JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Meshell Ndegeocello’s 57th birthday.
Category: singer/songwriters
New Video: Erykah Badu and The Alchemist Team Up on Woozy and Mind-Bending “Witch Doctor”
In the 11 years since her last release and 16 since her last studio album, Erykah Badu has been busy, gathering not conclusions but rather, a series of existential insights through whirlwind touring, teaching, motherhood, doula work and the sort of deep reflection informed by living and raising children in a rapidly changing, increasingly dystopian world. During that same period, her cultural influence has only expanded: The five-time Grammy Award-winner with 20 nominations appeared on the cover of Vogue back in 2023. received the CDFA Fashion Icon Award in 2024 and Billboard‘s Icon Award last year. And she has done this while continuing to collaboration across generations with the like software Janelle Monáe, Tyler, the Creator, Flying Lotus, Robert Glasper, Teyana Taylor, Rapsody, and a lengthy list o others.
The Alchemist has firmly established a reputation for being one of hip-hop’s most prolific producers, releasing multiple efforts a year including, last year’s Alfredo 2 with Freddie Gibbs, the sequel to their Grammy Award 2020 album Alfredo; last year’s Life Is Beautiful with Larry June and 2 Chainz; this year’s Spiral Staircases with Larry June and Curren$y and LIQUID FORM. Continuing a remarkably prolific and productive period, The Alchemist and Erykah Badu teamed up for Before the World Blows: The Abi and Alan Experiment.
Abi is Badu. Alan is The Alchemist. Released today through Control Freaq Records /YOUNG, the acclaimed duo’s collaboration finds Badu contemplating which parts of ourselves and our stories — love, innocence, dreams, memories, womanhood — are worth protecting before the world breaks apart and fragments. Meditative and fluid, the album’s material unfolds across four movements, charting the progression of the self through the prisms of of love, art and identity while inviting the listener to sit with difficult and complex feelings. Throughout the album’s runtime, passion blurs with desire, hope with grief — with each song revealing another facet of Badu’s universe. Or shall we call it the Baduverse?
The collaboration between the two acclaimed artist can trace its origins back to roughly 2023: Badu told her longtime creative partner Cold Cris that she always wanted to rap over Mobb Deep’s “The Realest,” a gritty, thumping yet soulful Alchemist production. The Alchemist — who had quietly been hoping to work with Badu for years — was introduced soon after, and their conversations grew into a full-fledged collaborative effort. The duo’s first studio session together in Los Angeles yielded the previously released “Next to You.” which laid the foundation for what would become an entirely new sonic language. Later, The Alchemist sent Baud a collection of instrumental beats, which she deconstructed and sculpted into tracks that felt uniquely hers, embellishing his warm, punchy samples with kalimba, immersive chord structures and drums. The’s album material sonically moves fluidly and effortlessly between soul, blues, funk, jazz and underground hip-hop and yet somehow belongs entirely to none of them.
Between 2024-2025, Badu and The Alchemist road-tested the album’s material live, performing in intimate, phone-free settings with Badu’s digital collective The Cannabinoids and The Alchemist on the MPC, fine tuning tracks along the way. The result is quite possibly the most forward-thinking batch of material of either artist’s career, an album that’s meant to live and evolve with you through space and time while inviting the lister to continually explore themselves, to have one more kiss, one more hit, one more dance, one more joke, all before the world blows.
“Witch Doctor,” Before the World Blows: The Abi and Alan Experiment‘s latest single is a woozy and strutting blend of neo soul, soul jazz, hip-hop, voodoo and experimental pop within an expansive, endlessly mothering, kaleidoscopic production branch Badu’s imitable, jazz-like croon. Throughout the song Badu referencing witches having a deeper, more mystical connection with both their universe and their surroundings — unlike those cornball TV witches.
Directed by and starring Erykah Badu with a brief cameo by The Alchemist, with cinematography by Ayinde Anderson, the accompanying video for “Watch Doctor” is both a companion piece and a sort of continuing of the Dallas-born artists 2010 short film “Window Seat.” 16 years later, Badu returns to the same Dallas neighborhood with a new perspective, exploring what remains after the world as taken everything it can from an artist, and pointing towards the one thing it can never manufacture, characterize or possess: the very source itself.
