Bajan Artists Who Signed With Major Record Labels

Shontelle signed with Universal Motown Records in 2006. That same year she worked with Rihanna for the first time. She was the writer of and the featured artist on the song “The Hotness”. It was made for the film Save The Last Dance 2 and was featured on its soundtrack.

During her time at Universal Motown Shontelle released her 2008 album Shontelligence (which was re-released in 2009) and her 2010 album No Gravity. Shontelligence reached number 115 on Billboard Top 200 Album chart, number 3 on the Billboard Heatseekers Albums chart, and number 24 on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. No Gravity made it to number 81 on the Billboard Top 200 Album chart and number 23 on the U.K. Official Hip Hop and R&B Albums Chart Top 40.

Three singles were released from Shontelligence: “T-Shirt”, “Stuck With Each Other feat. Akon”, and “Battle Cry”.

“T-Shirt” made it onto fifteen Billboard charts, reaching  number 1 on the Dance Club Songs chart, number 6 on the Euro Digital Tracks chart, and number 10 on the Euro Digital Song Sales chart. It also charted at number 7 in Belgium, number 9 on the Official Scottish Singles Sales Chart Top 100, number 6 on the U.K. Official Singles Chart Top 100, and number 1 on the U.K Official Hip Hop and R&B Singles Chart Top 40.

“Stuck With Each Other feat. Akon” charted in Ireland and the U.K. It reached number 10 on the U.K. Official Hip Hop and R&B Singles Chart Top 40 and is on the soundtrack of the 2009 film Confessions of A Shopaholic. “Battle Cry” charted in the U.K. and is on the compilation album Yes We Can: Voices of Grass Roots Movement. The album was part of President Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign.

Shontelligence also features Shontelle’s recording of “Roll It”, which she co-wrote with Sheldon Benjamin and was originally recorded by Alison Hinds. It was the success of Alison’s version that led to Shontelle’s record deal. Shontelle worked with Rihanna again for the third version of “Roll It”. Re-written by Shontelle and Benjamin, this version was performed by J-Status, featuring Rihanna. Shontelle joined them in the music video. “Roll It” appeared in the season five, episode fifteen episode of Grey’s Anatomy entitled “Before and After”.

No Gravity spawned three singles; “Impossible”, “Perfect Nightmare”, and “Say Hello to Goodbye”. In an interview with Rap Up, Shontelle stated that Bruno Mars worked on the album. According to the album’s Wikipedia page, he worked on the song “DJ Made Me Do It” and played guitar, drums, and keyboard and did programming.

“Impossible” is Shontelle’s most successful song. It was certified platinum by the RIAA and gold in the U.K. and Denmark. It charted in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Ireland, Belgium, Scotland, New Zealand, Norway, Austria, Denmark, and Hungary.

“Impossible” entered eighteen Billboard charts. It reached number 5 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart; number 6 on the Mainstream Top 40 Recurrents chart; number 9 on the Pop Airplay, U.K. Digital Song Sales, and Hot 100 Recurrents charts; number 10 on the Euro Digital Tracks chart; and number 13 on the Hot 100 chart. In Norway it reached number 16, number 11 in Scotland, and number 5 in Denmark.

“Perfect Nightmare” reached number 6 on the Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart and “Say Hello to Goodbye” reached number 30 on the Billboard Pop Airplay chart.

In 2009 Shontelle was one of the artists that sang on the Motown 50th Anniversary Medley, along with her Barbadian labelmates Vita Chambers and Hal Linton. She was one of several Caribbean artists featured on “Rise Again (Haiti)” for the Digicel Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund in 2010. All proceeds from the song went to the fund.

Shontelle was the opening act during the European legs of Beyonce’s I Am… World Tour, the New Kids on the Block Live tour, and the AOL AIM Presents: Jason Derülo tour. She performed at the 82nd Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in 2008. In 2010 she performed at the 5th Annual Black Girls Rock Awards and the MTV Logo NewNowNext Awards.

Her work as a co-writer on Rihanna’s song “Man Down” earned her a Grammy nomination in 2012. The album on which it appeared, Loud, was nominated for Album of the Year. Shontelled co-wrote “Man Down” after getting a call from Rihanna while she was on her Last Girl on Earth Tour.

Shontelle began working on a third album that was scheduled for release in 2013, but it didn’t materialise. She did, however, release the song “Reflection” in 2011, which was rumoured to be the album’s first single. A 2012 article on Star Trident stated that the song “Put Me On Blast” would be the album’s first single and that a video had been shot in Los Angeles. Shontelle confirmed that it would be the lead single in a 2014 interview with Nation News. That article, however, states that the video was filmed in Venice.

She also revealed in the Nation News interview that she had signed a “collaborative deal” with the record label All Def Music and the management company All Def Digital. Both companies focus on promoting and developing artists via YouTube.

While at Republic, she co-wrote and appeared on The Game’s “Love on Fire” and “Oh Lord” from his album OKE: Operation Kill Everything. She was also featured on “Critical Condition” by Hal Linton, “Don’t Call Me” by DMX and Rakim and “Gal Wan More” by Elephant Man.

In 2015 she signed with SMH Entertainment. She was seemingly also working on another album while at SMH but that didn’t materialise either.

In an interview with Arabian Moda, Shontelle explained her departure from Republic:

“The industry began to tank around the release of my second album, No Gravity. Almost everyone at Motown Records was being fired and I didn’t even have a staff to work with on my music. Only big artists were getting support from the record label.

I winded [sic] up with Republic Records but the situation was far worse there and no one took me seriously. I saw it as a complete waste of my time and parted ways with them too. I disappeared for a while to heal and rebuild myself. I feel so much better now and am back to work!”

And work she has.

In 2018 she teamed up with Barbadian Vibe Architect Adaze and created the song-writing and production duo TRBL. That year they released the TRBL Riddim. Together, the two have co-written songs for Joaquin Brewster, Machel Montano, Saddis, Biggie Irie, Kirk Brown, and Natahlee.

Shontelle began releasing her own music again in 2020 with “Remember Me”. She released seven songs in 2021, including a remix of “Impossible” and her history-making single “House Party”. Her decision to release “House Party” as an NFT made her the first major Black, female musician to do so.

She was also featured on “Danse Pour Moi” by Anthony Alcatraz (the music video for which was shot in Barbados), “Necessary Love” by D’Sound, and the remix of “Find My Way” by Megan and the Miracles.

This year she released “Be The One”.