As far as Songs of The Summer go, Jean Dawsonâs latest single, âCLEAR BONESâ, is an unlikely offering. A self-described ode to the lighter side of mortality, itâs Britpop with its cheeky grin turned upside down â Smash Mouth holding Oasis in a headlock as Blink 182 lazily film the incident on their phones. Itâs at once completely incompatible, and totally immersive, much like its creator.
Raised in Tijuana, Mexico before decamping to Los Angeles, the 24-year-oldâs career has been simmering nicely for the past couple of years. 2019âs debut album âBad Sportsâ drew attention for itâs complete refusal to stick to one idea, ricocheting between rap, indie and plenty more besides in a manner than only the torrenting generation can really pull off.
2020 single âBRUISEBOYâ ramped things up further, a creeping fever dream that somehow captures both the grounding sensation of a mosh pit and the out-of-body dissociation of a panic attack. Singing in both English and Spanish, âOoga Boogaâ is Brockhampton doing The Prodigy, with a bonus Spice Girls reference â âtell me what you want, what you really really want.â Each song is a piece of the Jean Dawson puzzle, a snippet of the many multitudes that make him who he is.
âI’ve been a product of so many different cultures that when people ask me about the genre-bending, I don’t even look at it as anything other than making music that I would want to listen to,â he says via Zoom. âListening to a lot of the rock groups that inspired me growing up, none of them really looked like me and it created an inner conflict.â
âGrowing up in a basically third-world country, my problems were more like âwhat are we going to eat todayâ or âI’m afraid and if I get pulled over by the police, I’m gonna dieâ. That’s not to say that their problems aren’t valid, it’s just to say that the things that I’m talking about deal with a different perspective. On my first EP, thereâs a song called âNapsterâ and I wanted it to feel like The Smiths, but what would The Smiths sound like if they were from Compton instead of Manchester?â I love Britpop shit, but how do I keep the same intention of that music and give it my own identity?â
“For one song I thought, ‘What would The Smiths sound like if they were from Compton instead of Manchester?’”
A pick ânâ mix approach to music provided a strong comfort in Dawsonâs early years, soundtracking the 4am starts he made each school day to cross the US border via two trolley-trains and a bus. âEight-years-old with just a skateboard, CD player and the wherewithal to get to where I need to be and come back.â Never quite settling in with any one clique, his outsider status resonates with his listeners, drawn to his refusal to dampen his personality for the sake of blending in.
âI never wanted people to feel like they have to be a weirdo to listen to my music â from my experiences at least, I didn’t know that I was weird until people told me!â he laughs. âBut I guess being a Black Hispanic person, who looked and sounded different to everybody⊠we’re all just so multi-dimensional as people. To negate yourself a proper opportunity to express yourself is a disservice in existence, I think. I have friends that are super thugged-out and the first time I played them Mac DeMarco, they were in love with it, like âdamn, I would have never listened to this shit’. And I’m like, see! If I want to sing a folk song with a golden grill in my mouth, nobody’s gonna tell me I can’t do that. People think itâs really cool, but I’m literally just doing me â I’m not trying to be provocative.â
His words, and the vivid sincerity with which he speaks them, recalls the energy of a fellow maverick, capable of undeniable moments of brilliant musical self-expression. âKanye is definitely an inspiration â âMy Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasyâ is probably my favourite album of all time,â he says. âIt’s one of those albums where I feel like LeBron James watching Michael Jordan play â itâs like âfuck, how do I outdo that?â I’ve had conversations where I’m just like, âif I don’t beat that album in my career, I’m gonna be so frustrated with myselfâ. I think there’s bigger bars to reach, but that is one of them.â
In his ascent to popularity, itâs clear that Dawson has a close circle of friends that heâs planning on bringing along for the ride. Seeking to expand his songs out from a place of singular narrative, he regularly finds lyrical inspiration in the lives of his collaborators, encouraging them to open up about their pressures and perspectives.
âI do this bullet point thing with the things I want to get off my chest, like if I have daddy issues that Iâd like to talk about, or a relationship that I haven’t fully processed,â he explains of his songwriting process. âI’ve been working a lot with my friend Zac Fogerty, and because weâre so close, I can ask him those questions about his life that drift into song making. I want this shit to be so much bigger than me â I want to unify the voices of everybody that feels like they need somebody to use the megaphone. If Iâm talking about taking antidepressants, itâs not me saying ‘Woe is me, I take medication’. This is just my human experience, and if that’s the same as yours, thatâs cool. And if not, here’s this other layer about how I also want a Lamborghini. You know? Yes, I take anti-depressants, but I also want a nice car.â
Details around Dawsonâs follow up to âBad Sportsâ are still cagey, but thereâs every chance that it may deliver him that Lambo. Currently titled âPixel Bathâ, heâs enjoying laying breadcrumbs of information around the internet, a treasure hunt for eager fans to unearth.
âI love when artists play coy. I’ll be like ‘fucking tell me’, but actually itâs the not-knowing thatâs kinda funâ he smiles. âCredit to some of the kids out there though. They’ve found some old songs that I made in high school which I genuinely didnât know existed. Iâm not doing the mystery thing to fuck with anybody, itâs just much more fun for everyone if itâs not just a date that you can mark on a calendar.â
His point brings us full circle back to âCLEAR BONES’, a âhere for a good time, not a long timeâ mantra that feels eerily relevant in 2020, a year where nothing can be taken for granted. What meaning does he hope people take from the song?
âWhen I was writing, I was just like ‘man, morbid songs are sick, but how can you make a sad song exist in a fun environment?’â he says. âI donât really like getting into explaining my songs or putting a border around then, but itâs just about giving death a personality, just being like ‘yo, chill out, I’ll come when I come.’
âI love sad music a lot, but if you don’t give me the option to be happy while I listen to that music, I’m out. That’s where I want to be with my music. I’m not trying to dictate how you feel â I just want to amplify whatever it is you’re feeling.â
Jean Dawson’s ‘CLEAR BONES’ is out now
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