New Video: RIP DUNES Shares Driving and Brooding “Living In Fear”
Matthew Iwanusa is best known for being a founding member and the frontman of acclaimed JOVM mainstay act Caveman. He’s also the creative mastermind behind the solo recording project RIP DUNES. Iwanusa’s sophomore RIP DUNES album Tales From The Ripped is slated for release this fall.
Tales From The Ripped reportedly plays like a soundtrack seen through the lens of late-night television, practical effects, unexplained phenomena and half-remembered imagery that somehow gets more difficult to separate from reality over time.
The Abe Seiferth and Matthew Iwanusa-co-produced “Living In Fear,” Tales From The Ripped‘s first single is a dark and brooding bit of post punk built around angular and slashing guitars, analog synths and muscular. reverb soaked drum machines paired with the firmly established melodic sensibilities and penchant for big hooks Iwanusa developed with Caveman.
Iwanusa directed and edited the accompanying video for “Living In Fear”is a mix of handmade and stop motion animation and live action footage which gives the visual a dreamy, late-night cartoon vibe.
New Video: Jonathan Personne Shares Shimmering and Dreamy “Je pense toi”
Initially known for his roles as co-founder, co-lead vocalist, guitarist, lyricist and songwriter in internationally acclaimed JOVM mainstay act Corridor, Montréal-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, animator and visual artist Jonathan Robert is by both necessity and nature, a prolific and versatile artist. He’s also the creative mastermind behind the solo recording project, Jonathan Personne, which derives its name from the French version of John Doe — or perhaps a bit more accurately, Jonathan Nobody. The project’s name reflects his determination to simultaneously not represent a specific person and to better reflect his multifaceted artistic identity.
Over the past seven years, he released four albums that saw him drawing from a wide range of influences including desert dream pop, Morriocone-esque Spaghetti Western rock, The Clean-like jangle pop, Latin-influeinced grooves, Galaxie 500 and Yo La Tengo-like indie rock, as well as sampling, sequencing and beatmaking. And he’s done this while working on albums with his primary gig, Corridor.
Robert’s fifth Jonathan Personne album Répertoire officially drops today through Bonsound. The album’s material can trace its origins back to six years ago: When he began working on what would eventually become Repertoire, the Montréal-based artist sensed a significant change in direction and chose to focus on another set of songs instead. This lead to his acclaimed, self-titled third album. The new album sees Robert brining some light to his firmly established melancholic sound, with the album’s material drawing from yacht rock and dream pop to create something entirely unexpected. Anchored around melodic bass lines, looping figured and self-sampled guitars, the result is a sound that’s groovy yet contemplative, dreamlike yet noisy.
Thematically, the 10-song album sees the French Canadian JOVM mainstay reflecting on his relationship with music, vacillating between moments of repulsion and ones that remind him why he chose — and loves — his career. Répertoire‘s will include the previously released, album opener “Rêve américain,” “Superstar,” and the album’s latest single “Je pense à toi.” “Je pense à toi” is an intricate and lush tune, built around a shimmering and looping guitar figure, some mysterious, dream-like samples and a laid back yet supple and propulsive groove beneath Robert’s equally dreamy and ethereal deliver. The song may make you want to go for the sort of walk in which you lose yourself in your thoughts, which is apparently what the song is actually about.
Robert is also an accomplished visual artist and graphic designer, and he designed the album’s cover art. But for the new album, he swapped illustrations for a small-scale model of an idyllic mountain village, which helps set the material’s overall tone and vibe. Fittingly, the accompanying video features the Montréal-based artist and his backing band in the cover art’s idyllic mountain village performing the song in a mix of stop-motion styled animation and real life.
New Audio: Sassy 009 Shares Club Banging Jam City Remix of “Tell Me” feat. Blood Orange
Oslo-based producer and singer/songwriter Sunniva Lingård is the creative mastermind behind the acclaimed, shape-shifting electronic music project Sassy 009. The Norwegian artist found early acclaim with 2017’s Do You Mind EP? and 2021’s sultry, bass-driven Heart Ego Mixtape. Adding to a growing profile, Lingård has collaborated with Clairo on 2018’s “Lara” while remixing tracks by Empress Of, Lolo Zouaï, MØ, Agar Agar, and a lengthy list of others.
