverse, right? So at that time, we didn't have a lot of role models or people that looked like you or people like you that had made it. And I don't just mean that by
race and gender in back. I just mean in general, in life, fame and success and careers like that were reserved for a few. There are only a finite number of TV channels, finite number of music artists, finite number of actors, all very mysterious and unreachable. And you never knew how they got there.
Today, we live in the opposite where it's like, all your friends are influencers. Everyone is doing something interesting. You know someone in your family or a network who's figured something out, like people are running businesses, there's entrepreneurs here, there's this and that, someone has a podcast, whatever. So now it's almost the inverse where it's like, now you see it happening so much that now you think
It has to work out that way. So that time you just said, I never believed, I never even thought about a record deal. Now when you start making music, all you think about is a record deal because it does feel within reach or it does feel like someone else did it. And I fully agree with you and I just put out my first video.
All I thought was, I love sharing this wisdom. I'm tired of just sharing it in small rooms of five people. I think the wisdom should reach more people. And I'm just trying to see if it works. But there wasn't, there wasn't a goal or a strategy or a whole approach. It's like, one day it's going to be this and we're going to have this and we're going to build a media empire. Like it wasn't like that. It was just, I love this. And I actually don't know what else to do with this, apart from trying to share it.
The Therapy for Black Girls podcast is an NAACP and Webby Award winning podcast dedicated to all things mental health, personal development, and all of the small decisions we can make to become the best possible versions of ourselves. Here, we have the conversations that help black women decipher how their paths inform who they are today.
and use that information to decide who they want to be moving forward. We chat about things like how to establish routines that sense our self-care, what burnout looks and feels like, and defining what aspects of our lives are making us happy, and what parts are holding us back. I'm your host, Dr. Joy Hardin Bradford, a licensed psychologist in Atlanta, Georgia, and I can't wait for you to join the conversation every Wednesday.
Listen to the Therapy for Black Girls podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Take good care and we'll see you there.
Our 20s are seen as this golden decade. Our time to be carefree, fall in love, make mistakes, and decide what we want from our life. But what can psychology really teach us about this decade? I'm Gemma Spegg, the host of The Psychology of Your 20s,
Each week we take a deep dive into a unique aspect of our 20s from career anxiety, mental health, heartbreak, money, friendships and much more to explore the science and the psychology behind our experiences. Incredible guests, fascinating topics, important science and a bit of my own personal experience. Audrey, I honestly have no idea what's going on with my life.
Join me as we explore what our 20s are really all about. From the good, the bad, and the ugly, and listen along as we uncover how everything is psychology, including our 20s. The psychology of your 20s hosted by me, Gemma Spegg. Now streaming on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Welcome to the Overcomfort Podcast with Jenna Kolopes. Yep, that's me. You may know my late mom, Jenny Rivera, my queen. She's been my guiding light as I bring you a new season of Overcomfort Podcast. This season, I'll continue to discover and encourage you and me to get out of our comfort zones and choose our calling. Join me as I dive into conversations that will inspire you, challenge you, and bring you healing. We're on this journey together.
I'm opening up about my life and telling my story in my own words. Yes, you'll hear it from me first before the Cheeseman lands on your social media feed. If you thought you knew everything, guess again.
So I took another test with Ancestry and it told me a lot about who I am. And it led me to my biological father and everyone here, my friends laugh, but I'm Puerto Rican. Listen to the over comfort podcast with Jennifer Lopez as part of Michael Duran podcast network available on the iHeartRadio app Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast.
I've always believed one thing, right? If I operate from a place of panic, desperation, just looking around, competition, it won't work. It doesn't work for me because it's not true. It's not organic. It's not real. There is no actual substance in that product.
It's hollow. It's fake and people can see it. And I really believe in that. It sounds airy-fairy, but I believe in it. I know for a fact I have made songs just chasing hits. Just like, oh, that song worked. I went so far down that road, bro, of trying to chase big pop.
hits. I lost myself. I lost. I didn't even even when I was behind the mic singing it. There was no smile on my face because I knew you were writing songs for this climate and you got this guy talking in your ear. You need to do a song like this because so and so had another big, oh, we'll get the producer who did that. Oh, we'll write this right with the song writer who did that. I'm like, but I don't even like that music. Yeah, but that's all that's working right now. So you got to do it.
And there was no love in it. And guess what? My fans could tell. They could tell. They're not stupid. They know the St. Jay show, man. What's he doing? I see what he's doing. It's cool. I love him, so I let him do it, but the St. Jay. St. The Jay that we loved. St. The Jay that we fell in love with. I see what he's doing. There's a pressure for him to do it. That's cool. We'll stand by him, but we'll wait for him to come back. He'll find his way back.
as I always do. But when it's not from a place of love and it's not from a place of passion and it's not real, I feel like there's a metadata in that that people can feel. And that's always been the story of my life. That's beautiful. Yeah, no.
And it's great to have that connection to your audience, but when you start, obviously, like you said, I mean, I still remember when dance with you came out and we used to wait for it to be played on channel you. And I'm trying to think of where else, but channel you was my place. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I remember telling you.
At the back in the day, this is, again, Asian. You'd have to wait for the songs you love to come on to record them on VHS. So you'd record it and then you'd make your own VHS music videos. So I'd have Usher, you, P-Diddy, Eminem, whatever else it is, and you're collecting all these people. And then now whenever you're mates come over, you put this video in and then you play that. Or you're playing channel in the background anyway.
but it's like I remember when dance with you came out and for anyone who doesn't know it if you didn't know Jay before the US world like go back and see check that video out because I still think it's like it lands even today that's how good that song is thank you and and it's and I can still bump it in the car and it is awesome but
To me it was such a moment for the culture because it was actually good music and it was actually cool too. And I think that that's hard to do as well. I think it's really hard when you're like trying to do something fresh and new, and you're trying to own a sound or create a sound, but to actually do that is really challenging. So when you're at your best, most creative self, as you were just describing now,
Walk us through the more texture of that recipe of when you're really landing in that passion, that love, the excitement. As you said, walk us through that when you're at your peak creativity and it's truly authentic. What does that creative process look like? There's no thought. And that's what I always tell people, making music.
is not a science. There will be people who tell you and listen, fine. Some people have had a very, very long successful career by methodically thinking, hmm, verse must be X amount of syllables and this melody works because this chord structure worked for the last 10 years. Top 10 hits. This is the chord progression and cool.
