Every day I find out about different artists in some of the most random ways, but I’m just glad I’m in the position I am to help out different talents who seem to truly deserve it. Especially when they’re from my home city of Chicago, I can’t help but root them on because I still think that this city is way too overlooked for the number of quality performers that have risen through the ranks here. Additionally, some of them I know literally nothing about, but I just hear a song that I rock with while others have been popping off and have already solidified a following of their won.
When it comes to Chicago’s very own JJ, the former is the case as one of my old high school friends happened to post one of his upcoming releases on his story and it intrigued me. Now that the day has come and his new song “Bigger Picture” is out, I’m definitely glad this rising young talent is on my radar because I can see big things coming his way in the future. Starting out, you can hear a very heartfelt melody in the instrumental delivered by some soft piano keys and a pitched-up vocal sample that is brought to new levels with some consistently chattering percussion and thumping, tempo-setting drums.
As JJ begins to spit, his voice seems like a mixture of rapping and singing as his vocals come through with a certain tuneful quality that seems to just be a natural ability of his rather than something he’s reaching for and taking a risk to try and pull off. This is definitely accentuated as we move on throughout the song considering he truly does stretch out certain notes while ringing out every last drop of the effects on his vocals to get the most out of them. Throughout the entire thing, there is a calmness behind his delivery that is accented by an overshadow of optimism that just adds the perfect brightness to the aura of the track.
As with so many up and comers, JJ clearly still has a long road ahead of him and a good amount of fine-tuning when it comes to mixing, mastering, and simply perfecting his craft, but he seems like the type of kid who is up to the challenge and I’m definitely looking forward to seeing what he has to offer moving forward. The Jack James-directed music video that comes along with this record is also awesome, but in the grand scheme of things, it’s pretty simplistic so I wanted to make sure to focus on the song itself at the moment. Either way, you should get familiar with JJ’s brand-new offering “Bigger Picture” below and make sure to show him some love if you’re rocking with it!