Entertainment News | Music
Former Bad Boy Records songwriter Jay Saint shared his experience in the music industry on New York City's newest podcast, "Me, Myself, And:" created by The Breakfast Club Producer and Power 105.1, Joey Geballa.
Earlier this summer, Geballa launched his new podcast, “Me, Myself, And;”, a platform and conversation between queer creatives and many other allies in the music industry.
The Jay Saint podcast episode premiered with exclusives, where Saint revealed that Caribbean star Sean Kingston’s hit song “Fire Burning” was actually written by him. Unfortunately, Bad Boy Records, Sean Combs aka Diddy's record label, gave full credit to Sean Kingston while Saint remained unpaid and uncredited to this day.
Geballa, who has worked hand and hand with artists from Power 105.1 wanted to know more about Saint's journey as a writer and later becoming a solo artist.
He asked Saint, "What do you think are the pros and cons that being a songwriter has taught you?"
Saint didn't hesitate to make it known that, "...imagining a melody on a train or in the shower and then it being sung by people you admire, and them repeating the words you came up with. For a writer that is probably one of the biggest gratifications I could ever talk about because like these are emotions I've written about..."
But of course, the music industry isn't all glitz and glamour. Things can get mishandled for new artists who may not know much about contracts, copywriting and credits. He also shared with Geballa the cons of being in the music industry, noting that he has had his fair share of being mishandled.
"It's extremely easy for your things to become stolen."
Saint has written for artists like Fergie, Danity Kane and Sean Kingston. Kingston was his first unfortunate reality.
"The funny thing about Sean Kingston is that [Fire Burning] was supposed to be my song. I came up with the melody and they changed the words. That was something my manager at the time was pitching me to the label and they knew I didn’t have my papers together but they knew it was a melody that was going to hit […] then I heard it on the radio...I didn't see a dime.”
Sean Kingston's "Fire Burning” was released in 2009 and has accumulated over 98 million YouTube views. Jay Saint is not listed in the credits after allegedly coming up with the melody for the hit.
Overall, Jay Saint's biggest takeaway from this experience was the impact his talent has made despite the lack of recognition.
"It was a huge pat on the back for me...that lets me know that I am talented and I do belong here. I can produce hit records...for me, it was a huge confidence boost and I took that and ran with it. It was a win for me, at the time it was definitely worth it."
Now, as an openly queer solo artist Saint takes that lesson with him moving forward as he continues to change lives with his latest album, "Back From Jupiter" and his latest EP, "Excommited".
Catch Saint's full 54-minute podcast interview with Joey Geballa on YouTube, where he shares working with Danity Kane and statements made by his former boss, Diddy and more!
Gayes, how would you feel in this situation? Should Jay Saint seek to obtain credit or compensation?