Jai Paul

Jai Paul
Born 1988 (age 26–27)
Origin Rayners Lane, London, UK
Genres Electronic, R&B, pop
Occupation(s) Singer-songwriter, record producer, instrumentalist
Labels XL
Website www.jaipaul.co.uk
Notable instruments
Vocals, Drums, Guitar, Keyboards

Jai Paul (born June 1988) is a British singer, songwriter, producer, and recording artist 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, which asserted his style as "a startlingly fresh vision of 21st century pop music".[2]

"BTSTU (Edit)" was released as a digital download on 21 April 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 20 May 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 30 August 2011, "BTSTU (Edit)" was included on Radio Nova's "Nova Tunes 2.4" compilation in France,[16] and on 25 October of the same year the track appeared on "Annie Mac Presents 2011" in the UK (incorrectly listed as "BTSU").[17]

2012

On 30 March 2012, Paul uploaded a new demo titled "Jasmine (Demo)" to his SoundCloud page.[18] The demo was given an official release via XL on 9 April 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 2 April, "Jasmine (Demo)" was played on BBC Radio One by Zane Lowe, who chose it as his Next Hype Track.[20] On 9 April, 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 25 November 2012, another Jai Paul track hit the internet, titled "Flip Out (Demo)".[24]

2013 Album Leak

On 14 April 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 15 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 17 April, 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 32 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]

More recently, the leak was recognized as one of The 100 Best Albums of the Decade So Far, a list published by Pitchfork Media in August 2014.[32]

2014

In an interview with Dazed in June 2014, XL producer Rodaidh McDonald revealed that he had been working with Paul on new music.[33] In November, Miguel posted a photo of himself with Jai Paul and his brother A.K. Paul on Instagram, marking a rare appearance from the artist.[34]

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".[35] 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."[36]

Discography

Studio albums

Album title Release details
TBA

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 18 December 2010.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Sound of 2011 – Jai Paul, BBC Music website. Retrieved on 18 December 2010.
  3. ↑ "BTSTU". nogenremusic.com. 28 July 2010. Retrieved 17 February 2012.
  4. ↑ "Jai Paul". allmusic.com. Retrieved 17 February 2012.
  5. ↑ "BTSTU (Edit) – Single by Jai Paul". Itunes.apple.com. 21 April 2011. Retrieved 28 August 2011.
  6. ↑ "The Playlist: Jai Paul – "BTSTU (Edit)"". Pitchfork. Retrieved 28 August 2011.
  7. ↑ Cragg, Michael (22 April 2011). "New music: Jai Paul – BTSTU | Music | guardian.co.uk". Guardian. Retrieved 28 August 2011.
  8. ↑ Lowe, Zane. "Zane Lowe's Hottest Records blog: Hottest Record – Jai Paul – BTSTU". BBC. Retrieved 28 August 2011.
  9. ↑ "Drake Leaks New Song". Mtv.co.uk. 21 May 2011. Retrieved 28 August 2011.
  10. ↑ "Beyonce "Till the End of Time" MP3". Thefader.com. 23 May 2011. Retrieved 28 August 2011.
  11. ↑ "Listen: Drake Raps Over Jai Paul on New Track". Pitchfork. Retrieved 28 August 2011.
  12. ↑ "Drake – Dreams Money Can Buy (feat Jai Paul)". ABEANO. 20 May 2011. Retrieved 28 August 2011.
  13. ↑ "Drake Debuts "Dreams Money Can Buy" Off His Upcoming Take Care Album (Updated)". MissInfo.tv. 20 May 2011. Retrieved 28 August 2011.
  14. ↑ "Beyoncé's End of Time sample of Jai Paul's BTSTU". WhoSampled. Retrieved 28 August 2011.
  15. ↑ "From Drake to Beyonce, Is Jai Paul a Famous Songwriter in the Making?". Desihits.com. 25 May 2011. Retrieved 28 August 2011.
  16. ↑ "Nova Tunes 2.4". Discogs. Retrieved 20 May 2012.
  17. ↑ "Annie Mac Presents 2011". play.com. 25 October 2011. Retrieved 25 October 2011.
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 "Jai Paul: "Jasmine"". Pitchfork. 30 March 2012. Retrieved 20 May 2012.
  19. ↑ "Jasmine (Demo) – Single by Jai Paul". itunes.apple.com. Retrieved 20 May 2012.
  20. ↑ "Zane Lowe". BBC.co.uk. 5 April 2012. Retrieved 5 April 2012.
  21. ↑ "Annie Mac". BBC.co.uk. 12 April 2012. Retrieved 12 April 2012.
  22. ↑ "New Releases". New York Times. 13 April 2012. Retrieved 13 April 2012.
  23. ↑ "New Music: Jai Paul – Jasmine (demo)". The Guardian. 13 April 2012. Retrieved 13 April 2012.
  24. ↑ Gould, Sam (26 November 2012). "Jai Paul: "Flip Out"". SoulCulture. Retrieved 17 February 2012.
  25. ↑ "Jai Paul". Bandcamp. 13 April 2013. Retrieved 14 April 2013.
  26. ↑ "Download Jai Paul's Self-Titled Debut Album". Pitchfork. 13 April 2013. Retrieved 14 April 2013.
  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. 15 April 2013. Retrieved 15 April 2013.
  29. ↑ "PMA's 40 Best Albums of 2013". Pretty Much Amazing. 18 October 2013. Retrieved 11 June 2013.
  30. ↑ "Best albums of 2013: 30–21". The Guardian. 5 December 2013. Retrieved 8 December 2013.
  31. ↑ "Pitchfork – The Top 50 Albums of 2013". Pitchfork. 18 December 2013. Retrieved 18 December 2013.
  32. ↑ "The 100 Best Albums of the Decade So Far (2010-2014)". Pitchfork. 19 August 2014. Retrieved 25 October 2014.
  33. ↑ "The xx and Jai Paul Working on New Music, Producer Rodaidh McDonald Confirms". Pitchfork. 9 June 2014. Retrieved 22 November 2014.
  34. ↑ "Elusive Jai Paul Surfaces on Miguel's Instagram". Pitchfork. 13 November 2014. Retrieved 22 November 2014.
  35. ↑ "Electronic Talents #5: Jai Paul". Clash Music. 26 May 2011. Retrieved 12 June 2012.
  36. ↑ "New Music: A Record Label With The Midas Touch". NPR. 8 June 2012. Retrieved 8 June 2012.

External links