How Baby Shark hit enabled UK label to support drill musicians

One is the freshly crowned king of British drill with songs that reflect on a tough upbringing, drug-running and time in prison. The other appeals mostly to two-year-olds with its infuriatingly infectious chorus of “doo doo doo du-du du-du du-du.”

Headie One and Baby Shark are both number one in their respective fields and could not be more different. But they share a UK record label and the wild success of one is helping support more risk-taking in giving new artists chances other labels might not, its founder Shabs Jobanputra said.

Jobanputra, who came to the UK as a child refugee and set up Relentless Records 21 years ago this month. He said he had always looked out “for subcultures and scenes where there is something interesting happening and bringing it to the fore”.

His career began with So Solid Crew and has included working with a diverse range of acts including Craig David, Joss Stone, KT Tunstall, Roll Deep and Daniel Bedingfield.

In 2018 he signed a deal to distribute Baby Shark, a children’s song which originated in South Korea and has become a dizzying global phenomenon. This month the song’s video, featuring two dancing children and an animated family of sharks, became the most viewed ever on YouTube when it got to 7.04bn views.

Jobanputra said its success was down to its universality as well as being “a lifesaver” for parents. “When the kids are shouting and screaming and you put that on, it is a fantastic, virtually failsafe distraction,” he said.

“It is very rare to find something so powerful and consistent in what it is. It gives children happiness, they feel like they are part of something. It is so universal, it is one of the very few things that every two-year-old around the world can share.”

The song was recorded by the South Korean education supplies company Pinkfong with Relentless coming on board around three years ago.

“We didn’t know anything about kids’ music at all and we didn’t really know what this was,” he said. “All we knew was that it felt like it was brilliant. Our job was to grow the brand musically.”

The tune seems to be known everywhere, not always for the right reasons. In Oklahoma three jail employees were last month charged with cruelty for allegedly forcing handcuffed inmates to listen to it on repeat for hours. In West Palm Beach, Florida, city officials used it to drive away the homeless.

The Baby Shark deal has proved a money spinner for Relentless although Jobanputra stressed they don’t share all the franchise’s vast spoils.

It may also never end. “There is always another two-year-old coming,” he said. “There is a magic built in Baby Shark and with my own children I’ve seen it first-hand. It always keeps popping back in the charts … it never stops selling, it is just in every region of the world. There isn’t really anywhere it hasn’t worked which again is quite unique. You can see this lasting a long time.”

The money it generates allows Relentless to sign talent that others may be more cautious with. “It has been very good for us. It has given us a platform to do other things. It gives us more flexibility to take a few more risks with things like Headie One,” Jobanputra said.

Headie One, born Irving Adjei, is currently top of the charts with his album Edna, dedicated to his mother Edna Adjei who died when he was a child.

The rapper’s songs tell his tough life story of growing up on the Broadwater Farm estate in Tottenham, north London. The Canadian rap giant Drake has described Headie as “the best drill artist in the world” while the NME said the album proved he was “the king of drill and so much more besides”.

Jobanputra recalled Headie One coming to Relentless’ office and loving the Baby Shark paraphernalia around the place. “He said ‘my niece loves Baby Shark’ and happily took away two of the cuddly toys.”

Relentless is part of Sony Music but still very much a boutique label, said Jobanputra, whose family came to Britain in the 1970s, expelled from Uganda by Idi Amin.

Many of the acts they work with take about three years to come to fruition and not all labels are willing or able to take that amount of time, he said.

“It doesn’t matter whether it is a two-year-old in South Korea or a 15-year-old downloading drill … it is about making sure we don’t dilute whatever it is that the artist is doing. We’re showing it to the world and saying here is something unique and different. It may not be what you’re into, but it has got real value and merit.”