Released earlier this year, Dreamer+ is Lingård’s true Sassy 009 debut — a concept album pieced together from nearly four years of studio work and an ambitious attempt to take complete control of her art. Built with distorted vocals beneath a soundscape with elements of grunge, shoegaze, 90s beatronica and gauzy hyper pop, the album is a grim fairytale in which dreams and emotions are processed through a landscape of shapeshifting characters, dark forces and moral responsibilities. Thematically, the album touches upon identity, memory and the shifting boundaries of the self, in which the dreamer is the only witness/the only one who remembers.
The album features guest spots from Blood Orange, yunè pinku, and BEA1991.
The past year has been a whirlwind for the Sassay 009 creative mastermind: She appeared on the over of NME. She played a sold-out show at London’s Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) and while in the UK, recorded and then released Live at BBC Maida Vale, a live session that features a cover of Limp Bizkit‘s “My Way,” along with “Tell Me and Someone.”
The acclaimed and rising Oslo-based artist will be releasing the Dreamer+ Deluxe album on October 16, 2026 through HEAVEN-SENT/[PIAS]. The deluxe edition of Dreamer+ will feature some of Lingård’s closest friends and musical collaborations — and few surprises for fans. Dreamer + Deluxe‘s latest single sees Jam City giving album track “Tell Me” feat. Blood Orange the remix treatment. “Tell Me” feat. Blood Orange is a brooding and atmospheric, trip-hop meets-grunge-tune that features the Norwegian artist’s smokey delivery over thumping boom bap-like drums, gauzy electronics and shoegazer-like textures. The Jam City remix pushes the tempo up, turning the song into a woozily euphoric, footwork-like banger anchored around skittering triplets, glistening synths and chopped up vocal samples.
New Audio: Skinshape Returns with Summery “Take It As It Is”
Will Dorey is a London-based producer, singer/songwriter, producer and creative mastermind behind the solo recording project, Skinshape. And with Skinshape, the London-based artist has established himself as a master of understated soundscapes, blending rich textures with an array of eclectic influences from around the world. Dorey’s work is known for being imbued with warmth, depth and a timeless character.
Every Skinshape effort reflects the London-based artist’s meticulous approach to composition and production, rooted in the distinct sonic identity made possible by the vintage analog recording equipment he uses.
The London-based artist’s 11th Skinshape album, Chapman’s Pool is slated for an October 30, 2026 release through Lewis Recordings. Deriving its title from a secluded bay on Dorset’s Jurassic Coast, near Dorey’s childhood home, the album draws from the landscapes that have remained a constant source of inspiration throughout his career.
Written, self-produced and self-recorded at Dorey’s Finsubry Park-based studio with minimal Chapman’s Pool covers a variety of styles and sounds and sees Dorey revisiting his first two Skinshape albums to some degree while featuring more Mellotron and glockenspiel. Most of the album’s instrumentation — guitar, bass, piano, keys, synths, drum machines and the like — was played by Dorey, with the exception of drums, which were played by Tom Blind and Dan Hale. Various field recordings were captured outside the studio. including the sound of waves lapping the shore close to Chapman’s Pool and a car driving past.
Chapman’s Pool will include the previously released “The Blade of a Knife” and its latest single, “Take It As It Is.” Built around a swaggering and strutting groove that seemingly channels Bobby Oroza, the Daptone Records crew and Moscow‘s The Diasonics, “Take It As It Is” is a summery and escapist tune rooted in a blend of old-fashioned British stoicism and Zen calm that feels — well, remarkably necessary as our world burn down and descends into chaos. The song’s narrator implores the listener to do as the old British saying “keep calm and carry on.” “It’s about how we should accept life as it is, with its ups and downs,” Dorey explains. “It focuses on the mental troubles we all face and some reflections on how we may deal with this.”
