JAWNY on His Creative Process and His Debut Album 'It's Never Fair, Always True'
Since first picking a guitar at age six, JAWNY’s always been making music. While slowly making his way to the top, the release of his 2020 EP, For Abby, catapulted him to new levels of fame. The release of “Honeypie,” a single that gripped the nation, transformed his life into a blur of flights and tours and record labels, marking him as an artist worth watching out for. With an exciting string of recent track releases, including his newest single “true,” JAWNY continues to outdo himself as an artist.
JAWNY’s creative process is an experience without rhyme or reason, inspiration strikes different angles of each song. “Sometimes words or lines come first before there’s any music at all,” he describes, “and there's also times when the melodies come first without any words.” Once he’s taken note of the inkling inside his brain, JAWNY is left to his own devices to put the rest of the song together. Each track is a unique experience, one which either comes effortlessly or is mechanically crafted together, a process the artist describes as ‘faking a song into existence.’
As he moved from coast to coast as an adolescent, JAWNY was surrounded by a mix of different sounds that inevitably bled into his own music. Originally growing up in the Bay Area, JAWNY was encompassed with alternative and indie rock influences. However, after moving to South Carolina, the praise for Green Day was replaced by NEEDTOBREATHE as southern rock played everywhere he went. When recalling this experience, JAWNY states “Growing up and having those two influences at the same time, that kind of California indie and alternative rock, as well as a bunch of southern rock, had a weird rub on me as a songwriter.” Just as he describes, the merging of these roots is sprinkled throughout JAWNY’s music. His instrumentals call back on the bands from his California background while also incorporating hints of southern gospel, granting JAWNY’s music with a unique touch.
His newest single “true,” released earlier this year, captivated the ears of his audience and left everyone anticipating more. The song describes the universally pained experience of trying to get over unrequited love. However, he masks this struggle in a happy and upbeat melody. When asked for the reason behind this contrast, JAWNY explains himself by utilizing a spoonful of sugar analogy, stating “Most times if I’m writing about a sadder topic, I do like to package it in a presentable way that people can still listen to and bob their head to even if the lyrical content might be a little sadder.” The original version of “true” was more of a sad folk song. However, after putting the project away for some time and then revisiting it, JAWNY revised the melody and turned it into the light and dance-worthy track we know today.
In an ever-changing world where trends come and go, we’re constantly hearing brand new music and genres. Additionally, the constant evolution of ourselves as people can just as easily change the way we consume music. For JAWNY, these are some of the reasons for the fresh melodies in his upcoming record. He states “I’m growing everyday as a human and getting older, so my tastes and things that I’m interested in writing in change.” With the funding of Interscope Records, JAWNY now has the liberty of creating his dream record, something his adolescent self could only imagine of doing. JAWNY commemorates by saying “I feel like in this record, in comparison to the other one where I was just making music within my means, I wanted to make the record I wish I could’ve made when I was seventeen or eighteen that I didn’t have the ability to.” Complete with a string orchestra and featured artists, JAWNY is making his dream come true. His new album follows a cohesive narrative, one that holds its listeners hand until the very end. He presents himself as a serious musician that's capable of complex songwriting, while still staying true to his Indie roots.
JAWNY’s ultimate goal for his music is to have a song for every occasion. He doesn’t want his discography to consist solely of happy music, because that isn’t true to the human experience. Whatever his audience is feeling, he hopes he can provide them with a track that matches their emotions. Whether you’re sad, happy, excited or angry, JAWNY hopes that everyone will be able to point to his music and find something to relate to.
