“I’m hoping he’s going to get up and dance a little bit."
Jay Sean said he hopes King Charles will “get up and dance” when he performs at the British Asian Trust Gala on June 9.
The singer will perform at the annual fundraising event celebrating the achievements and contributions of British Asians.
The appearance comes shortly after Jay became the first South Asian artist to receive a Diamond certification from the Recording Industry Association of America. The award recognises sales of more than 10 million copies of ‘Down’.
Despite performing for the King, Jay Sean said he is approaching the occasion with excitement rather than nerves.
He said: “King Charles shall be witnessing.
“I’m hoping he’s going to get up and dance a little bit.
“Obviously the Gala is a very prestigious thing that celebrates all of the sort of contribution from British Asians in this country.
“It’s nice to be recognised for those achievements and to be able to celebrate that tomorrow, I think it’s going to be lovely.”
Jay described receiving the invitation as a significant milestone in a career spanning more than two decades.
He continued: “It’s one of those things where you go, ‘well, see, mum, it wasn’t such a bad idea to quit medicine’.
“To have that sort of longevity and to be able to span over two decades, when there’s so many choice of artists that they could choose, whenever you’re chosen for something like this, it’s always a moment to remind yourself and say ‘that’s not an easy accomplishment’.
“It’s kind of like a beautiful reminder of just how you’ve spent your career and the impact that you’ve had on people.”
He said fans attending the gala can expect a set packed with some of his biggest hits, alongside music that reflects his South Asian heritage.
Jay revealed his performance will feature “bangers only” and include a track sung in both Punjabi and English.
He said: “Music has this amazing ability of being able to transport you back in time, because we all remember where we were when we first heard that song, we remember who we were dating and what we were studying and where we were, who our friend group was, what we used to do, and I think that’s the sort of magic in performing those songs.
“I love seeing the reaction of people when you could just see it brings them back to into a beautiful moment.”
Jay Sean also spoke about the role of events such as the British Asian Trust Gala in highlighting the achievements of British Asians and challenging outdated perceptions.
He added: “There are still stereotypes as to what we do, what kind of jobs we do, what kind of contribution we make to this society and quite often the arts are overlooked.
“I think that the arts is a space that we really took a long time for people to understand that ‘hey, we can be funny too, we can be comedians, we can be actors, we can do music’.
“We can do all those things, because we’re not that different.
“I think it’s re-educating that and looking a bit more into the arts that people can discover how much talent there really is there.”
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