Jaymes Young

Creativity leans on acceptance of the moment. Often, the process simply requires a keen sense of receptivity. In the studio and on stage, singer, songwriter, and producer Jaymes Young opens himself up to a flurry of emotions and experiences and transposes them into catchy confessions splashed onto an ever-evolving musical canvas of pop, indie, electronic, and alternative. With a catalog streamed over half-a-billion times by 2019 and acclaim from the likes of Entertainment Weekly, Vice, and more, he catalyzes his next chapter by actually letting go….

"I've let go of doubts that would've stopped me from doing certain songs before," he affirms. "It's long overdue. There were some things going on spiritually in my brain for years. In the back of my mind, I needed to tap into them and give them the chance to speak. I feel like I've unleashed a part of my creativity I lost touch with and had been lying dormant. It's not distracted. It's both old and new. It's back to the basics."

A turbulent two-year journey brought him back to basics. Following breakout EPs Dark Star and Habits of My Heart, Jaymes delivered his full-length debut Feel Something during 2017. It immediately struck an intense and intimate chord with listeners worldwide as "I'll Be Good" generated 120 million global streams and 35 million YouTube views. On its heels, "We Won't" [feat. Phoebe Ryan] clocked 90 million global streams to date. Meanwhile, "Stone" and "Feel Something" both crossed the 20 million mark as he garnered tastemaker praise courtesy of Time, Nylon, Stereogum, Billboard, Blackbook, Idolator, Earmilk, and Rolling Stone who touted him among "10 New Artists You Need To Know." In the wake of the project, he sold out his first-ever North American headline run, the "Feel Something Tour," and supported Oh Wonder on the "Ultralife Tour." However, he recognized a personal void within this whirlwind.

Taking to Instagram, he announced "a break."

"I posted, 'I'm going to take a break, and I may or may not come back,'" he recalls. "There was something missing. I stopped enjoying music, but I didn't really know why. There was a slow degradation of losing touch with my love for writing and producing. I stopped having fun. I stopped listening to my instincts. I was overthinking everything. I lost touch with who I was as an artist. I spent the next year-and-a-half trying to get back to those original feelings and inspirations for creating again."

So, he engaged "a system wide reset." Following back-to-back relationships for five years, he took advantage of time alone. He traveled. He returned home to Seattle for a spell. Finally, he relocated to a different part of Los Angeles and settled. Along the way, he found perspective.

He also essentially got out of his own way and allowed the music to take shape.

"If there's one thing I learned from Feel Something, it's to capture a song right the first time," he admits. "You have to be ready for those moments. They come, they go, and they're gone forever. The magic happens the first day or recording. I learned to dial everything in, so I can focus on having fun. I was able to do so and allow myself to write naturally again. It's about the journey of making new material. It's why I fell in love with music initially."

His 2019 single "Happiest Year" emerged from the process. Tearful one-take solo piano reverberates over sparse production as his delicate verses paint a picture of longing, "I'm really on the ropes this time. I've been fighting all my life for you." The track builds in a measured crescendo towards a falsetto-punctuated refrain that soars, stuns, and stirs all at once as he sings, "Thank you for the happiest year of my life."

"It came out of pure emotion," he continues. "It was something I needed to get off my chest at the time. I didn't have much of a choice. It's my first new music in a while, but it's actually a way of closing the door on a personal and creative part of my life. It's the end of one chapter and the beginning of another. I had exited out of an intimate relationship and paused music. I was struggling with losing all of those things at once and not knowing what anchored me. I was feeling bitter and resentful with the way everything musically and personally ended. There was a moment I played the piano and thought about the idea of gratitude towards someone who left me feeling pretty bad. I said 'Thank you' for the positive aspects, bookended the experience, dropped the burden, and moved on."

As Jaymes steps forward, the music progresses alongside him. Leveraging his freedom, he asserts, "the music is becoming more free and epic, because there's no filter. It's just happening."

As such, audiences ultimately get to know him like never before.

"I want to show people who I am as a songwriter," he leaves off. "I finally feel like I can share a wider spectrum. I'm really excited about where I'm headed. Over the next two years, I believe I'm going to put out some of the best music I've ever written. It's been a long time coming. I can't wait for everyone to hear it."

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BOILER

Jaymes Young opens himself up to a flurry of emotions and experiences and transposes them into catchy confessions splashed onto an ever-evolving canvas of pop, indie, electronic, and alternative. With a catalog streamed over half-a-billion times by 2019 and acclaim from the likes of Entertainment Weekly, Vice, and more, he catalyzes his next chapter by actually letting go.

Following breakout EPs Dark Star and Habits of My Heart, the singer, songwriter, and producer delivered his full-length debut Feel Something in 2017. It immediately struck an intense and intimate chord with listeners worldwide as "I'll Be Good" generated 120 million global streams and 35 million YouTube views. On its heels, "We Won't" [feat. Phoebe Ryan] clocked 90 million global streams. Meanwhile, "Stone" and "Feel Something" both crossed the 20 million mark as he garnered tastemaker praise courtesy of Time, Nylon, Stereogum, Billboard, Blackbook, Idolator, Earmilk, and Rolling Stone who touted him among "10 New Artists You Need To Know." In the wake of the project, he sold out his first-ever North American headline run, the "Feel Something Tour," and supported Oh Wonder on the "Ultralife Tour." However, he recognized a personal void. Taking to his Instagram, he announced "a break" and engaged "a system wide reset" in 2017. Two years later, his 2019 single "Happiest Year" emerged from the process. Tearful one-take solo piano reverberates over sparse production as his delicate verses paint a picture of longing before a falsetto-punctuated refrain that simultaneously soars, stuns, and stirs. He ultimately let go and the music continues to flourish now.

Leveraging his freedom, he asserts, "the music is becoming more free and epic, because there's no filter. It's just happening."