JayO Talks Summertime, Colours and R&B Nostalgia With His Latest EP 'HUE'

Just as the days are getting longer, the nights wilder, and the people growing more anxious for a Summertime playlist– North London-bred British-Nigerian genre-bending artist JayO dropped a 30-second clip teasing his new single ‘Turning Me On,’ captioning it with “It’s been a minute. We starting the Party?” 

Now fast-forward to August 8th, you can now find ‘Turning Me On’ on his latest four-track EP entitled HUE – a sonic interpretation of the Summer months explored through colour and feeling, á-la-JayO, just a mere eight months after his last wintertime EP WHOSDAT. This time, though, with about half the number of songs but double the passion.

It’s clear HUE was penned with summer at its core, short but sweet, it brims with intense heat, energy and excitement and wavering between a colourful spectrum of bright and vivid hues. In an almost childlike manner, JayO plays with colour not only through sound but also with visuals that accompany this project. It feels fun, imaginative, and a bit nostalgic.

“I kinda wanted to, like, have a name which kind of represented Summer, but more than just Summer”, he shares with New Wave Magazine in an interview. “Whether it’s the night or the morning or the middle of the day…I just wanted to explore colours with music.” 

Before we get into what JayO’s been up to this summer, we need to rewind to Winter ‘23, when his viral earworm ‘22’ swept through digital soundwaves, arguably, cementing itself as the new birthday anthem. The girls now had a track where they could be “22” and “too hot to handle” not just “feeling 22.”

His admiration and love for women resonate throughout his entire discography, no matter the season. “I started rapping first, now I tend to sing about women. But before I actually never did,” he admits – and that may just be where his power lies. Where the ladies are having fun, everyone’s guaranteed a good time too. 

On June 21st, fittingly the summer solstice, JayO appeared at the French city-wide block party Fête de la Musique. Clad in the male Summer uniform (arguably), of a white vest and loosely fitted camo shorts, mic in hand, and serenaded crowds with ‘22’.

“I’m kind of surprised… the reaction was there. Not surprised in a crazy way, but, like, the whole street was full,” he says.

The Parisian streets became the dancefloor, and the rest of the people gathered in the TikTok comments, upset that they missed it. In a pleasantly surprised but tickled tone, he recalls, “I guess like a couple days after seeing myself on TikTok. And people saying, ‘How did they miss this?’ And I’m like, ‘Oh.”

He even teased plans to move to Paris for a bit, saying: “Paris is that place that’s just, I don’t know, it’s home to me…I’ve got something coming on the way, which you’ll soon find out about.” Technically his first performance in the city, JayO had summoned summer in more ways than one. 

In many ways, HUE captures that summertime feeling of urgency, hustle, and fun. The creative intention behind it is evident even in the cover art, which displays a spectrum of summer colours.

It’s an EP where chromesthesia takes over. The first track ‘Attendance’ opens with a bright sunny yellow energy, and Afrohouse/amapiano-inspired beats, moving into the fiery red melodious serenade that is ‘Baby Girl’, then into the slow, sensual ‘Pure Water’ – vivid violet – before culminating with the finisher, ‘Turning Me On’, a midnight cobalt blue club riddim.

In our conversation JayO, reflects on what inspires him, the nostalgic feel his music carries, and his journey through music:

Your new EP, HUE, just came out. How are you feeling about it? How’s everything been? 

JayO: I'm feeling good, man. I've been, I've been waiting to drop music for a long time, I'd say. (laughs) It's been about eight months since I last dropped. So, yeah, it's good. I feel good.

Let’s go back in time a little bit, even before ‘22’, what is your story behind how you started with music?

JayO: How did I get into music? I guess everyone had an iPod or something at least, where you can listen to music. My sister would sing around the house, I’d write raps, my mom would find the raps, and I would get in trouble for writing the raps. My closest friend, who’s Rz, is a producer. We kinda grew up seeing how the Afro-swing era was developing, like Mister Silva, Kwamz & Flava, and Sona. But I spent most of my time with my closest friend, Rz. Even till now, we still spend most of the time together making music. We just took influence from everything, whether it was garage, whether it was house, whether it was pop, like literally just kept flowing with it.

I feel like your EP has a lot of nostalgic elements, especially of the 2000s. “Turn Me On” samples Marques Houston’s 2003 “Clubbin’” featuring Joe Budden. “Baby Girl” also samples “Hold Yuh” by Gyptian. What do you want to see come back from this era? Could be anything.

JayO: Drums. The drum patterns are like pulse and bridge hooks that make you swing side to side. (laughs) Like stuff like that…I'd say a weird choice of melodies is one thing that a lot of 2000s, artists used to do, or producers. And I feel like that's what added into it being very nostalgic because you wouldn't ever hear it again.

Lots of people are labelling your music as Afrobeats. Would you say that that’s correct?

JayO: I wish…it's like half and half…Like when people are labelling it R&B…There's a blend between both. For me to fully say I've done Afrobeats, I feel like I'd have to attack the song a little bit differently

There's one song on my tape that I just called, um, ‘Attendance’ that sort of has an Afrobeat feel to it. Whereas the other, ‘Turning Me On’, and ‘Pure Water’, are like, kind of dancehall, afroswing kind of vibes…You know what I mean?

Do you have any artists in mind for future collaborations that you could share?

JayO: I'd love to have a track with Wizkid. I'd love to have a track with Burna Boy. I'd love to have a track with Tems, Ayra Starr. To be honest, the list could go on… But if I was to pick, probably Wizkid. I feel like I've just looked up to him for so long that, like-... it needs to happen. (laughs) It's more of a need than I want.

What are some songs you have on repeat right now?

JayO: There’s this artist called Rowena Fysx. She’s got a song called ‘all over u’... and Minz, a song called ‘TA NA’... And Daniel Caesar, ‘Blessed’. Great Song.

Ultimately, with his melodies, tinged with nostalgia, JayO wields a paintbrush and paints with it a work of art in the form of the four-track EP HUE, out now on all platforms.