“We see you, Jaykyss”

“Notice Me” Cover Art by Jaykyss

This past weekend on Instagram, Jaykyss teased a new single titled "Notice Me" releasing next month. A rough mix of this track has already been released on Soundcloud weeks prior, however, it's going to reach all streaming platforms on May 15th. After listening to this single on SoundCloud, it is very different than Jaykyss's current discography. So much so that I would like to review the track before it is to reach all platforms.

Jaykyss's latest track, "Notice Me," tells a story of unrequited love and yearning for something that may not exist. This type of tale resonates deeply with listeners, taking us back to the days when we once had a childhood crush.

The song opens with a raw admission: "Guess it’s too late to say goodbye, 'cause If I did then it would be a lie." These lines immediately set the tone for the rest of the track, conveying a sense of resignation and acceptance of the singer's unfulfilled desires. The lyrics are simple yet effective, capturing the essence of longing and wanting someone so much that you never want to let go of even the thought of them.

As the song progresses, Jaykyss's vocals soar over a haunting melody, conveying a sense of urgency and desperation. The chorus, "I don’t want to go to sleep, I want you to notice me," is particularly powerful, encapsulating the central theme of the song. The singer's plea for recognition and affection creates imagery of staying up at night thinking about someone, drawing listeners into the emotional core of the track.

The second verse builds upon this theme, with the singer's passion becoming an obsession: "Cause I think I dove too deep, I’m drowning. When you're not next to me, I’m falling." These lines paint a vivid picture of the singer's emotional state, slowly transitioning from feelings of love and passion to desperation.

The bridge of the song provides a moment of reflection, with the singer acknowledging feelings and asking for help from a higher power with this remix of bedtime prayer: "And now I lay myself to sleep, I pray the lord my soul you’ll keep." This moment of introspection adds a layer of depth to the song, underscoring the singer's faith.

In conclusion, "Notice Me" by Jaykyss is a poignant and deeply affectionate track that speaks to the universal experience of longing and desire. With its heartfelt lyrics and emotional vocals, the song is sure to resonate with listeners who have experienced the pain of unrequited love. Jaykyss has once again proven himself to be a masterful storyteller, crafting a narrative that would surely get anyone to notice.

If you'd like a chance to listen to a rough mix of the single you can view it on SoundCloud. However, a fully mastered version of the song will be released on all streaming platforms on May 15.

Jaykyss Declassified Artists Survival Guide

Hey, What's up!

Since my last post, I've had a couple of you guys reach out to me for more advice on how to gain more listeners. I'm glad you guys were able to view my blog and find some useful information on how to market yourself as a musician.

In this blog, I'm going to give you guys some tips and tricks on how to gain more listeners. I wish I had known this information when I was just starting out.

#1: Release your music

The first and most important thing is to release your music! In my half a decade in the music industry, I've come across countless new artists who are too scared to drop their own songs. It's either they’re waiting for a "perfect" date or "Now's not the time" or: the songs not “finished yet".

Listen up. The songs never going to be finished. Confidence is key. If you're an artist you gotta commit. You can be afraid of opinions of your art. It's subjective, as long as you like it then that's all that matters.

You have to be your #1 fan.

#2: Knowing your audience

Okay, so you released a couple of songs and now you have a catalogue for people to tune in to. You want to start promoting yourself but you don't know where to start. Before you do anything, you need to know who would actually like your type of music.

Obviously, if you're a hip-hop-related artist like myself, you could easily say teenagers or a younger demographic. However, that information is so broad that when you start releasing ads whether it's on Instagram or YouTube, you end up wasting hundreds of dollars for only a couple of streams. There are tons of ways to find out who your target audience is however, the easiest trick I found was to figure out similar artists that you sound like or your fans listen to.

The easiest way to do this is to go to the bottom of your Apple Music or Spotify profile to the "Similar Artists" or "Fans also like" section and start from there. Then when you start posting ads for your music on the different social media platforms, you can insert these artist names to personalize your ads.

#3: Playlisting

Don't even think about it. You won't be able to reach the most popular playlist like Rap Caviar or Rap Radar without a major label backing you. However, there are some small playlists you can reach to get our music out there.

Using services like Grover and Sound Campaign is a great way to submit your songs to playlists to gain more visibility as an artist. There are tons of services like these out there but those two are my favorite, especially for artists just starting out because they're easy to use. Not to mention if you use Distrokid as your distributor, there are also some internal playlisting services that they also provide.