I'm not built that way. That's not how I make music. Amazing. Hats off to the people who can write hits like that. That's not how I make music. I feel. I feel and I smile and I jump up and down in the studio when that song is done. And if I'm feeling like that, the one thing the rule I have is after I've written a song,
If I am not so excited regardless of what time it is, it could be four in the morning. I could have had a 20 hour day. If I'm not excited enough to go behind that mic, bro, and sing that song right there, that second, it ain't it. If I can say, I'll wait till tomorrow, then that means my fans can go, I'll wait till tomorrow to hear it. You understand? They have options. And the thing is, I go off of that excitement. So when dance with you happened,
I had met Rishi Rich, who really responsible for just everything from the beginning of the genesis of my career, our work together. He heard something in me, he knew I wrapped, he knew I sang. And what I had developed was a style of blending the two. So I would fast rap and sing, but sing it with a melody. So because the rapper in me was so alive,
I didn't approach the beat the way that I would say perhaps if I was just a singer. So I actually wrote it as a rap. So go whatever told you, be thinkative, all of the possible lyrical ways to come and approach you. And so then I'd write those lyrics down, but then I put a melody, go whatever told you, be thinkative, all of the possible lyrical ways to come and approach you. And it was something that I don't think many people had heard before, but it was my style.
And had there been, like, a suit in the room like an A&R? Who would have gone, hmm, you're way too fast. I don't know what you're saying. Slow it down. Too many words. This doesn't work. Who does this? Have you seen... Give me an example of someone who's had success with a song like this with a verse like that. That's exactly why you should do it. That's exactly why I did it. It's because it is new, because it was fresh and because it was... It was me, bro. It's me, you know? So when that landed on that song, I think...
In England growing up, if you're growing up in England, you're listening to probably R&B and hip hop, which is very common for us. At the time, that was the culture, right? That was kind of what we were into. And then your mom's watching some Indian drama or some Indian shark movie. So you got Bollywood. So you got like beautiful Hindi melodies going on in the background. And if you're Punjabi like me, you're going to weddings and they're playing Punjabi music. And it's upbeat. Those were all of my musical influences. So when I was in that room,
It was not foreign or weird or even contrived for Rishi and I, first of all, when Rishi put that Indian flute, to me, I wasn't like, oh, that's Indian. I was like, damn, that's sick. That's a sick sample. That sounds amazing. Over a hip-hop beat, pop R&B chords. It was something brand new, but it was something, it was all the music that we listened to.
in one part. It wasn't like we're trying to create a new genre. We created a new genre by accident because it was just the stuff that we were into. So then when we did that, had written that song, originally kind of left it there. Rishi was working with Juggy D, obviously a Punjabi artist. He heard it. He was like, this is sick. Jump on it, bruv. He did his thing. Before you knew it, we had a song that no one had ever heard. And guess what?
The people, the Asian culture at that time, had all of their favorite music on one song. You had Punjabi, you had hip hop and you had R&B, and you had this whole thing in three minutes of one song. And for the first time ever, I think, by three at that time, young dudes. Because if you were like listening to Punjabi music, they were like uncle ages.
You know what I mean? You're listening to like, exactly. And you're listening to like, milky sing, but he's like 50. All of a sudden you've got these young girls and guys who are listening to people who look like them. Yeah, yeah. Doing this stuff and that kind of, I think, was something that was brand new and it just changed the game, man. Yeah. No, I agree with that. Even when you see that new artist, like, I remember, yeah, the first time I ever heard a Drake song. Right. Like, early mixtapes. Like, you were like, who's this guy who can sing and rap?
and do his own thing. Now, I know that today, Drake's gone on to just do hit after hit after hit, and all the rest of it. And I think sometimes he gets a hard time where people are like, ah, yeah, he just makes good. And I'm like, well, if you think about it, when he started, he was probably the only real rapper that also did that, was able to mix the two.
I've always loved his music, but to me as well, it was that same thing where it's like he was putting together two things that felt natural to him in his own way. Like he could sing really high notes and then put in like a rap verse. And go hard on a beat. Exactly. He could do both. And it was just exciting. To me, it's always been exciting when people are not
kind of imprisoned and limited by a box. And it's what you're saying about even the entrepreneur and the musician in you and allowing yourself. I think today we've become so much better at recognizing that people are multi-hyphenates. You know that Rihanna can have a music career and be a fashion icon. You know that an actress can also have an amazing company. You know that Ryan Reynolds can also sell an
Alcohol or whatever it may be you know, there's there's so many different ways of doing they can own a football team exactly and then Exactly, but in the beginning it was like no you're an actor just just be an actor honor that do that and sometimes oh Actually, you do this role you only doing comedies and then an acting could be like dude Yeah, I know I'm good at comedy, but like give me a drama man. Yeah, give me a shot Yeah, let me show those skills, right? Yeah, so for me. It was always like okay. I do music but like I
Don't tell me, I can only do these records. I can only sing these kind of songs. I can only, you know, sing. I can't bust into a rap randomly. So I was, so that always confused me. Cause I was like, hold on a second. This is my artistic expression. So surely it should just be, why do, why aren't I just allowed to do who I am? Cause otherwise then it's not Jay Sean. It's Jay Sean with other people in his ear.
then it's not just Drake is Drake with other people in his ear. So I think the reason why people fall in love with an artist is because that person has something unique to share with the world, right? You know, like if you're in a certain mood, you're gonna be like, man, I feel like I put on some Adele right now or something. Why? Because you know what Adele offers. You know what her music, how it makes you feel.
Yeah. Yeah. As opposed to just a random singer who's got a beautiful voice. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. No, you reminded me of when Matthew McConaughey came on the podcast, he talked about how he was known as the rom-com guy. So he was doing how to lose a guy in 10 days. He was doing all those types of movies and he was amazing at it. It was like, ghosts of girlfriends passed and like, he was that guy. He was like the heart, heart-throb that, you know, that holds those movies. And he said he had to take a two-year break
from making movies to shift his brand to be able to do movies like the Lincoln Lawyer later on Dallas Buyers Club which you won the award for and it's like he literally didn't make movies for two years and he was getting paid like 15 million to do a rom-com right and he said two years he didn't do anything because that was his brand and he wanted to do more serious roles he wanted to do roles that he cared about.
and it took him saying no for two years. And that's a lot of like, you know, it's amazing to think that people who have made pivots in their career have had to kind of have these very like interesting transition periods. Yeah. What was it like? What's the biggest difference between the UK and the US music scene? Because I think you have that, you know, you have that as a unique experience. There's a few of you, right? There's you. And then like more recently, obviously people like Ed Sheeran, Adele, like there's there's few people who've been able to be successful in both.
I'll tell you a funny thing, right? So, obviously at the time, pre-2009, I was lucky enough to have garnered myself a worldwide fanbase excluding, I thought, excluding America. I just thought, there's no way America knows my music.
And that's because America has, let's be honest, they have the creme de la creme of everything. If you think of any of the bigger stars, they're usually American, whether they're Hollywood stars, you know, wherever... How they're all Canadian. Now they're all from the specific nature of London. So, great. But at the time, so we're moving. That's why we're moving London.
