Jai Paul

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jai Paul
Origin Rayners Lane, London, UK
Genres Pop, Contemporary R&B, Chillwave, Indie, Electronica, Hip Hop, Funk
Occupations Singer, songwriter, record producer, instrumentalist
Labels XL
Website www.jaipaul.co.uk

Jai Paul is a British songwriter and record producer from Rayners Lane, United Kingdom. He is signed to XL Recordings.[1]

Music career

2007-2011

Paul's 2007 demo "BTSTU" received widespread blog coverage throughout 2010, and has been played on UK national radio by DJs including Gilles Peterson, Zane Lowe, Nick Grimshaw, Reggie Yates and Fearne Cotton.[2] "BTSTU" was said to be released by Paul's impressed brother.[3] The song caught the attention of several record companies and a bidding war ensued. Paul eventually signed with XL Recordings later in the year in 2010.[4] In December 2010, Paul was longlisted for the BBC Sound of 2011 poll.[2]

"BTSTU (Edit)" was released as a digital download on April 21, 2011, via XL.[5] The single received favourable reviews,[6][7] and was made 'Hottest Record in the World' on Zane Lowe's BBC Radio 1 show.[8]

On May 20, 2011, Canadian hip hop artist Drake leaked a track titled "Dreams Money Can Buy" via his blog.[9] Shortly afterward, "Till The End Of Time", a song by American R&B artist Beyoncé surfaced online.[10] Both tracks feature a sample of Paul's "BTSTU" demo.[11][12][13][14][15] On August 30, 2011, "BTSTU (Edit)" was included on Radio Nova's "Nova Tunes 2.4" compilation in France,[16] and on October 25 of the same year the track appeared on "Annie Mac Presents 2011" in the UK (incorrectly listed as "BTSU").[17]

2012

On March 30, 2012, Paul uploaded a new demo titled "Jasmine (Demo)" to his SoundCloud page.[18] The demo was given an official release via XL on April 9, 2012.[19] Pitchfork named it "Best New Track"[18] within an hour of its appearance on Paul's SoundCloud page, where it reached over 500,000 plays within a month. On April 2, "Jasmine (Demo)" was played on BBC Radio One by Zane Lowe, who chose it as his Next Hype Track.[20] On April 9, Annie Mac named it her Record of the Week.[21] "Jasmine (Demo)" received critical acclaim in the media, with The New York Times praising its "Prince era sensuality"[22] and The Guardian simply describing the production as "amazing."[23] The song Jasmine also appears in the 2013 video game Grand Theft Auto V.

Paul also appears on the song "Higher Res" on the deluxe version of Big Boi's 2012 album Vicious Lies and Dangerous Rumors. Later in the year, around November 25, 2012, another Jai Paul track hit the internet, titled "Flip Out (Demo)".[24]

2013 Album Leak

On April 14 of 2013, a user uploaded an album to Bandcamp that appeared to be a release of music by the artist.[25] Several sources, including Pitchfork Media, reported that the release posted to Bandcamp was Jai Paul's debut album.[26] However, on the 15th of April 2013, Jai Paul posted a tweet to confirm the rumours of it being a fake, and warned not to buy the album, with an official statement expected soon.[27] On April 17, XL released the following short statement: "As widely reported, on Sunday 14th April, music by XL Recordings artist Jai Paul was illegally made available via a fake Bandcamp account. This music was not uploaded by Jai and it’s not his debut album – it is a collection of various unfinished recordings from Jai’s past. Neither XL or Jai will take any money from the sale of this music. We have been working with Bandcamp and PayPal to resolve this situation and they have told us all purchases will be refunded within the next 7 days." It is alleged that this unfinished music was stolen from Paul.[28]

The album was placed at number 34 in popular music blog Pretty Much Amazing's 40 Best Albums of 2013 list,[29] number 28 in The Guardian's Best albums of 2013[30] and number 20 in Pitchfork Media's Top 50 Albums of 2013.[31]

Relationship with Media

There has been media speculation about Paul's background and motivation, as he has remained out of the public eye. British publication Clash commented on Paul's mysteriousness, saying "Hype is a fascinating commodity. Where some quickly melt down the attention for liquid purpose, promising talent Jai Paul removed all his music from MySpace and went to get his shit together".[32] XL Recordings founder and owner Richard Russell acknowledged Paul's unpredictability, saying, "Jai is a wizard...the way he's going about things is, I think for many, baffling. But...he's going about things in the most Jai Paul way you could possibly go about things. And who knows where that may lead."[33]

Discography

Single(s)

Year Title Peak Chart Positions Album
UK UK Indie
2011 "BTSTU" 139 —
2012 "Jasmine (demo)" — —
"—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released.

