Sounds and Sonics: ‘Fighter For Love’ - Jordan Lee

Stepping into Fighter For Love, by Jordan Lee you need to tread carefully. A world which only dreams can conjure, finally becomes real. Dip your toe into its soulful waters, you may be hypnotised and taken on a journey of introspection as you battle your way through the turbulence of love. 

This is what Jordan Lee has created. The Parisian has soul, funk and groove flowing through his body. An enigma that continues to shine, his genre-fluid artistry has carved something permanently into the earth's crust that will soon become clearly visible to society. 

Fighter For Love delves into Jordan’s own crazy, almost unreal experiences as years of introspection, experimentation, and emotional reckoning culminate into a story of love becoming lost in a world of hate, and it needs to be rediscovered. Inspired by Spike Lee films and groove-heavy soundtracks, the chronology of the project whisks the listener off their feet and transports them to a cinematic stratosphere. 

We delved deeper into the album, chatting to Jordan and going through each track individually to find out how Fighter For Love came to exist. 

Strap yourselves in, once you listen, there is no going back. 

Track 1: Fighter for Love, Speech 

Is this stoic monologue we are presented with a call to reconnect with the world? 

Essentially, this was a scenario for a film, a short version of it. I was inspired by a spoken-word prologue by Janet Jackson called ‘Rhythm Nation’. I wanted to connect our world to what's happening today. It's a story about someone who wants to dare to dream really strongly and to bring some light into the world in some way. The whole thing about this track is that love has disappeared, and it's an inner journey of self-discovery. 

The vision of the listener is important, it's what it means to you. It's a clear story but you can really connect with it as an individual.  It's about how we can present a life. We grow up working on things and improving on things, and sometimes that leads to indecisions. 

Track 2: Friends or Lovers, Pt.1

Love is a big theme in this project. You show it as quite complicated here. Is that based on something personal? 

When the idea of the song came out, I was in a relationship. I didn't know how to see the relationship; was it something real or something that I was making up on the inside? 

This connected with the third song (In Between Feelings) it's all about that feeling of indecision. We are like vessels, navigating our way through life. 

Track 3: In Between Feelings 

Your lyrics “I don’t need you but I need you at the centre” are quite juxtaposing, can you build on this?

I met a guy in Paris. I saw him singing and I went over to him right away, asking him to come to the studio with me. I said man, your voice is incredible. A few days later, we went to the studio and did pretty much the whole song. He was really indecisive about the whole process so I didn't know if I could finish the song at the time. So I looked for another part and knew Holy Brune, who is a really beloved friend and she loved the song.

It was an easy thing for me to ask her to be on it. The meaning of the song changed. At first, it was darker; the guy that was originally on it was going through a break-up up and for him “I don't need you, but I need you at the centre” had a different meaning. The initial meaning was related to whether you are friends or lovers with someone, and then it became something else. It became about someone playing with your feelings and expressing the fact that now you're setting your boundaries.

Track 4: Love Ride 

We really begin to become immersed in this journey of yours, together as one. With soul and groove as your superpowers, how are you looking to use your accolades as a pioneer for the future? 

When I started producing, the vision was really to try my best to recreate what I have been feeling inside. It's not a vision for me, for me it's a witness of my experience of life and music, so if it can bring ideas to people it's so fine! I do it to open the gate of creativity to the other side. The intention I put into the music itself and the feeling I process for myself, it's so incredibly cathartic. I receive messages from people telling me that when they're listening to the music, they're in it and they feel it. We didn't expect this, but at the same time it's also doing something to me as well. It's euphoric. 

Track 5: Rear view mirror

This feels a lot darker, dystopian and ritualistic. You can really see your experimental side emerge in this piece. The use of ‘eyes’ is a colossal factor here, what’s the story behind that? 

This one was a different process because I was in Morocco at the time for vacation. We were passing through a sandstorm in the desert. It was crazy. A few days before that, I was in a souk (flea market). I saw from afar a person, we made really deep eye contact. We kept seeing each other. I then went to talk to this person and asked if we could meet again. We were planning to see each other, but it never happened. I was feeling frustrated, but I also felt excited. Fast forward, I was thinking about that person during the sandstorm, I could see their eyes through the sandstorm. I had this video of the sandstorm and played around with it. I didn't have any vision, I was just making it and it happened to be very experimental. I actually kept in contact with the person after, maybe we'll meet again soon, only God knows! 

Track 6: Blazing Sun

You pay homage to some jazz and funk greats like Prince and George Benson at the end of the track. How important have these legends been in your craft? 

I was tributing those greats because they are all inspirations as musicians, but also as people. Prince was such a human and it's the same for many other artists. They are more than musicians. You think about other people in other professions like Bruce Lee, they brought something into the world you can be attached to. It gives you some path to follow. Through their experience, we have ideas for us to explore. 

Track 7: Friends or lovers part 2

You become quite animalistic and alluring in your nature here. It seems you are pressing to find out whether there is a future for you and your lover here, does this track incorporate your previous comments about indecisions? 

There is a time when you have to make choices. You have to trust that the choice you are making is the right one. When I had that drive and journey through Love Ride and Rear View Mirror, I had the time to think and refocus and then to have a clearer view of my feelings. I'm being confident because I understand that you have to trust your gut when having to make these choices. In relation to the person I saw in Morocco, I need to be connected to myself more before I see them again! 

Track 8: Permanent Mark 

“You’re still on my mind” and “I love it” are the repetitive phrases here. Are we left with a message of unrequited love, but it is something that actually excites you?

Yes in a way. Once you go through any situation that is tough, that leaves a mark. It's a part of you and you’re expressing that repetition, saying that it’s always going to be there. Now you have that mark on you and you have to move to the next chapter. 

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