London is a small island. And so what happens is sometimes you can get, I refer to it as small island syndrome. You can walk around your little place and feel like the big shot. You're like, yeah, man, I'm a dagger number off. People know me and hear me. Yeah, I'm Lester, bro. People know me here. Boy, I got Scotland, man. People know me in Scotland, bro. Okay, cool. That's amazing.
And great, and if you can have a career there and you're happy with it, that's great. I always, again, going back to me being a person who's highly driven, I would always say, take me somewhere where no one knows me. I want to win them over. Take me somewhere.
Take me anywhere where nobody knows me and let me see if I can win them over. And that has always been something that's very dear to me. Even when it comes to shows, any show, like you could do a corporate gig, right? And they have it. And it's like people would like, oh, they're waiting for this show. I'll be like, okay, cool. What's the demographic? This is X, Y, Z.
I don't then think, okay, I'm just going to sing XYZ song. I go, how can I connect with them? What am I going to be able to on what level and then win them over so that then they can go, you know what, I didn't actually know Jay Sean before or even like his music, but I like the dude. I like the guy. I connected with him and he was fun on stage and he was funny and he was an endearing and then he actually rocked the crowd and now all of a sudden you won them over. So when it came to America, I took that same approach.
I remember distinctly being at passport control and I was going to go and sign with cash money. That's why I was going over there. And it was a big day for me and I was super excited.
I believe this man, I'm about to get a record deal in America. But I went knowing that if I don't succeed, at least I have everything else that I've worked hard for. And if I do succeed, man, that's only a bonus now. That's going to only be even better. But I'm excited. I'm a bit gassed up, right? I'm there. Of course. I'm a party. Little way. It's like, it's like, oh my gosh. Big deal. Young money cash money record. It's like, yeah.
Right, so then I'm there at passport control and the guy goes, you know, how they are in America sometimes, they're like, what is the purpose of your business? Oh gosh, I still get it every time. You get nervous in it. I get so nervous, man, I've had so many years. And he's like, what is the purpose of your visit to the United States? I was like, so here's me and I look slightly cocky ago. Be honest with you, mate, about to sign a big record deal. And he goes, yeah, he goes, what's your name? And I go, Jason. And he goes, I haven't heard of you.
So now I know I got work to do right on my entry to this country. The good Lord has gone relax me. Calm your ego. There's work to be done. And it was through that one guy, that immigration officer who looked me dead in the eye and said, so what? I haven't heard you. And I thought.
All right, let's do this. Yeah, let's work. Let's work. It's always the immigration officers who don't recognize anyone. I get the same thing every time. It's the best. But I love that. And it humbled me in a split second. And I'm not saying I had a big head either. But if I was to be cocky about my venture in the United States, I learned right there and then, bro, prove yourself again.
And that's what I had to do from scratch. Yeah. And it's such a great mindset to have because you could have had that interaction and gone, well, you should know me, right? You could do that. Or you will know. Yeah, you will get cocky, right? Yeah, you will know. And it's just, it's so interesting because I feel like that is just never a satisfying way to live.
That's what I've discovered, like the idea of thinking you're at the top of the mountain or that you're doing things, it's the same thing as you said earlier, like when you're making music from love, passion and excitement. I feel like if you're doing something because of revenge, because of proving someone wrong, because of I'll show you, because I'll see you at the top, like when you do things with that energy,
Even if and when you make it, it never fulfills you because that person may not have the reaction you want them to have. That person would still be like, yeah, don't listen to your music. I don't like your music. When you go up to that guy and go, oh, wait, did you hear me now? I'm number one billboard. And they go, yeah, my girlfriend didn't like it. Exactly.
Yeah, it still doesn't. It won't feel you, bro. And it's a very, very good point. And I think that it's such an important point because for me, 20 years of work, okay, what have I learned? What are my lessons? I've been around the world, we were calculating this. I'm coming up to a million miles just on one airline. Doesn't want to airline. So I've definitely done way more. Must have been around the world 50 times, at least.
50 in terms of mileage yeah easily that means I Have had experiences after experience after experience after experience after experience after experience some amazing some horrible Some that can make you feel like you're on top of the world and some that can pull you into a dark place And you don't even want to talk to anyone depressed crying So where's that safe place? Where's the place where you're just okay, man? I'm all right with this
I'm in this industry and it can either make me or break me or it can do neither or I can just have a great time while I'm here. Make people happy. Do I love to care my family and a good living and it all comes down to exactly what you just said. Why are you doing this? If I was for the rest of my career, only driven.
to write songs and perform and record to beat the big monster that is down. If that was my only incentive, gotta beat down, gotta beat down, gotta, I gotta top that. I am setting myself up for failure A and definitely a ton of anxiety, a ton of like bad feelings and feelings that just aren't on a vibe at all because I'm doing it all for the wrong reasons.
If I then go, if I switch my mentality and go, man, how lucky were you? How blessed were you? To be able to have written that beautiful unicorn of a song that makes so many people happy that really did break a lot of records and changed your life, gave you a life, man, gave you a life.
Put that in your back pocket and be grateful and say thank you. That was wicked. That was amazing. Now let's go on and write stuff that you enjoy, that you love, that perhaps your fans might connect to. But if I was to make the metric of my happiness, chart positions, comments, likes, followers, I'm setting myself up for failure because I can't control any of those things.
all. The only thing I can control is the music that I write, the music that I record, the music I put into this world, the way I interact with people when I'm on stage and make them feel, those are the things I can control. And so therefore, my happiness hopefully will be in a safe place.
Because I'm not pinning it, I'm not rooting it in something that is so out of my control. There's this quote that I heard that someone said that at one point I had to stop being a hit machine and go back to being an artist. And I love that idea, but I feel every artist goes through this series of phases.
where you start as a pure artist, you start with pure creativity and pure passion. And then in the scaling of a business, of having team members or whatever it is, you become a hit machine and you kind of try and like you said, you try and like mathematically figure out the equation.
You may kind of have some hits, you may not have some hits, but you have this, and either way, whether you've had it or whether you haven't, you've become unfulfilled. And that's what happens. So externally, even if this person is having all the number ones, they're still feeling internally fulfilled because it doesn't link back to that pure artistry that they started.
And then they try to go back there. Everyone goes back there. Everyone wants to go back there. Some people take 30 years. Some people do it in three years. I've met people at both ends of the spectrum who they made stuff they hated for 30 years. Some people gave up after three years and said, you know what? I'm going back to doing what I love. And it's normal. Like it's normal for everyone to have that. So true. It's so wonderful to hear you talk about it in that way because I think that
We had Rick Rubin here a few months ago and he was saying the same thing. He was just like, he was saying the same thing you said. He was like, music isn't made formulaically. He was like, you're not trying to think what people are gonna love and so I'm gonna make it. And to hear that across artists and musicians, different genres, different backgrounds, it speaks to a lot. When was your darkest time or when was the moment where you felt like you were just, this is not, yeah? It's so true, everything you're saying.
