The Pick: "Pillow Talk" Finds 234jaydaa at Her Jovial Best.
Our song of the week!
234Jaydaa feels like she’s whispering in your ear. The Nigerian-German singer-songwriter possesses an ethereal, featherlight voice which she uses to great effect: mostly delivering lilts that carry a certain tenderness or poignancy. She draws from the cadences of lo-fi, bedroom Pop tinged with Hip-Hop influences and the lyrical pensiveness of R&B along with its brooding hues. There’s a warm elegance that courses through her rich but lean discography, distilled through that gentle, soulful whisper. It’s like her own unique Zanpakutō, one that she wields effortlessly and masterfully.
It’s this gentle whisper that takes center stage on her latest effort “Pillow Talk”. While her soothing voice usually floats over slow, emotive production, this time, it’s been baptized in autotune, almost like she’s singing through a vocoder, over a colorful beat courtesy of Dj Lolu. Markedly, her approach has changed since she started working with the talented, upcoming producer earlier this year. Lolu’s bouncy beats affords her space to be a little more playful and experimental, sometimes trading her whispery coos for tight, trap-influenced delivery and flows.
June’s “TTW” finds her gliding friskily over Lolu’s 808s and she’s doing the same on “Pillow Talk” perhaps with even less care. “Twerk it for me, let me see that bounce / In a circle, Gimme a twirl” she sings playfully. Her heart-on-sleeve vulnerability and majestic delivery doesn’t feature much here, rather, it’s jovial Jaydaa that makes an appearance. It’s the kind of track you would imagine could soundtrack a slow-mo walk through a steamy, strip club scene. It’s arguably the most fun and relaxed she’s ever been on a record. That’s why it’s a little maddening that at just one minute and twenty four seconds, “Pillow Talk” is incredibly fleeting. But just like she suggests, (Soulmates for the night, or soulmates through winter / But when the sun is back, best believe I’ve booked my Uber) she’s only here for a good time and not a long time.
