JACK BE

Let’s start with your background. When did you first discover your passion for music? Who has had the greatest influence on your taste in music over the years?

“I don’t like music” is one of the most common phrases I could be caught saying as a kid. With that in mind, it’s funny that halfway through my adolescence, music saved my life. I spent those younger years grappling with clinical depression and anxiety that I didn’t understand even existed. As far as I understood it at the time, I was just broken, just simply different. But long story short, seeing some peers freestyling on a bus inspired me to try writing rap. In writing those verses, in focusing on rhymes, I would often let through emotions that I hadn’t wanted to acknowledge. I found a whole beautiful human sitting beneath my own fears. Creating, and especially writing songs, helped me to finally be myself. It was during those first weeks I realized I would be doing this, writing songs and creating things, for my entire life – whether I liked it or not.

In that same sense, my initial love of music sat firmly in the world of hip hop. The first song I ever loved was “Over” by Drake, a simple party anthem that I found a personal meaning and motto within: “Til it’s over, til it’s over, but it’s far from over”. At first it was the drums and the momentum of the genre, it was like a beat to march on to, and after a short time I fell in love with the verses and the storytelling. The worlds one could paint. I would buy a new album from J Cole, or Kendrick Lamar, and spin it in order, 500 times before moving on because the album composition felt like one huge mural. I obsessed over Outkast, Kanye West, MF Doom, on and on and on. Hip Hop will always be at the center of my love for music.

Thank you for you honesty, I know so many people will relate to your journey. How would you describe your sound in terms of feelings?

Hopeful, I think. Perhaps bittersweet. Maybe rather than any one emotion it’s just the pursuit of emotion itself. Music was my catalyst to feeling, and caring. So I’ve always chased any sound that really made me feel something. Beyond genre, I’ve always chased production and textures that made me feel something strong. It’s like the crisp wind lightly nipping your skin and enveloping you – when a song starts to feel like it’s overtaking me, that’s when it feels like a song I want to put in the world.

Whatever feelings my songs might convey, I’ve always hoped they were fantastical versions of those feelings. I’ve grappled with some huge ups and downs in my life, and a lot of those feelings were too hard to swallow or face until I enveloped them in color and sound. I hope my music can make even the worst things feel saturated and bright – feel like something one might be able to embrace.

You released your debut album “The Great Alone” in 2018 and it was a huge success, since then the response to your singles has been pretty impressive and you racked up tons of streams on Spotify. What has that feedback been like for you?

Hey thank you! Your feedback, everyone’s feedback, has touched me in a tremendous way. I guess what’s surreal about it all is that initially I didn’t want a soul alive to hear my music. When I first started making music, I spent six and a half years making at least a song a day without even a thought of sharing them; I made those 3000ish songs for me and me alone. But eventually, when I thought back on how musicians had accidentally, even unintentionally, changed the course of my life, a new dream came into being for me: I wanted to make one person out there feel they weren’t alone. Maybe even just help someone out there feel at all. So to me, numbers aside, the most fulfilling moments have been the letters I received from people. Those long messages people put a lot of thought into have always made me feel like every step of this journey has been worth it.

That’s amazing! and I’m so happy you ended up sharing your creations with the world. You just dropped your brand new single “The Man You Needed.” Such an awesome track! Can you tell me more about it? What was the inspiration behind it and what was the creation process like?

Thank you again!! Funny enough, this was the last track I made in a tiny little bedroom before an unexpected journey. Right before I got a new home and moved, before I learned instruments and production, right before going viral. It was a song I had fully intended to leave on the shelf. But after something like 40 of my peers told me I absolutely had to put it out there, I decided it could be the tip-of-the-hat goodbye to a chapter, right before I reveal a whole new era of sound.

I think it was something my mom said that convinced me to release it: “Wow Jack, this is the first song you’ve ever been nice to yourself in”. That made me laugh enough to reconsider the track entirely. It was one of my off the cuff songs, something I put together in about 30, 40 minutes. But the more I listened, the more I started to really like the core of the song. The idea that you can fall in love for one night and have it be totally genuine. The braggadocious tone that doesn’t require hostility. Maybe the song is a reminder to myself that there’s still fun to be had in the world following a broken heart. Whatever it is, I can’t stop singing the dang chorus, so it had to be released!!

You have been incredibly successful on TikTok, tell me about your journey on the platform!

Like all my other answers seem to be, this is another funny story. I really, truly barely understand tiktok. I don’t really know trends or hashtags or anything like that. I had a small profile with a couple hundred followers. But like I said earlier, I’ve always cherished human connection – a long time practice of mine has been talking with people that show me love. Whenever someone has shared my music on facebook or instagram, I’ll always pop in to say hello and tell them I appreciate it!

I never could’ve predicted the ruckus that this practice created on TikTok. I put out a small video telling people who I was and what I’d done, and people realized that when they used my music I would often show up to say hi or thanks. Suddenly I had 100,000 followers in like 5 days, and a top 50 song on TikTok. There’s something so inspiring about how the TikTok culture has room for real humanity and honesty and quirkiness. I can’t tell you how much I loved livestreaming and talking with people for hours on end.

I think my hope now is to exclusively do stuff that makes me giddy. I don’t want to tread water. I love surprising people, and in my heart I hope I can keep doing that over and over again through tiktok

What’s something people might find surprising about you?