References

  1. ↑ New Signing - Jai Paul, Chrysalis Music News. Retrieved on December 18, 2010.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Sound of 2011 - Jai Paul, BBC Music website. Retrieved on December 18, 2010.
  3. ↑ "BTSTU". nogenremusic.com. 2010-07-28. Retrieved 2012-02-17. 
  4. ↑ "Jai Paul". allmusic.com. Retrieved 2012-02-17. 
  5. ↑ "BTSTU (Edit) - Single by Jai Paul". Itunes.apple.com. 2011-04-21. Retrieved 2011-08-28. 
  6. ↑ "The Playlist: Jai Paul - "BTSTU (Edit)"". Pitchfork. Retrieved 2011-08-28. 
  7. ↑ Cragg, Michael (2011-04-22). "New music: Jai Paul – BTSTU | Music | guardian.co.uk". Guardian. Retrieved 2011-08-28. 
  8. ↑ Lowe, Zane. "Zane Lowe's Hottest Records blog: Hottest Record - Jai Paul - BTSTU". BBC. Retrieved 2011-08-28. 
  9. ↑ "Drake Leaks New Song". Mtv.co.uk. 2011-05-21. Retrieved 2011-08-28. 
  10. ↑ "Beyonce "Till the End of Time" MP3". Thefader.com. 2011-05-23. Retrieved 2011-08-28. 
  11. ↑ "Listen: Drake Raps Over Jai Paul on New Track". Pitchfork. Retrieved 2011-08-28. 
  12. ↑ "Drake – Dreams Money Can Buy (feat Jai Paul)". ABEANO. 2011-05-20. Retrieved 2011-08-28. 
  13. ↑ "Drake Debuts "Dreams Money Can Buy" Off His Upcoming Take Care Album (Updated)". MissInfo.tv. 2011-05-20. Retrieved 2011-08-28. 
  14. ↑ "Beyoncé's End of Time sample of Jai Paul's BTSTU". WhoSampled. Retrieved 2011-08-28. 
  15. ↑ "From Drake to Beyonce, Is Jai Paul a Famous Songwriter in the Making?". Desihits.com. 2011-05-25. Retrieved 2011-08-28. 
  16. ↑ "Nova Tunes 2.4". Discogs. Retrieved 2012-05-20. 
  17. ↑ "Annie Mac Presents 2011". play.com. 2011-10-25. Retrieved 2011-10-25. 
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 "Jai Paul: "Jasmine"". Pitchfork. 2012-03-30. Retrieved 2012-05-20. 
  19. ↑ "Jasmine (Demo) - Single by Jai Paul". itunes.apple.com. Retrieved 2012-05-20. 
  20. ↑ "Zane Lowe". BBC.co.uk. 2012-04-05. Retrieved 2012-04-05. 
  21. ↑ "Annie Mac". BBC.co.uk. 2012-04-12. Retrieved 2012-04-12. 
  22. ↑ "New Releases". New York Times. 2012-04-13. Retrieved 2012-04-13. 
  23. ↑ "New Music: Jai Paul – Jasmine (demo)". The Guardian. 2012-04-13. Retrieved 2012-04-13. 
  24. ↑ Gould, Sam (2012-11-26). "Jai Paul: "Flip Out"". SoulCulture. Retrieved 2012-02-17. 
  25. ↑ "Jai Paul". Bandcamp. 2013-04-13. Retrieved 2013-04-14. 
  26. ↑ "Download Jai Paul's Self-Titled Debut Album". Pitchfork. 2013-04-13. Retrieved 2013-04-14. 
  27. ↑ https://twitter.com/jai_paul/status/323775821561090049
  28. ↑ "Per An Official Statement, You Did Not Download Jai Paul's Debut Album". Consequence of Sound. 2013-04-15. Retrieved 2013-04-15. 
  29. ↑ "PMA’s 40 Best Albums of 2013". Pretty Much Amazing. 2013-10-18. Retrieved 2013-06-11. 
  30. ↑ "Best albums of 2013: 30-21". The Guardian. 2013-12-05. Retrieved 2013-12-08. 
  31. ↑ "Pitchfork - The Top 50 Albums of 2013". Pitchfork. 2013-12-18. Retrieved 2013-12-18. 
  32. ↑ "Electronic Talents #5: Jai Paul". Clash Music. 2011-05-26. Retrieved 2012-06-12. 
  33. ↑ "New Music: A Record Label With The Midas Touch". NPR. 2012-06-08. Retrieved 2012-06-08. 

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