I had a really interesting conversation with a friend of mine who works in animation in the film industry yesterday. My previous article featured Jain’s song and accompanying music video for the song, Makeba, and this is what sparked our discussion. Carving out a place for myself in the music industry has forced me to consider what it is that makes a song successful. While I think it’s valid to define success as topping the pop charts, I stay true to my millennial status in the sense that the people whom I truly consider to be successful are those who are receiving recognition for their innovative and unique creative efforts in such a commercial industry.
But what is it that sets these artists apart? Of course technical mastery and exceptional musicality are essential requirements should you wish to break into this elite category. But what causes my ears to prick up is something more, the ‘x factor’ if you’ll forgive the all but exhausted terminology, something different that engages my thinking as well as my auditory enjoyment. Sometimes this takes the form of Mr Little Jeans covering a familiar Arcade Fire song in an entirely different way and sometimes it looks like Dear Reader telling uniquely South African stories in a musical landscape that marries otherwise unfamiliar genres. It can be as simple as a distinct mood that transports me from the present into some place where my problems no longer feature. My introduction to Jain’s music happened when I stumbled upon the abovementioned music video for Makeba. It is a creation so striking that on listening to the album, the visual seems to continue and develop in my mind’s eye. The visuals that accompany music are often considered to be add-ons, and it is a refreshing approach to see the two bearing equal weight. As a result, the product is an inspiring sensory experience that informs the rest of Jain’s album, Zanaka. What is it that makes the two such a great match? The visuals and the music share a rare combination of African tradition and modern tech innovation. The pair work together to create a more accurate depiction of life in an African city than any real time TV I’ve seen. The energy, the diversity, the juxtaposition of Western infrastructure and local modernism and the incredible creativity that emerges from such an environment is communicated in this piece. This mood is carried through on Jain’s debut album, Zanaka, an ever-interesting compilation of electronic and acoustic pieces tied together with a raspy, mature vocal that is best described as something between Joss Stone and MØ. The genre is difficult to pin down, but Jain settles for “World Pop”. She’s an exciting newcomer and she gives me hope because of her unique, conceptual approach that evokes an energising emotional response in its audience while holding fast to a standard of musical creativity and excellence.
In an incredibly competitive market, artists seem to be realising that they need to offer a unique experience in order to get traction. As much as the changing industry is something to lament, with record sales plummeting and streaming becoming near impossible to monetise, there is an exciting element to the current climate. Artists like Jain remind me that artists need to be consistently re-thinking their approach, offering us something new, bettering themselves and developing products that are worth the consumers time and money. It is my hope that this pressure will inspire a new generation of artists to offer us much more than bangers – music with depth, music with visuals and sensory experiences we have not yet encountered.