Artists we know we exist in one of two states. We're either you can't mess with me best or I suck Everyone hates me from the worst. I should quit. I can relate In between the hardest place to be is I'm all right. Yeah, I'm gonna write I guess I'm gonna write artist who who wants to be I'm an all right artist nobody It has a good eyes. All right, man, okay. Nobody wants that
So if you're not killing it, you're here. I suck. I should quit. Nobody likes me. People aren't listening to my music. They're listening to that person's music.
So, of course, I've had those moments. Not only have I had them epically in one particular point in my life, my whole journey, man, has been like, it's been like the Rocky story, which is why I'm so obsessed with Rocky and- I love Rocky. Love Rocky, bro. The Sly Docs out. I haven't still- Oh man, I watched it. I can't wait. I'm also obsessed with the rest of the- So am I. Dude, that dude, he's so smart and I watched the-
I watched it, I'm not gonna ruin it for you, but one thing I've always known for about Sylvester Stallone is that this guy bit on himself. That's the story we know. He bet on himself. Didn't get cast in movies because of the way he looked, the way he spoke.
So what did he do? He wrote roles for himself. What an amazing, what a genius thing to do. You're not going to cost me fine. And he bet on himself with Rocky. But he didn't win immediately in Rocky. But what that story tells me is, here's a guy, here's a guy, a bum, just a dude that no one pays attention to. But he's still a human being. He symbolizes your average Joe.
your average Joe who the world ain't really looking at. Then I'm really stopped to notice him, but he has a secret dream. He has a little dream inside of him, you know what I mean? And then when he gets that opportunity, he goes for it because he's got an A, nothing to lose, but B, he's all heart. He's all heart.
And he's doing it from a place of love. He doesn't necessarily need that belt. He just loves A, the game. And B, I can't believe I got this opportunity. Man, I'm going to take this. I'm going to take it with both my hands. I'm not going to let go. But then the Rocky saga, the storyline continues to rise. And then the fall. And that's why he's, to me, he's such a great writer is because I think he was simultaneously writing about what was going on in his life.
from nobody to becoming the biggest star in Hollywood to then maybe getting caught up in the game, losing your roots. Oh, now I'm not even speaking the same way. I don't walk the same way, talk the same way. I don't write the same way because now I'm a star and people are looking at me expecting different things. And my career was like that. When I started off, I just wrote from the heart, man. I wrote it because Jay Rishi, Rich and Juggy Dia coming through on a song.
Who says that? Why are you calling your own names out on a song? Most songs are just like, hey girl, I saw you from the last time. It's an imaginary story about something. Now that you call it out. This guy thinks it's okay.
on his first ever song to go. It's not the intro part. It's not like the yo. It's not that part. It's the verse. It's the verse. Why? Young cockiness, fresh, fun, not even thinking about it, not studying other songs going, well, what do the lyrics do they write? What are the big hits? I did it.
and it connected and it felt right and it worked. First album, I mean, you're familiar with me. All of them, yeah. I remember buying me against myself on CD. There you go. Because I was so excited to look at the R. Yeah. And I loved the idea, because on the last track, you had to wait like a few minutes and fast forward it to wait for like bonus material. I loved those kind of like hidden things like, yeah, massive. Yeah. And yeah.
Get emotional with me, Radi Devluke, in my new podcast, A Really Good Cry. We're going to talk about and go through all the things that are sometimes difficult to process alone. We're going to go over how to regulate your emotions, diving deep into holistic personal development, and just building your mindset to have a happier, healthier life. We're going to be talking with some of my best friends. I didn't know we were going to go there.
people that I admire when we say listen to your body really tune into what's going on. All those are books that have changed my life. Now you're talking about sympathy, which is different than empathy, right? And basically have conversations that can help us get through this crazy thing we call life. I already believe in myself. I already see myself. And so when people give me an opportunity, I'm just like,
Oh, great, you see me too. We'll laugh together, we'll cry together, and find a way through all of our emotions. Never forget, it's okay to cry, as long as you make it a really good one. Listen to a really good cry with Radi Devlukea on the iHeartRadio app. Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
When you find that bright spot to help you get through your day, it's powerful. That's where the Bright Side comes in, a new daily podcast from Hello Sunshine that's bringing you a daily dose of joy. I'm Danielle Robey. And I'm Simone Boyce. Listen, both Danielle and I are reporters. We've covered the news and we know the world can feel heavy, but the Bright Side podcast is a space to have a little fun, to learn something new, and get into some friendly debates.
That's right. Join us five days a week to see how life can look from the Bright Side. We'll hear from celebrities, authors, experts, and listeners like you. Whether it's relationships, friend advice, or figuring out how to navigate life's transitions, we'll talk through it all together. Listen to the Bright Side from Hello Sunshine every weekday on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Hey, y'all. Nimminy here. I'm the host of a brand new history podcast for kids and families called Historical Records. Executive produced by Questlove, the story pirates and John Glickman, Historical Records brings history to life through hip-hop.
Each episode is about a different inspiring figure from history, like this one about Claudette Colvin, a 15-year-old girl in Alabama who refused to give up her seat on the city bus nine whole months before Rosa Parks did the same thing. Check it!
Get the kids in your life excited about history by tuning in to historical records. Because in order to make history, you have to make some noise. Listen to historical records on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
So me against myself, why was it even called me against myself? It was called me against myself because, bro, in all honesty, truth be told, from the beginning of my career, I have been in this little bubble where I have been fighting myself the whole time. The rapper versus the singer, the R&B guy versus the pop guy.
It's always been this duality of who is actually keeping it real and who's the one making the money and up on the stages and are they the same person?
Because the guy who's keeping it real was the rapper. He was the guy who was like, you sold out. You're writing these fictional songs about, hey, baby girl, this baby girl, that. And on the song, me against myself, it's literally the rapper versus the singer. And the other part of this whole thing was it was me against everyone else in the music industry.
because at the time, when I started, I didn't really know it, know it, but now we look back, I was really out there by myself as the only Asian kid in a sea of, I'm gonna talk a bit about the main stream artist now. And 20 years ago, even more so. 20 years ago, and it was only until I sort of really started coming across situations where I realized, I am the odd one out, I am the fish out of water here, I'm the one that doesn't look like anybody else. It was very different.
And, you know, for me, I felt like, at that point, the only thing that was going to get me through all of this was by staying true to who I am, right? So there's this, you know, song I wrote called Good Enough.
So what I would do is I would, instead of screaming about it on interviews and ranting on about it and complaining about how difficult it is trying to break through and not having the same opportunities as other artists, I used to disguise my songs, my love songs. I used to write open letters to the music industry and disguise them as love songs. So there's a song on my first album on me against myself called Good Enough.