#4: Features

Features are a great way to showcase your music to a new audience. When done properly, they can almost double your Spotify monthly listeners and boost you in the algorithm of whatever genre you're trying to tap into.

My advice for new artists is to pick and choose your features wisely. When choosing another artist to collaborate with you, you want to make sure that your music sounds similar. When new people come to listen to that track they may also come to your page looking for more music that sounds the same. For example, if you're a rapper, don't collaborate with a country artist unless you already have some country tracks released. Country fans who come from that song and look at your page will see only rap music and most of them will tune out.

Another good thing to look for when looking for features is engagement with their audience. In today's age, a lot of major artists are faking their streams with a lot of their views being "bots". Especially if you're looking for a feature just to grow your fans, you should first check some of their songs or social media posts to see the amount of likes and comments. The number of likes and comments is a good indicator of how many of the streams are actually genuine. if a video has poor engagement then chances are most of the streams came from bots or advertisements. You want to make sure your feature has good engagement because the people taking the time to like and comment on their songs are most likely going to be the people who are going to go through your page after listening to the collaborated song.

#5: Don't get trapped

My final tip is to make music for yourself, not for others. A lot of artists trap themselves in a box by feeling pressured to release the same type of music just to please their fan base. They get an ounce of popularity, then get the sudden urge to keep it by releasing the same type of songs that got them "popping". This is good in the short term because it further solidifies your fan base. However, the lack of creativity is what's gonna send them away in the long run. Being a good musician includes evolving your sound and making the music that you’re passionate about. This will keep you motivated to make more music and keep your audience on their toes and guessing at every release.

Hope these tips were helpful for you artists just starting out. These were some of the things I had to learn the hard way and still keep in mind every time I release a song. If you guys have any more questions about anything music feel free to reach out on my Instagram.

A Message from Jaykyss

Hey… It’s been a while.

Today marks a full year since I’ve last released a song. So to celebrate, I want to give thanks by reflecting on my journey as an artist and how I got this far. Hopefully, my story will allow you guys to learn more about me, or inspire those of you with own your music career.

Getting 250,000 streams across multiple streaming platforms was no easy feat. But Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither was I. If you look at YouTube, my story starts 4 years ago January 8th, 2020 with Rip Turtle. But the real ones know the name "Jaykyss" emerged much earlier in 2019. Not as an alternative hip-hop artist, but as a meme rapper on SoundCloud.

I was around fourteen at the time when I started making music. Some of my biggest influences at the time were bands like Panic at the Disco, and Fallout Boy, and artists like Tory Lanez and Xxxtentacion.

If you listened to the songs I made back then. It sounds nothing like those artists, or even what I sound like now. A lot of those songs weren't even real "songs". They were mostly jokes songs and diss tracks I made for my friends in high school. Every track back then was recorded in my closet with nothing but a $30 blue Snowball mic using GarageBand on my school computer.

Those were the days…

It wasn't even about the quality of the songs back then, it was just about having a good time with my friends.

Until I dropped Rip Turtle…

That was my breakout single if you will. (No, it wasn't actually about a turtle.) It was a love song I made and I dedicated the title to my pet turtle that passed away around the time I recorded the song.

Still to this day, I don't know why it blew up. Maybe it was the harmonies or the JuiceWrld feature. I just remember one day waking up to a couple of hundred views and thinking "Wow, this is more people than in my school".

I'd still recommend SoundCloud to any new Artist starting today. Its algorithm at the time was on par with TikTok regarding getting new music out there in the public eye. It was that algorithm that gave me the confidence boost to take Rip Turtle to the major DSPs (Apple Music, Spotify, etc) and start taking music more seriously.

Rip Turtle is still my biggest song on YouTube to this day. But that wasn't all because of me, it was also due to the help of artists' promotion channels. There are tons of them across YouTube. Promoting Sounds, Bangers Only, DJ RIKI, and so much more.

But there was one in particular called "Sad Vibes Forever".

I've been listening to the music on this channel for a while and knew Rip Turtle would be the right fit for it. But before I sent a submission to this channel I knew that I had to build up a rapport with its audience. So I set my sights on collaborating with the top artists on its channel first for my next song.

The top artists on the channel at the time were Criatension & Ninelives. Collectively gaining over 1 million views for the Sad Vibes Forever Yt Channel.

