INTRODUCING OUR COVER GIRL... JAY LEWN
ORIGINAL CONCEPT BY KAMILLA TOTH.
“I curated 3 looks for Jay, which conveyed his effortless ability to present as both feminine and masculine. The aim of the 3 looks was to be fun and campy, playing into the narratives of gender conformity: an ethereal soul being born, an ironic play on a super masculine character and a femme fatale with a fun personality.”
Rounding off the collective successes of his heartfelt string of singles “Topdown”, “Glitter Ain’t Gold” ft Jaz Karis, “Boyfriend Part 2” and “Bloom”, rising R&B singer songwriter Jay Lewn unveils his highly anticipated sophomore EP “LOVERBOY”, fronted by lead single “Still Blue” ft JGrrey.
A dynamic, soul-stirring collection of 7 sensuous tracks, “LOVERBOY” encapsulates Jay’s affection for fusing alluring R&B melodies with irresistible, dream-like grooves. With each track possessing its own intricate personality and subject matter, the EP shines a new, intoxicating perspective on the age old notion of love, diving deeper to explore it’s twisted, multi-faceted nature.
From the delicately woozy influence of “Sober Thoughts” to the hypnotic bump of “Topdown”, the tracks on “LOVERBOY” are seamlessly blended through ambient lo-fi textures, experimental vocal treatments and colourful lyrical twists. Though effortlessly pushing sonic barriers and genre confines throughout the body of work, Jay successfully forges a sound that is unique to him, irresistible, nostalgic Noir&B.
We had the honour of shooting Jay for our front cover and the interview feature. After a 9 hour day of shooting this iconic editorial, we caught up with him to speak about his music, brand new EP and how making music was during lockdown.
How are you doing after shooting?
I’m doing great actually. I had such an amazing time on the shoot. It’s probably one of my most favourite shoots I’ve done, and the almost-all female team was amazing. It was the first time I’ve worked with an all-female creative team and I loved it! The looks were intense for sure, but never stressful. Everybody pulled together and just made the magic happen.
What was your favourite look out of the three?
My favourite look was definitely the punk one which made the front cover. I had so much fun doing that! Taking inspo from people like JPEGMAFIA and Keith Flint from Prodigy – there was a clear lineage especially with the spiked hair.
It was really good to go crazy and let loose! I think after a year of lockdown and being inside, it’s like we’ve shaken the bottle and just took the cap off and it was ready to burst, so it was really nice to let that excess energy loose on set.
I also loved the final look, the femme look. It was kind of like a femme fatale, I embodied a bit more of an ad-fab energy with the pizza and the prosecco bottle, and pretending I’m this hot bitch who has had a few too many evenings out and is a bit of a hot mess. They may be a mess but they’re a hot one. So it’s between those two – the masculine look and the feminine look which is great, because I am happy to run between those two.
We got to play with gender presentation and there was such freedom to have an authentic self in every look, adgrogynous, masc and femme. It was something that was encouraged and really fun for all of us to bounce ideas off. Such a fun day and all of us left the shoot like “OMG this was so fun! We need to do this again!” And I say it with love too… like the offer is there! Helloooo?!!!
So tell us about your new EP LOVERBOY.
It’s my second EP so it’s my sophomore one, following on from ‘FORM 01’. LOVERBOY is an EP I made entirely in lockdown, from the period of March to May last year. I wrote everything from my house and worked remotely with all the features and all of the session players that played on it. I actually was never in the room with any of them. LOVERBOY is definitely a product of the time that it was made, and I loved working that way. I’ve never been opposed to collaboration and because I had no choice but to reach out and with everyone being at home, everybody was really receptive to collaborate. The EP is all about love, hence the name LOVERBOY.
What inspired the name ‘LOVERBOY’?
I spent a while figuring out what to call the project, there were a few names going around but ultimately as love was the central theme of this project I named the EP LOVERBOY. Each of the 7 songs has a different perspective on love. ‘Glitter Ain’t Gold’ is about love in the digital age, like OnlyFans as an example. ‘6 Figure Flow’ is about love of the scene, love of just going out and fucking about. ‘Still Blue’ is a ballad about the aftermath of a breakup; so there are traditional views on love and then ones from a fresh perspective. ‘Loverboy’ was the character I didn’t intend on having but I just ran with it, and he, they, whoever they are have developed into this energy that I just feel like embodying. Punky, crazy, whatever, I know that anything will turn out great which is why I agreed to do the shoot, and it was amazing.
