Why Jai Paul’s First Live Performance Almost Brought Me To Tears
I remember this overwhelming sense of satisfaction, hitting me like a wave of euphoria when I discovered BTSTU in late December of 2012. The song just made perfect sense. Not just lyrically, but sonically. You felt the veiled aggression behind the soft oohs. You felt the restrained ego in the wobble-bass textured chorus. We’ve all felt those emotions before, but few of us are able to articulate them in such a concise, rhythmically pleasing manner.
BTSTU was and still is one of the most honest songs I’ve ever had the pleasure of listening to. I, like many, became an instant fan of Jai, devouring every piece of information about him. I love all types of music and fancy myself as a bit of a “bedroom producer” so his story resonated with me. Fans all over the world eagerly congregated on different pockets of the internet (a notable one being a 2000+ comment thread on the kanyetothe.com forum) waiting for the next “drop”. Then in April 2013, the impossible happened. A mixtape of uncompleted tracks appeared online. At the time, all sorts of theories were thrown about, but we now know that it had nothing to do with Jai or XL (the record label he was and still is signed to).
The fact that his music was stolen coupled with the false accusations naturally affected him and so for 10 years he avoided the limelight and stopped putting out music altogether. For fans this was devastating, but his absence gave rise to a great number of producers and artists that cite Jai as a major source of inspiration. Jungle have voiced their love for him. Beyonce and Drake have sampled him. Artists like Ben Khan have been compared to him. But still, there is only one Jai and so you can imagine that when it was announced earlier this year that he would perform at Coachella, many people were excited and some were a little weary. I myself had my doubts, but lo and behold, in the early hours of Sunday this morning (Saturday for the lucky fans in California), Jai actually delivered.
Amazing would be an understatement. Imagine waiting 10 years to see one of your favorites do his thing live on stage. Unfortunately, I was only able to catch the live stream but I could still feel the energy radiating through my speakers. This was powerful. A man who had undoubtedly battled all sorts of demons finally getting his dues and performing his songs at his own leisure was a beautiful thing to behold. He smiled his way through the performance. Even laughed at times. Any fan could see that behind his nervousness was a man who was finally at peace with his past and had or was at least learning to let go.
The pompadour is gone, replaced with a comical wig and his voice has obviously matured, but he still hit those high notes like it was 2011 all over again. The fact that a lad from Rayners Lane is able to sing in such a graceful falsetto while embodying this laid-back masculinity is again only something Jai can do. His voice during ‘100,000’ and ‘He’ was particularly good and showcased his ability to really belt out vocals and not hide behind his complex production, something he was criticised for in the past. Ending the set with Straight Outta Mumbai was beyond moving. Jai is a man who has never shied away from his culture and I could tell that by the reaction from the audience that he was undoubtedly making a lot of people proud. It’s also worth mentioning that SOM was most likely going to be the next official song release prior to the 2013 leak, so performing it at the end was extra meaningful.
Now that it’s over, we can only hope to see more Jai records and live performances. A tour wouldn’t be a bad idea either. Jai is clearly a talented individual and this live performance debut proves it tenfold. Much respect, brother!