After contacting their management and successfully securing a feature from both of them, we were able to record my next single called "I'm Fine".

It was this song that gave a bit of mainstream success. Not only because it was the first song the first I made that wasn't built around jokes, but also because the song was a co-sign from successful artists taken seriously in the industry I was just entering.

I'm Fine was the only single I've ever released with a feature. Looking back I owe so much to this song and Rip Turtle for the push it gave me to release more music independently. It also exposed my music to a much wider audience. If It weren't for these songs then there'd be no way I'd have the confidence to experiment with different genres that allowed me to make songs like Moon, 2U, and Yeezus.

That's why in honor of it being one year since I last dropped. I'm having an exclusive release of my new song "Notice Me" back to where it all started.

For a limited time, this song's going to be exclusively on Soundcloud and not promoted on any other platforms so the only ones notified are my day ones from the Rip Turtle days.

I hope you guys enjoy this single as it signifies a new path that I'm on as a musician pursuing quality over quantity. I wanted to give you guys early access for sticking with me the longest.

Thank you so much and here's to a year full of Jaykyss.

- Jaykyss

Jaykyss, Where are You?

Just like the new series “Avatar: The Last Airbender” on Netflix, when the world needed Jaykyss most he vanished…

It’s coming upon the 1-year mark since Jaykyss released a song and his fans are starving. The Queens, NY artist left us in complete disarray last April after dropping an alternative rage/rap single titled “Moon”. His disappearance was an utter shock to his fans since previously to this track he’s been dropping songs consecutively throughout the year of 2023.   

So the question is…

Where’s Jaykyss?

After looking at his Instagram, it appears deceased with 0 posts, 0 following, and “loading…” in the bio. But what does this mean? What exactly is loading? No one seems to know. When further investigating, I was able to come up with the name “Joshua Michaels” after finding the songwriting credits for his song “Daydream” posted on Genius.

After searching the name “Joshua Michaels” on Google dozens of names pop up. But after cross-referencing the name with “Jaykyss” nothing seems to show up. Another dead end.

When scouring the deepest parts of the internet of all things “Jaykyss” I discovered a seemingly deserted X (formerly Twitter) account by the name of @Jaaykyss. This account seems to mirror his Instagram with “Loading…” in the bio and 0 following however there seems to be one new post.

To the untrained eye, this seems like a rearranged quote from the breakfast club. However, after looking deeper there seems to be something more…

The digit “1” is shown rather than the word “one” and most of the words seem to be lowercase. If you read out the capitalization in the quote it reads “M-A-Y”. Is this a date? May 1st? Is Jaykyss trying to tell us the release of his next single? Finally, the quote ends with “does this answer your question?”. Perhaps Jaykyss is trying to talk with his fans directly and answer our questions about his next release. This quote was also recently posted on his Instagram.

With 52 days left until May 1st. Time will tell if this quote is just a speculation or an announcement. We hope his next project will be an album given the time it’s been his last release. Until then we'll have to keep streaming “Moon” as well as the other songs in his discography to show him that even if this is the last time he drops we won’t run out of love for his music.

“The Taylor Swift of Hip-hop”

To say that Jaykyss shares some similarities with Taylor Swift is a complete understatement. The alternative hip-hop artist consistently talks about their emotions over every track masked behind a thick layer of 808s. While not quoting Taylor Swift as a direct influence, the love stories featured in most of his discography say otherwise.

One of his latest songs "2U" tells a story of a High School Heartbreak. Released last Valentine’s Day the song “2U” by Jaykyss, shares his innermost personal feelings about a previous relationship saying things like, "I should’ve listened to myself, you too good to be true," and "Guess you really were a joke, got me acting like a fool." He also touches on how that relationship affected his mental health saying "Sometimes I don’t even want to wake up" and "Cause even if I dieI got me, myself, and I," referencing his struggle with depression.

Even the cover art speaks to his emotions being a broken heart surrounded by darkness. This cover art for his song "2U" is an alteration of the cover art from his previous song "Miles Away" released February 14th, 2022 being the same heart but surrounded by roads and a map.

While this is not his only song on the catalog that touches on topics like these, it is the latest and best example of a song that showcases Jaykyss's versatility in the alt-rock/Rap space.

If you would like to listen to this track to form your own opinion of Jaykyss, you can find it on all streaming platforms (Apple Music, Spotify, etc) by searching "2U" by Jaykyss.

- JM