What is your favourite song on the EP?
Ooo. It’s a tough one but I love ‘Boyfriend Part 2’. Lyrically it’s my favourite on the project. It’s a very personal song about a relationship in my life that held such a large significance. It’s very conversational and the structure is more like a patchwork of memories painting the pictures. When I write songs I try to recreate how we remember things which are non-linear. When we try to remember a story, we remember pieces of it and patch it together in any order, but ultimately it doesn’t matter because you just remember the scene or the time in your life. I think it’s a really amazing way to write songs because it can make things abstract and poetic.
What was your least favourite look from the shoot?
I don’t think my least favourite is the way I’d describe it, but the one I was less able to go crazy on was definitely the first look, the andgrogynous look. Mostly because I was naked! Which is fine. And I had the linen material stapled onto me and a plastic diaper made by one of the team Britini, it was crazy! It was fun but not as much as the masc punk look and the femme fatale look. I resonated more with those characters, and it camped it up, you know what I mean?
How has your journey been as a queer artist trying to make it in the industry?
It’s been good. There’s any hurdles that you come across as a DIY artist, gay or not. But specifically to queer artists, one thing that I would love to have more of is working with more queer artists. Although I am already working with a few queer artists, I would love to work with more. There’s always room for more. GG, who I co-produced a lot of stuff with on LOVERBOY is gay-identifying, and JGrrey, who was recently featured on Gay Times, so she’s killing it! And an incredible artist called Harve who I’m currently working with. There’s always room for more and I would love to see more representation in mainstream music and not necessarily have to exist exclusively as a queer artist per se. An artist who happens to be gay, or queer, or however they identify is still an artist first! Some people still put you in a box and try to limit what you can do or where you can get booked, but it’s slowly changing for the better!
Who is/are your dream collaboration(s)?
I have a few. I would love to work with JPEGMAFIA in any capacity. Even if I just got to hang out with him, that would be it. I think he’s amazing: artistic direction and musically. Maybe not something that people would necessarily expect but the new music that I’m working on it’s going in that direction. I would love to work with The Internet. Would LOVE to work with Syd. Now this is a random one, I wouldn’t say that this is a dream collaboration but this is someone I would really love to work with… I really love Tion Wayne. I don’t know if that’s come out of nowhere. But I just really like him as a rapper. People can say what they want, but Tion, if you read this, I’m ready. Would love to also work with the guys from BROCKHAMPTON, Tyler the Creator, Steve Lacy, FKA Twigs…there’s just so many artists that are just amazing. Some of those people would be a featured artist or vice versa, some I would love to co-write for, some I would love to produce for and some I would love to do all three.
How have you been celebrating the release of your EP?
Well, I went to Telegraph Hill in Nunhead and I got drunk in the sun with my mates. We listened to everything and anything. Everything from Dub, to Funk, to Soul, we just had loads of fun whilst looking over the city, celebrating life and having a great time with loads of strangers and loads of people I know. Because we deserve to enjoy ourselves. It’s been a crazy year.
Any advice to queer artists that want to make it in the industry?
To my queer brothers and sisters who are out and proud and loving life, you are amazing. Keep going and just know that the worst of what we’ve gone through is behind us and now that we are out and proud, use that to fuel any creative idea you have. Be unapologetic. Through how amazing you are in people’s faces, and push yourself to those limits until they become the norm. And then see how much you’re going to thrive. And to all of my queer brothers and sisters who haven’t come out yet for whatever reason or coming to understanding what that means to them, just know that you are a part of an amazing community that love and support you no matter what. You are part of something that is much bigger than any of the fucking haters that try to say that you shouldn’t exist, or should downplay how you feel, or that you’re wrong. Everything about you is beautiful! Use your art to express yourself and let out things that you cant let out in other mediums, and find your tribe. Use your art to explore your identity and to understand yourself. That’s what I did and that’s what I’m still doing. Fuck the haters, we’re beautiful!
LOVERBOY is available on all streaming platforms.
CREDITS
Concept – Kamilla Toth
Photographer – Ofilaye
Creative Direction, Fashion and Set Design – Kamilla Toth, Aleena Klug
Creative Assistant – Susanna Shires
Hairstylist – Britini Campbell
Makeup Artist – India Rawlings
BTS Photographer – Ella Niles