Today we’d like to introduce you to Seige “Sej” Lander.
Hi Seige “Sej”, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I was born and raised in Trinidad, but my dad is from Dominica and his family’s spread out all over the Caribbean. So I kind of grew up immersed in Trinidadian, Dominican, even Bajan culture. I really got to experience so much of the Caribbean growing up, and I think that gave me a different perspective when it comes to music.
I’ve always loved singing. I was in choir, I did Parang, I was in everything — anywhere I could sing, I was there. But being from the Caribbean, your family does not want to hear anything about “I want to make music.” It’s very much doctor or lawyer. My dad’s a doctor, so you already know I was being pushed into all the sciences. I even applied to medical school in high school, thinking, “What am I doing? How am I going to be a doctor? I can’t even see blood. Who am I saving if I’m passing out in the O.R.?” I knew that wasn’t for me.
Before I fully gave up that path, I thought, let me at least see if music is something worth pursuing. You know when you watch American Idol and you’re like, “Do these people not have friends? Why didn’t someone tell them?” I didn’t want to be that person. Around that time, I had the opportunity to be in a music video for Machel Montano, who’s basically soca royalty in Trinidad. I asked him if I could send him some of my covers and just get his honest opinion.
Mind you, I didn’t even have a phone at the time, just an iPad and a dream. I wrote his number in my notes app and used my mom’s phone to send the songs. Two weeks went by and I heard nothing. Then one day my mom bursts into my room like, “Machel’s calling you!” I was shook. He told me I had the potential to put Trinidad on the map and that I needed to leave, develop my craft, and really go for it. That was the validation I needed to take the leap.
I flew to Florida knowing I wanted to do music, the only problem was that I couldn’t write a song. I couldn’t rhyme two words together. In school, if we had to write poems, I’d literally make my mom help me. But a family friend who’s an engineer told me straight up, “If you want this, you have to learn how to write.” So, I sat at a table with my laptop and told myself I wasn’t leaving until I wrote a song. It took me about a day and a half — I’m not going to lie, I had to step away at one point — but I did it. And then I just kept going.
I started sending my music to anyone I could find, even people on LinkedIn. Eventually, I sent it to NE-YO’s manager, who’s now my manager. He liked what he heard and flew me out to Las Vegas. They had me write and record a verse to a NE-YO song in like two hours. I was jet-lagged, stressed, and completely out of my comfort zone, I’d never even been in a different time zone before. But I did it. They ended up liking what I did so much that they gave me a bigger part on the song.
Since then, I’ve just been developing, really honing in on my sound, what I want my music to feel like, and the story I want to tell. Now I’m just excited to step into 2026 with consistent releases and really share everything I’ve been working on.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I think the hardest struggle was honestly just getting here. Being able to get a visa, just the process of that is super hard. Getting that, getting your family who doesn’t support you to just trust in what you believe, but also having family where everyone is a doctor. Everyone is literally, you know, a doctor or an engineer, and they’re not taking you seriously. They’re like “okay girl, how’s your little music thing going?” So, dealing with that is hard and currently with everything going on with not being from this country, it also just makes it difficult for obvious reasons. That’s probably the most recent struggle, but I feel like just coming here has been like such a blessing that I don’t really like to see all these struggles. Yes, it’s hard but getting here was so hard I will never complain about everything that’s happening now because me back then? I would have done anything to get here and be able to do so many of the things I’m doing. I’m just grateful for the opportunities.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am a recording artist and songwriter, and I’m known for making music.
Honestly, my ability to just stick. I’m a very determined person. Even in life, being told I can’t do something, it just makes me want to do it more. I don’t want these societal norms to tell me I can’t do something just because it’s uncommon. I’m proud of myself for ignoring that, moving past the noise and staying consistent and just staying the course. I have a vision for myself and I’m not going to stop until I see that. I’m really proud of myself for having that vision for myself.
Honestly, I feel like I’m very authentic. I feel like the world is lacking authenticity. Everyone is kind of just trying to act like they’re something they’re not. I feel like it’s needed. Everyone just needs to be more real, and I feel like that’s what music is about and that’s who I am. I try to portray that because it’s very important to me. Also, just the sound that I’m creating, it’s something that hasn’t been done in a very long time, so it’s something I feel like we need.
Any big plans?
I’d love to go on tour. I would love to be doing my own headlining tour all over Europe, the Caribbean, Asia, and everywhere. I would also love to have my own business some day.
I’m really excited for people to just enjoy my music, enjoy the culture, and to spread the culture to people who don’t know it. That’s really my goal right now.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://sej.bstage.in/home
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sej__official/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61566477968778&mibextid=LQQJ4d
- Twitter: https://x.com/sej__official
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@sejofficialmusic
- Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/sej
Image Credits
One photo has photographer credits in the name of the file. Others were taken by friends/family and don’t need credit.
