Shaggy Looking For Perfection With 'Hotshot' Follow-Up

12/12/2001 5:00 PM, Yahoo! Music
Kastle

(12/12/01, 5 p.m. ET) -- Shaggy is about halfway finished with the follow-up to last year's multiplatinum album Hotshot, which spawned the hits "It Wasn't Me" and "Angel." The Jamaican-born reggae/pop singer told LAUNCH that he'll head back to his recording studio in January to either put the finishing touches on the album, or to just start it all over again from the very beginning.

"We've got our own studios and whatnot, so I record throughout the year, and we have about six or seen tracks already down," he said. "But knowing me, we'll go back in there--I'm going in there in January and doing 'balls to the walls,' and maybe in January I'll throw all six or seven of them out because it's got to be perfect. It's got to be right. And especially in this genre of music, you don't get second chances, so it's got to be on the money."

What is Shaggy most thankful for as we approach the end of this year? "I just look to see another day, man, and I'm blessed to see another day. We're living in hard times right now, and we've just got to give thanks for life," he said.

Shaggy can currently be seen performing the Supertramp song "Give A Little Bit" in a series of holiday-themed television ads for clothing retailer the Gap. In addition, he is one of the nominees for this year's American Music Awards (AMAs) Internet artist of the year honor, which is voted for online by fans. He is also nominated for an AMA in the favorite male artist in the pop/rock music category, and favorite artist in the rap/hip-hop music category. Shaggy is scheduled to perform at the AMAs, which will air live on ABC on January 9.

-- Jason Gelman, New York and Neal Weiss, Los Angeles

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