And in the lyrics, you think he's talking about a girl who's not the same race as her, so he's dating a girl from a different race, but it's actually an open letter to the music industry. And it says, it says, I've got my mother's skin, I've got my father's eyes. That's something that I can't deny, and that's nothing that I want to hide.
And even though my roots come from the other side, they told me that they won't mind because I heard that love is blind. And then it says, how do I change a million minds in this lifetime? What is it I have to do? If I erase my history, what defines me?
If I had to change my truth, would I be good enough for you? And really, it was about me talking to the music industry, saying like, I'm just like you. Why are you giving me a harder time, man? Listen to my music. Tell me if it fits in where it should fit in. So when all that stuff started to happen, I went in a bit of a, it was hard for me. I went in like a little bit of a, a dark place, because I was like, this ain't,
This is meant to be fun, this is meant to be my dream and now I'm not getting the same opportunities and I didn't know what to do about that.
You know, when my first album, when they tried to take me on to the second album at Virgin, I realized that these people don't understand me. They don't understand my vision, my art. I'm a go, step out. So any money that I had earned off that first album and touring, I invested in myself, like the rest of Stallone. And that's where I did the My Own Way album, of course, why it's called My Own Way. On that album,
I remember leaving Virgin and at the time being told, don't worry, you're going to get another record deal. You know, you've got all the success. You've got these chart hits. Of course you're going to get signed immediately. I was like, yeah, okay, good. I'll get signed to a label that understands me. Didn't happen. Didn't happen. And now I'm like, well, I had like four years in the game. That's it. Maybe I should have stayed with Virgin. Who else gets a major record deal and then walks away from it?
And then I had to talk to my parents, tell them the situation. I've just given up a chance at being a doctor. I've had one hour amount toward the world a little bit. Didn't really smash it though, did I? Like for the Indians around the world, yes, I smashed it. Of course, they were like first guy, our guy. But in terms of mainstream, they were kind of like, oh, yeah, that guy had a couple of songs.
So I remember being lost, really lost. And I pretended actually to my parents that I was off to the studio working on a new album. And there were times where I would get in my car and I would just drive around, park up somewhere, and literally sit down in my car and go, it'd cry. And just... On your own. On my own.
and just cry because I was so lost and so scared. Here's a guy who had all the big dreams in the world, a guy who worked so hard at school, two degrees. I had to just really just sit there and think about
There has to be a reason. There has to be a reason that this gift was given to me, that this blessing was given to me to be able to try to fly the flag for us. What do I do? I can't just end it. Amazingly, as the universe would have it, about two weeks later, there was this event where I was in doing like a meet and greet, and this kid comes up to me.
And he's about 16, 17 at the time, hands me a CD, and he goes, hey man, I'm such a big fan, I make music, please listen to it if you can, much contact details are on there. So yeah, cool man. Now look, when this happens, as you know, like sometimes we're like, you're cool, but sometimes you get 100 CDs, you don't get to listen to them all. On the way home, put it in the car, listen to it.
I'm like, this beat is insane. And I was like, holy, I'm calling this guy straight away. I picked him up, picked up the phone and I was like, where do you live? Where's your studio? Is that Jason? I was like, yeah, he's like, bro, come on. I was like, no, I'm coming over now to your studio. And he had a studio in his garden. Where is this? In slough.
He had a studio in his garden shed in slough, and this is a fan of mine. And I said, we're going to work. He's like, dude, come on. I was like, I'm serious. And it was just me and him. And on that day, I wrote, write it with this kid who had just given me a demo CD. He had a dream. He had a lofty dream.
He didn't know that I was also in a place in my life where I needed, I needed something. He needed something and I needed something we both wanted to win. And that song was just sent, bro. And it changed everything. That song, obviously his, as you know. I mean, that was about Liz on and on TikTok. That, that song has had so many lives. Yeah. And so many edits and so many like. It's insane.
But I, and without getting too heavy on the spiritual shit about it, I think it's because there is something special about that song. I think it's because that song, it's very Genesis came from a place of where I was at my lowest and needed so badly to be plucked out of this dark place. And I needed something from up here, man, I needed something to lift me up. And that song not only just did that for me, it's kind of like a sacred song for me, you know, and it gave this kid a life.
It gave him an entire career. One song. And then...
Fast forward 12 years later, it goes and gives another guy a life. Some random dude in Lithuania who's just done a remix and put it on YouTube and then it goes on TikTok. This guy is now touring the world. Do you know what I mean? And it also did pretty good for me during the pandemic. A little nicer pocket change for me too. And it was like, you know, it's special.
So there you go, there was my rocky story, right? Yeah. Boom, down here in the dumps. Back up. Yeah. Now, right, it's out. Jay Sean Version 2 is out. Shave head, right? The spikes are going, the shave head. And all of a sudden, man, I got another shot at it. The reason why I love hearing it is because I remember, like, I remember trying to figure out what had happened between the two albums too. And I remember, like, as your fans were following, you was like, I can't remember. It was like,
Was it relentless or reckless? Yeah, relentless, right? It was relentless. And it was like, yeah, you were seeing that shift and you never know what's going on on the other side.
The best part about that story, though, is the randomness and allowing the randomness, because I think so often, as you become more successful, you become more closed, and you become more, oh, you're just a little kid, what do you have? And that ego, we talked about ego a few times in this conversation, it just shows me again and again and again, the thing that gets in all of our ways is our ego. Ego stops you from being creative, because you're scared of what your friends will think, that's ego.
Ego stops you when you start thinking you're the man getting into America. And if you would have acted in that way back at that guy, but you, you were like, no, no, no, I'm going to get better. I need more. I need to get more people to know my work. And then ego again could have stopped you from going, I use a little kid. Like, what does he know? I'm just like, everyone gives me CDs. Right. It's so interesting just how.
we have to work against our ego constantly and me against myself in and of itself is actually us against our ego on a daily basis. That's the real battle. The real battle is us against our ego. It really is. It's so true, man. I think all of that ties in also, bro, to just keeping not just keeping your eyes open, right, but keeping your mind open.
And the thing is, I always look at it like this, man. Self-awareness is obviously something that you, of course, talk about a lot. And some people go their whole life, man. Not being self-aware. Okay, their whole life. I think, very fortunately for myself, I got it quite early on once I started this career. I kind of understood, again, just like standing out as the only brown dude, I was very self-aware, understood. Also understanding that when I came across those problems and those obstacles,
I realized very quickly that my sense of humor was able to get me out of them rather than letting it destroy me. So rather than letting me go, when someone says something dumb or something stupid or insensitive or culturally inappropriate, instead of getting mad and causing an argument, I would use wit and intelligence to be able to get myself out of it.