New Video: J. Bernardt Returns with Swaggering and Strutting “Love Is On My Mind”
Jinte Deprez is an acclaimed singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, arranger, programmer and producer, best known as being one-half of the songwriting duo behind the acclaimed Belgian JOVM mainstays Balthazar. Over the course of their two-plus decades together, the acclaimed Belgian outfit has played across the global festival circuit with sets at All Points East, British Summer Time, and others — while selling over 600,000 albums globally. And during that same period of time, Deprez has firmly cemented a reputation for being a wildly talented generalist: Along with his songwriting partner and bandmate Maarten Devoldere, Deprez has co-produced three of Balthazar’s five albums to date.
Deprez is also the creative mastermind behind the acclaimed solo recording project J. Bernardt, With J. Bernardt, Deprez has released two albums, 2016’s self-produced Running Days and 2024’s Tobie Speleman and Deprez co-produced Contigo. His third J. Bernardt album, the Paul Butler-produced Wild Swim is slated for a November 13, 2026 release through Play It Again Sam.
Unlike his previously released work, Deprez chose to step outside of anything familiar in his creative process. He travelled alone to Los Angeles, where he leaned hard into a caricature of himself: a washed-up European musician landing in America to reinvent his life and his carer. He learned so hard into the caricature that it was as though Jinte Deprez didn’t get on the plane; but rather, J. Bernardt.
Recorded at Los Angeles-based 64 Sound Studio, Wild Swim‘s producer Paul Butler created an initiative environment in which Deprez found what may arguably be the most liberated vocal performance of his entire career to date. “On my third solo record, I truly felt for the first time what singing can feel like.” he says. Los Angeles itself also left its mark on both Deprez an the recording sessions. The city’s uncompromising and frenetic energy collided head-on with the acclaimed Belgian artist’s West Flemish instinct for restraint “In the US, there is no time for subtlety. You surrender to your impulses,”
Many of the songs were recorded in fiery one-take performances with Alabama Shakes‘ Lewis Wright (drums), Adele‘s Peter Randall (bass) and Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros’ Mitchell Yoshida (keys). The result is a more ope and expansive sound that retains the project’s signature but expands into a retro-modernist sound with smoldering rhythms and sprawling melodies. The Motown-like backing vocals of Lex Noblitt, Isabel Whelan and Dasha Chadwick are woven throughout the album’s material, acting as a counterpart to Deprez’s vibrato. And Butler’s kaleidoscopic production makes the album’s material feel as though every window in the Belgian artist’s mind has been thrown open at once. The result is album that’s euphoric and reckless.
Thematically, Wild Swim sees Deprez take a new direction. Whereas his previously released albums were fairly autobiographical, the new album features a more universal perspective, embracing a manic celebration of life’s randomness. The song’s aren’t anchored in reason, but rather in feeling with the album being a balancing act between lust for life and a sort of euphoric nihilism. “After the wreckage of a breakup, eventually you reach the point where you can see the humor in life again,” Deprez says.
Wild Swim will include the previously released “Four In The Morning” and the album’s latest single “Love Is On My Mind.” The new single is a strutting and soulful pop tune that showcases Deprez’s uncanny knack for remarkably catchy hooks — but while arguably being among the most euphoric, playful tunes of his growing catalog.
“’Love Is on My Mind’ is a guitar-driven song I wrote on an old piano, while feeling watched by the stars,” Deprez explains. “It’s about a new, unintentional starting point — ‘I hear it coughing around the corner, ready to cause a scene, how the hell did love get in my mind.’ Who knows when or how, but you always seem to pick yourself back up one day, right when you weren’t paying attention.”
Directed by SJ Spreng, the accompanying video is a cinematically shot GQ-like visual sho tin Los Angeles earlier this year and features the Belgian artist in some snazzy outfits, strutting and vamping in the hills.
New Audio: Nouvelle Vague’s Breezy Take on Depeche Mode’s “Only When I Lose Myself” feat. Mélanie Pain
Founded by Marc Collins and the late Olivier Libaux back in 2003, Nouvelle Vague was initially conceived as a one-off tribute to post-punk songwriting in a Bossa nova style. 2004’s self-titled debut, which saw them establish their unique fusion of melancholy post-punk, Bossa nova and French re-interpretational approach, unexpectedly achieved global acclaim. Since then, Nouveau Vague has become a global phenomenon.