I have severe social anxiety, like talking to people scares me terribly. I also struggle with a lot of physical ailments. People are often surprised by this, and say I’m a social butterfly, that I’m explosively energetic, but I’m not that way naturally. I think I’m gifted that strength and social energy from the energy that they send me. I really mean it when I say people inspire me. Part of my inconsistency on the internet has to do with the panic attacks I have some days, or the days I wake up and my body is too tired to function. But I find with every day that passes I become stronger at overcoming those hurdles, and I just hope my followers know their energy is what inspires me to do it.

I’ll add to this that when I’m on stage it feels like all these problems fade away. That might be the one place I’ve never felt afraid.

Who is on your top 3 list of artists you would want to collaborate with?

3???? I could name you 50 right now. There are so many of my peers that I love deeply that I can’t wait to collaborate with. But if I had to pick just 3 as my ultra wishlist:

Childish Gambino: There’s something about his purposeful and experimental nature that constantly inspires me. Childish Gambino was the first person to show me what a multi-hyphenate was, which inspired me to edit my own music videos, design my own clothing lines, and dare to make videogames all at the same time

Joji: I can’t put my love and respect for Joji into words. The bravery this man has to go out on a limb and follow his heart regardless of medium has helped me push onwards so many times. Plus, his old soundcloud deep cuts? What a world he paints in those strange sounds.

Tyler, The Creator: Bravado and poetry and another multi-medium hero of mine. I’ll never forget attending an OFWGKTA Christmas and falling two stories while crowd surfing. At the same time, I’d dare say finding out Tyler produced the entirety of Igor was the final straw that finally inspired me to learn about instruments myself. His love for music is so infectious as well. I’d kill to do a chorus for him.

Oh and J Cole. I’ve listened to 2014 Forest Hills Drive 40,000 times through. Also I’d kill to do an uncredited feature on a Kanye deep cut. Also a million other collabs.

When you were just starting out, what did you do to get your music out there? Any advice for aspiring songwriters/producers, about either the craft and business?

This is such a tricky question, cause I think everyone’s answer is different. There’s no clear cut formula. So here’s the two things I think anyone could apply:

Elbow Grease: Get your hands dirty. I used to send out 300 personalized letters to 300 different blogs just to land one article about a song of mine. I’ve stayed up for 48 hours at a time to finish editing music videos and get them out on time. I did shows where people attacked me in the crowds, I did shows to audiences of 3 people at a time. I ‘failed’ a million times. Failure is success, in my opinion. To fail is to try. To fail is to grow, if you’re willing to ponder on the pain for a moment afterwards. Like many great people have said, fail faster.

Honesty: Does something make you giddy? Does an idea scare you? Do you find yourself dancing to whatever you’re putting down? Then put it out. Don’t try to trick anyone. Don’t ‘market’, don’t get cynical. I like to think of it all as showmanship. I just worry about creating an experience, and then the rest seems to fall into place.

Such a great advice. Now let’s talk more about your personal journey. What is the hardest lesson you’ve learnt in life so far?

‘Hard’ and ‘lesson’ are two words I rarely put together simply because of what I said earlier, I try to fail as fast and as often as I can. I’ve tried to embrace the idea that messing up is actually more valuable than success. That’s not always easy to embrace, but I try.

I will say this though: the journey, appreciating the journey itself, was the hardest thing I ever had to learn how to do. I used to focus so much on the end goal. On the ‘get a million streams’ or ‘release this new music video’ moment. But it turns out the meat of life is in the struggles along the way. Sitting after a 24 hour music video shoot that barely came together and crying in an empty parking lot with your best friends. Creating an entire album and realizing the entire thing just isn’t what you want and starting fresh. Looking to the future and just not knowing how it could even be possible. Those moments, as much as they might be painful, are the ones you’ll look back on the most fondly. So take a moment to smile and appreciate how crazy you are for even trying, for even bothering to get out of bed everyday. Cause some day, you’ll look back, and those struggles are what you’ll miss the most.

Growing as a person, you will always encounter challenges that require leaving your comfort zone to try things that scare you. What scares you? Is there anything new and exciting you’d like to try?

I like to think everything I’m doing scares me. That’s part of the reason I disappeared, that I do disappear. On top of the personal/family issues that pull me away, I never like to tread water. I like to think that every single thing I put out, song or music video or clothing, in some way makes me nervous because some aspect of it is daring. It’s either new production, or a new sound, or a new technique. For example, almost all of the music I’m about to put out was solely produced by me (on top of being written, performed, recorded, and mixed by me). I’m so scared of people hearing it!! How cool is that??

This Summer I’m trying something incredibly new and exciting as well… so much so that I can’t actually talk about it. But stay tuned, cause whenever I pop back up, you can bet something terrifying and nerve wracking is about to happen.

I’ve got one last question for you! Thinking of yourself as a soul on Earth, what do you think your purpose is?

A lot of days I think it’s to make people smile. Every day though, I believe it’s to make people feel. I felt alone for so long. To be honest, there was a good chunk of my life where I felt nothing at all except lost. So trust me when I say it’s impossible to put into words how I feel reading letters from people that tell me I’ve helped them to feel, or to be themselves, or just to wake up in the morning and try. If just one kid out there feels a little less alone cause of something I’ve done, I can die happy.