Now, I realize what kind of person I was in this industry that I'm in. And this industry, as you know, it can be very, very fake. It's hard to find connections with certain people. But if you know who you are in that space, I think you'll be okay.
through the highs and through the lows. Do you know what I mean? Yeah, yeah. But yeah, I love that you recognize that because it's very true. If I wasn't open to the randomness and I wasn't open to the signs. You just miss out. I wouldn't miss. And I think about that, right? Like, I think we all have to reflect on our own life and go, where do we miss out on that randomness?
because we've started to think that things have to be formulaic or equations or perfectly fitting or coming from the right source. Sometimes, we always think, oh yeah, that business person will tell me the right thing or that individual and it's like, well no, they could be some random person.
in your family or your friends group who says one thing to you that actually shoots you off in an amazing direction. I'm going to give a shout, me and Jeremy had a call like this recently. So Jeremy said to me, he goes to me, he said to me, I called him randomly, I was on a drive and I hadn't caught up with him for a while, so I'll call up Jeremy. And we started on this phone call and I had no agenda, there was no plan, it was just catching up with him mate. And he said to me randomly because, Jay, I can't wait till you start a school.
And I was like, dude, what are you talking about? That's a very Jeremy. Yeah, exactly. And I was like, first of all, Jeremy, I don't have kids, so I don't even know what school feels like for kids. Second of all, I feel really unqualified to start a school. I think it's actually very, there needs to be a lot of research, there needs to be a lot of understanding, like dealing with kids' minds should be dealt with extremely delicately and thoughtfully. I don't think everyone should start schools.
Thirdly, it's a nice idea, but I've never even thought of that as even a concept in my life. But I answered all of that, and then immediately something came to my mind. I'd love to go and study the best schools on the planet. And I was like, I would love to actually go and understand, not because I want to start a school, but because I would love to understand the human mind and what we're messing up
that's creating kids who cause issues in the world, versus kids that get it right. Now, there's lots of studies and research, but I would actually love to go and sit with parents and teachers, and I came back to my team the next day, I was like, guys, I have to go and do this, and we have to document it, because not because I think there's content in it, I don't even know what I do with it. I just know that I would be fascinated if, over the next five years, I could understand more deeply how to build more compassionate children, not because I want to start a school,
Not because I think I thought it wasn't even in your head until this random conversation. This random conversation that my mate just said, I could be like, what does Jeremy know? I've got content, I've got stuff going on. He's nice, he thinks he wants me to start at school, but that's it. But really, it sparked genuinely, I can't tell you how much that idea is captivating me. Because I'm like, yeah, you know, I'd love to know how we build Compassionate.
empowered, confident children who change the world. I would love to understand that on a very deep, intimate, and personal level. And so I started researching, like, where are the best schools in the world? What are the schools that make the most creative kids? What are the schools that make the most this kid? Something that I've got to go to the school in Spain, I've got to go to the school. And I was like, amazing travel now feels alive again. It's not like I've got to jump on a plane to do some work.
And it's for a purpose and it's something fun. And I think really what you're onto there, bro, is it's very easy to like sort of become complacent as well. Like you go, this is what I do, great studio at this time. I write a song, great, blah, blah, blah. When do you find out if we've got, if we're lucky enough to have another 40, 50 years on this earth, right? What's going to light us up that whole journey? And I think about that constantly, if I've already done this much,
I've been lucky enough, blessed enough to have 20 years in the music industry. What am I going to do for the rest of my life? What's going to light me up? What? I'm just going to retire. I'm just going to sit there. I've got my kids, my family, my wife. That's lovely. It's beautiful. But I'm not like that. I need something to fire me up.
Do you know what I mean? Which is why I did this thing, all of these different companies that I've created. But the biggest thing now that really likes me up, Jay, is seeing what's happening with this new generation of Asian artists. I was about to ask you about it. It really is. It's crazy, man. I am, as you probably know, haven't done an album for a long time. A lot of people, like, yeah, man, when you're going to do another album. And you know what my answer always was?
There's what I said, honestly, is what I used to say. Nobody cares about an album anymore. They just want music, content. Let's say your favorite artist, let's just say Drake, for example. Let's just say you're waiting for a Drake album. It's like, alright guys, I'm gonna be back in three years. I'm gonna just work really hard on this. In this day and age that we're in with our attention spans,
Ain't no one wait three years, bro. No one's, which is why he could turn one out a year. But that's Drake. But people don't want to wait around. So I used to just said, I said, forget album, that model is old. It's an old notion. I'll just keep giving you music. I'll just keep putting it up. It's on my Spotify, it's on my Apple music. And I did that consistently for years.
And through doing that, I sort of like, you know, just spend a lot of time on these streaming platforms. I started discovering all this music, which to me was reminiscent of what me, Rishi and Jagi were doing 20 years ago. So all of a sudden you had these kids from India singing in Punjabi, but they're singing over like a drillbeat.
And there's like an English vocal on there from some random artist. And I was like, this fusion stuff is happening again, except this time, it's happening with these 20 year old kids who are living in India who have basically grown up with access to the internet. From the moment they're born, they got this device. So yeah, of course, they listen to Bollywood and then listen to all this stuff. But they're also listening to Travis Scott. And they're listening to, you know, I mean, Rihanna, whatever it is.
So that was us 20 years ago. And I, when I tell you something happened inside me, it just started bubbling. I was like, I need to get in front of these kids. I need to soak up their energy. It's that youthful energy, that excitement, because they're not jaded. They're not, they haven't even stepped into the industry yet. They're just kids having fun. That's who I was 20 years ago. And it lit me up.
And I said to Jeremy and of course it was the best news he ever heard. I was like Jeremy, that's it. Decided, man. He's like, you're what? An album. I was like, yep, and we're going to India. That's where we're doing it. He's like, great. Never been to India. I was like, oh, this is going to be fun for you, bro. So we did. We went to India this year and I recorded three quarters of my album in India.
But these guys, these immensely talented kids whose faces were just lit up from music. There was no journey. They hadn't even been on a journey yet. There were no obstacles. There was no problems. There were no highs and lows. It was just love for music. And this album for me now, I'm so excited about it because again, it came from a place of joy and excitement.
You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's so interesting how like, even that with the, going back to your Rocky story example, there's Rocky Five where he trains Tommy Gunn. Yeah. And it's like that whole feeling of he gets his enthusiasm back. Because he's back in there, he's with a young guy who reminds him of himself. Exactly. Again, there's such a need for us to always go.
and be with the beginner again and go to the source again and we miss out on that in life because the higher you get, again, less randomness means you spend time with the same people, you're not spending time with the person who's at the grassroots, who's got their finger on the pulse and all of a sudden again, you're disconnected. Yeah, you're disconnected. Yeah, completely disconnected. And that's so right, man. I felt myself
Going I felt like through through my journey and through 20 years, you know what's really interesting is that it's very easy to age yourself out the game. Right it is and and you know that I think it's funny I don't know if you've ever took if any of the other artists who you've had on your podcast ever talked about this.