Their 10th album, A Date with Depeche Mode is slated for an October 30, 2026 release through Kwaidan Records/[PIAS] Recordings. And as you can probably tell, the album sees the French outfit tackling the work of pioneering British electronic outfit Depeche Mode.
A Date with Depeche Mode will include the previously released “Never Let Me Down Again” feat. Brazilian artist Flavia Coehlo, and the album’s latest single, “Only When I Lose Myself” feat. Mélanie Pain. Originally released on 1998’s compilation The Singles 86>98 “Only When I Lose Myself” is a brooding song full of desperate, aching longing. The Nouvelle Vague rendition, which features one of the act’s long-time collaborators retains the longing at the heart of the song but now paired with a breezy Quincy Jones and Herb Alpert-like arrangement featuring Bossa nova rhythms, strummed guitar and soulful brass. The result is a take that gives the song a sultriness rooted in desperate need and a little bit of lust while being incredibly cinematic.
New Audio: Yeisy Rojas Returns with Hopeful “¿Dónde está el amor?”
JOVM mainstay Yeisy Rojas is a Grammy Award-nominated and Latin Grammy Award-nominated Cuban-born, Oslo-based, classically trained, jazz violinist, singer/songwriter and composer.
Her recently released album Inmigrante features the previously released “LATINO” and the album’s latest single “¿Dónde está el amor?” “¿Dónde está el amor?” begins with a cinematic jazz pop introduction in which the JOVM mainstay’s excessive vocal is accompanied with piano and subtly Latin percussion before morphing to a decidedly upbeat soul and gospel-influenced — with the song moving from heartbreak to joy and hope.
“The song grew out of a question that kept coming back to me as I looked at the world around us: Why do we treat each other this way? Where is the love?” The Oslo-based artist says. ” I wrote it sitting at the piano, moved by the sadness and helplessness I felt watching a world becoming increasingly divided—shaped by conflict, persecution, raids, hatred, and a growing lack of empathy. But I didn’t want to write a song rooted in hopelessness. I wanted to turn those feelings into something that could remind us of what still connects us. Musically, “¿Dónde está el amor?” begins as an intimate, vulnerable ballad, gradually weaving in Afro-Cuban rhythms through the tumbadoras. It continues to build until it opens into a powerful gospel choir, where gospel and Afro-Cuban rhythms come together in a call for unity, hope, and love. What begins as a deeply personal question ultimately becomes a collective voice—an invitation to rediscover our empathy and remember the humanity we share, especially in times of profound division. Rather than trying to provide an answer, I hope the song leaves one question lingering long after the music ends: amid everything that separates us today, where is the love?”
Throwback: Happy 60th Birthday, Shirley Manson!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Garbage frontperson Shirley Manson’s 60th birthday.
Throwback: Happy 80th Birthday, Valerie Simpson!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Valerie Simpson’s 80th birthday.
Throwback: R.I.P. Dolly Parton!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the life and music of the iconic Dolly Parton.
Throwback: Happy 71st Birthday, Elvis Costello!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Elvis Costello’s 71st birthday.
New Video: Julia Jacklin Returns with Anthemic “The Hardest Thing”
Acclaimed Melbourne-based singer/songwriter and musician Julia Jacklin will be releasing her highly-anticipated fourth album, the Robert Muiños and Jacklin co-produced, 10-song album The Gem through 4AD Records digitally and on CD, cassette and vinyl on September 25, 2026. Exclusive color vinyl editions with retailers will include turquoise, green opal, ruby and rose quartz. Pre-order information can be found here.
The album will include the previously released “Get Away From Me (I Think I’ll Love You),” the album’s closing track ” “I Wish” feat, Aussie folk sibling duo The Maes, and the album’s third single, “The Hardest Thing.” is a proudly heart-worn-on-sleeve anthemic ballad featuring a narrator, whose relationship on the brink, detailing a relationship at a crossroads — or about to peter out to an inevitable conclusion. Lyrically, the song is rooted in small, lived-in details that give the song a personal yet deeply universal touch.
Directed by Danny Cohen, the accompanying video was shot in one lengthy take and filmed from a helicopter winding through Melbourne’s skyline, gradually showcasing the acclaimed artist performing the song on top of skyscraper.