Ageism is a funny thing in the music industry. In the music industry, it's weird, right? If you're an actor, it's brilliant. You just get to play older roles. And sometimes they become even better because they've been active for so many years. Well, now I feel like the main actors in movies are 50 years old. That's like the standard age if you actually check their age. Yeah, it's really interesting. So in a way, the more time you spend there, the more years you put into that craft will actually pay off.
I mean, let's say if I was a doctor right now, I'd probably be a consultant within a few years. The more years you put in, you step up the ladder. And whereas music, it's like the more years you put in, it's like you're ending, you're going closer towards the finish line, and they're like, can't mate enough now, get off stage. No one wants to see a 50-year-old dancing around, right? And it's a very weird thing. Again, if I didn't have a sense of humor about that, I could be like, who are you to tell me when to stop working?
Who are you to tell me I'm too old to be on that stage? Who are you to tell me that I have not done anything great since that song or this song? But I do understand. I do understand. It's kind of awkward and cringe worthy at some point if you see some people who aren't self-aware enough to understand that, bro. Maybe you shouldn't be dancing right now. Go and sit on a stool.
Make the saga acoustic. And let's just get that audience. Being able to let go of a former identity that worked. That's right. That's so interesting. And the thing is, quite often we're frozen in time. I'm frozen in time. On those plaques in my house and in Jeremy's house, there's a baby face, Jay Sean. And I look at him and I see that young boy and I see what he's achieved. And I'm proud of him.
But I'm also very aware that maybe I don't want to keep doing this 10 years down the line. Who knows? I mean, truth be told, I'm sure Snoop and all these guys said that they wouldn't be rapping.
I feel like your favorite artists redoing songs that are either nostalgic. I think nostalgia is such a big part of music, right? Of course it is. You listen to music to feel that way again. Exactly. For me with us, you too, I don't think I should have made a load of new music in recent years. To me, when he did, you remind me, obviously.
And there was this scene in the You Remind Me video where the song shuts off, but he's on that silhouette of that. You know which one? The sun's in the background. And he did that on stage. And for me, I was just like, that's all I want to see. Because to me, it's like, that is exactly where I was at 16. I remember trying to do the moves and failing. Exactly.
And I'm still fair to this. What do you think I don't dance with? Yeah, yeah, yeah. But that's the thing. And it's like, if Eminem picks up a mic ever, I will be there. I will just sit and watch. I mean, watching Beckham and his documentary take three kicks. I happily watch David Beckham play football any day of the week because there's a feeling there that you'll never get.
because nostalgia is built that way. Nostalgia will never change. If you had a positive experience watching Rocky, I can still watch Rocky, because me and my dad used to watch Rocky together. So Rocky will never ever be old or boring for me, because I've watched Rocky a million times. Bro, sound. Every word of all of them, even Rocky Five, even though they say it's the bad one, I still love it. I love Rocky Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five Five
Yeah, which is why I mean if you go to Vegas why why all of the biggest acts are nostalgic but they put you in a place where you just feel they transport you back in time what can ever transport you back in time is you as well as music does totally nothing you know where you were what you were wearing what girl you were dating you know all of that stuff you know when you listen to a song.
And it's a beautiful thing, but it's really funny. You reminded me of something when you said about the rocky thing, right? And you were saying, again, just to go back to that. The other day when I was watching his documentary, and I'm not going to spoil anything for you, there's some of the scenes are in his house in LA. You've probably been to his house.
I haven't, I haven't. I've only met him once and he was amazing. Dude, I was... Yeah, I've only met him once and he's amazing, but it wasn't that he's hurt. I'm so glad he lived up to what he wanted him to be. He was awesome, yeah. But here's a guy who's been acting for, what, 50 years now? 50. 50 years in the game. And what was his biggest breakthrough hit? Rocky. Rocky. One. Biggest breakthrough hit.
But then 50 years of more films. Now, if Sylvester Stallone is walking down Sunset Boulevard and me and my mates or whoever was there and they saw him, like, oh my God, or just any person sees him. What do you think he hears every day of his life?
You ain't here! You're Rocky! Right? That's what we do. Now, he could take that in one of two ways, couldn't he? He could either go, shut up, I've done like 100 films. Why do you keep going back to Rocky? Or he could go, yo, I get it. Because I love Rocky too. And Rocky, for me, changed my life and I know you guys love Rocky. Totally. And he took Rocky, his baby that changed his whole life and instead of rejecting it and going, you remind me
of the fact that maybe i've never topped you instead of doing that he's a comin i'll put a massive statue of myself as rocky in my swimming pool in my house and i will have all the rocky memorabilia all around my house
and I will embrace you and I will be grateful for you. And that, I really love that because I think the problem as artists is that sometimes we wanna, when we do a show, right? People are waiting, man. You go see Michael Jackson, it's Michael Jackson. He has some of the biggest, best songs on planet Earth. One of the biggest pop stars that ever lived. What are people waiting for? And you wanna see him do his dance and moonwalk.
And he's probably like, oh, Michael Jackson. And that's what you're waiting for, Bill June. Oh, great. Of course they are. Because that's why they fell in love with him. And that's why they fell in love with Rocky. And they're the people who, for me, in America, man, they fell in love with Down. So when I do my shows and stuff like that, whatever it is, even if I've got new songs,
I'm not turning my concert into me. I'm not turning it into, hey guys, I know that loads of songs that you guys wanna hear, but I'm actually gonna spend the next 45 minutes singing my brand new album. I'm not doing it. They don't care, because they don't know it. The show's for them, right? It's such a good point, and I love this idea of, you know, we all, and whether it's age, whether it's,
time, whether it's changes in life, there is a part of your identity where you have to share, do you have to let go? Like everyone has to do that. And what's amazing is I actually saw what you just said you don't do happen recently. I won't name the artist, I'll tell you after it. I'll tell you after it. Right.
So it comes on stage and we're waiting for this song, right? Waiting. And he's the first act before the main stage. But it's still an artist that I love. And I'm waiting for the song. The beat comes on and we're all there. And yes, me and Radi and our friends that we went, we're really excited.
And then 10 seconds into the track they cut the beat and he goes you think i'm going to do that here you think i'm going to give you also he goes about 30 years of songs to give you and then he goes by all these songs that we didn't recognize and he actually did that and it was like.
I was like, you just took away my moment, bro. Like, I wanted you to do that song. That's right. Not because I'm limiting you, not because I think you have no other hits. You actually have really talented. But that song is so special and iconic that I need to hear it. You need to hear it. And I felt like 10 seconds of it was all he gave us. And then he never went back to it. And I thought, oh, maybe he gave it 10 seconds. He'll go back, step finished, didn't get it. And that's exactly that feeling of like... It's our own stuff. But you're saying we're dealing with that. Yeah. We're all dealing with that.
We all have a trapped identity somewhere. All of us have what you're saying somewhere. And somehow we're actually mad at it. It's annoyed by it rather than welcoming and embracing it. And I think about it. It's been 10 years since I left the monastery. I'm a very different
m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m
But I found that whether you embrace or reject, people always have an issue with it because it doesn't make sense to them. If it doesn't fit into their version of how they perceive you, it's complicated. And I think for me, I've learned to accept that I need to give myself permission to be who I am today, to be who I was 10 years ago.
and who I will be 10 years from now, and I promise you it won't be the same. And I need to give myself permission to allow that. And I think we, when you see, like you said, when you see Sylvester Stone, give himself permission. We had Arnold Schwarzenegger on the podcast recently. He's the same. He has the original Terminator outfit in his place. He has Alien. He has everything.
And he loves it, like he really loves it. And I love him for it because I'm like, yeah, bro, you should be proud of yourself. You crushed it and you're not trying, he's not trying to be the Terminator anymore. He's not trying to be, but he loves it. He loves doing, my social media manager asked him a question on the way out and they said, do you have any last words? And you're like, I'll be back.
He loves it, and I love it, and I love it, and I love it before. Yeah, and I love him for it, and he's not disingenuous, he's not inauthentic, he's not stuck in the past, he's a really, he was great to chat to, and so, yeah man, all these people were talking about, but, Jay, I could talk to you for hours, we can literally do this. I think we have to.
Yeah, we have been. I could genuinely talk to you guys and I love this and I think what I love about this conversation genuinely is I feel like we've drawn like you, you pulled out Rocky. Yeah. And I think because we have that we've drawn this really nice arc and narrative for people and I hope everyone who's listening and watching this, I really hope that you find your own rocky journey like genuinely. Yeah. In your own way as you've seen mirrored in your life that you've shared so wonderfully today.
But Jay, we end every episode with a final five or the fast five. Jay Sean, these are your fast five. The first question is, what is the best advice you've ever heard or received? Spend so much time on self-improvement that you have no time to criticize others. Love it. That is great advice and no one's ever said it on the show. Second question, what is the worst advice you've ever heard or received?
It sounds so stupid, but it's like when you get the big money, nobody told me how to spend it or invest it. It's a great point, right? And nobody told me any about that, go buy some houses instead of like, you know, wasting on stuff like that. So I wish I actually got some advice on that, how to manage money. Yeah, that's good. That's good. I hope everyone is coming into new monies here in that.
Question number three, what has been the gift of parenting that you didn't expect? Because I know you're a great dad. That is no longer. The world is no longer about me. My job is no longer about me. My life is no longer about me. It's all about, it's all for my kids. All of this now is for my kids.
And it's the most beautiful thing is there's nothing more grounding than when you can be a pop star and famous around the world, but you come home and you're just daddy. It really is the cutest. Question number four, what is the thing that surprised you most about the music industry in 20 years?
How much how much of a change technology would have on it literally flipped it on its head is a totally different animal there's a hundred and twenty thousand new songs that come out every day now every day every day a hundred and twenty thousand new songs come out. So you imagine trying to put get yours is just a needle in a haystack.
and so many people can be independent, you could do whatever you want, don't need that big record deal anymore, although I do have a record company that I've started, for South Asian talent, that's my way of giving back. I'm so excited about that, by the way. And that's what I want to use all of my 20 years for, bro. All of my experience is to now pass it on to the next generation. So I have experienced it, I know all about it now, so now it's my turn to be able to help other people through it. I love that you're doing that as well, because I think there's such a need for that support.
I was probably the two, you know, I was the guy watching jump off, but too scared to go on. Right, well, that's it, bro. I know you love rapper. Yeah, I love my half-to-sign humans. No, I think the age, too. But no, that idea of like, there's just, I think there's any, I'm so happy that you're doing that. Honestly, when I heard about that, that was amazing. And I'm so sad I couldn't come to the event. I was on a plane. I was out of town. Fifth and final question, if you could create one law that everyone in the world had to follow, what would it be?
The obvious thing for me to think that the world is missing right now is kindness. So what if there was a law that every person that you meet, you had to do a kind act? What if there was a law that you had to do one random act of kindness a day? And I think that could go on to make the world a better place. Yeah, that would be beautiful. I think so. I love it. Even if you didn't want to do it, if it was a law and you knew you had to do a random act of kindness for somebody, that could have an knock on effect.
Yeah, because it would make you do it even end of the day. Like you got to figure it out. Yeah, I love it. Jay Sean, everyone. I'm so grateful Jay. Thank you so much for coming on. Thank you, bro. Thank you for having me. Yeah, no, this was so much fun. You're right. I knew it would be, I knew it would be yapping on for hours. I don't even know how long I don't know. Yeah, I left us these guys, but no, that was awesome, man. Thank you, brother. I'm so excited for people to continue to listen to your new album on Spotify. Yeah. And where do you like, actually, that's a great question. As a musician, where do you like people to discover your work now?
Well, the streaming, obviously, the streaming platforms is where it's all out, right? So everybody knows that whatever they have a favorite streaming platform or whatever, but whatever you like, it will obviously be up on there. But really also, I love being on TikTok, man. I know you do. You know, TikTok for me is actually a really cathartic tool because it allows me to buy my silly goofy sense of humor. It allows me to just be a human being rather than just an artist. So yeah, if you guys want to just follow me on TikTok, it's just at Jason and all of the usual stuff. It's very easy. It's just at Jason everywhere.
Salut. Yeah, man. Brother, thank you. That was so much fun, man. If you love this episode, you'll really enjoy my episode with Selena Gomez on befriending your inner critic and how to speak to yourself with more compassion. My fears are only going to continue to show me what I'm capable of. The more that I face my fears, the more that I feel I'm gaining strength, I'm gaining wisdom, and I just want to keep doing that.
Hey everybody, welcome to Across Generations, where the voices of black women unite. I'm your host, Tiffany Cross. Tiffany Cross. Join me and be a part of Sisterhood, friendship, wisdom, and laughter. We gather a seasoned elder, myself, as the middle generation, and a vibrant young soul for engaging intergenerational conversations prepared or engaged or hear perspectives that literally no one else has had. Listen to a Cross Generations podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.
Imagine you ask two people the same seven questions. I'm Mini Driver, and this was the idea I set out to explore in my podcast, Mini Questions. This year we bring a whole new group of guests to answer the same seven questions, including Courtney Cox, Rob Delaney, Liz Fair, and many, many more. Join me on season three of Mini Questions on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your favourite podcasts. Seven Questions, Limitless Answers.
I'm Eva Longoria. And I'm Mike Degomis-Rejuan. We're so excited to introduce you to our new podcast, Hungry for History. Hungry for History. On every episode, we're exploring some of our favorite dishes, ingredients, beverages from our Mexican culture. We'll share personal memories and family stories, decode culinary customs, and even provide a recipe or two for you to try at home. Listen to Hungry for History on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
