It’s 4:34pm, and I just had my first sip off coffee of the day. Let’s get started.
I’m back at Hansel and Gretel, I ordered another large hazelnut drip coffee, and I just left the gym so I grabbed a pastry. Specifically this strawberry almond croissant, and I SWEAR on everything I love this thing is immaculate. Now you may be thinking it’s 4:34pm, why are you drinking coffee, well I had a long night. Dealing with a drunk friend, waiting in the drive thru, eating tacos, having drinks with friends, etc. It’s Sunday, I slept in. I deserved it.
When I got home as I changed into my pajamas and sleeping hoodie (yes, I have a specific hoodie I sleep in) I random thought popped into my head - “did Baby J’s EP drop?”. I went to apple music searched “Baby J” clicked on her artist profile and bam! ‘Baby J - Energy’ is right there at the top of my phone screen. I texted her immediately at 2:14am in the morning!
Me: *sends screenshot of the EP downloading on my phone* NO KIZZY
We rejoiced. We were super excited that it was out. I haven’t known J for long, but I can tell her life revolves around music. Everything comes back to music sooner or later. I love that about her. She gives me ‘big d##k energy’ (if you know what that means). She’s a boss man, she makes shit happen. Nothing but admiration for the talented young singer.
I first reached out to J to be her stylist. I came down to Atlanta a few months ago because my friend Brooke got a gig directing a video and she needed a stylist. I rushed down with a clothing rack, a steamer, bags of clothes, and got straight to work. One of the women involved with that shoot ended up staying at my hotel room, it wasn’t anything sexual, she just was wayyyy too drunk to drive so I took care of her. i’m a nice guy, no big deal. As I digress, that following morning she thanked me for taking care of her and as I packed up my things because checkout was coming up she showed me this video of a singer and I was mesmerized! From that little clip I just knew that singer was special, and that singer was Baby J. So I hit her up to be a stylist, but an even more interesting opportunity came up soon after our first conversation. She asked me to design her merch for her EP, ‘Energy'.
This was my first design gig for something other than my own clothing brand ‘Bridge Boy”, and I was so excited. I told her send me the EP and I’m going to get to work ASAP. She sent it and wow, it was such an amazing project. The version I heard then wasn’t even the project that released today, and I was blown away. She’s going to be someone huge. The world needs Baby J.
If you haven’t guessed by now, today’s topic is Baby J’s new project titled ‘Energy’.
7 songs, 16 minutes, unlimited vibes. The replay value on this project is insane. Her beautiful and strong voice compliments every beat used on here. Her singles ‘ H I G H S H I T”, and ‘Energy’ definitely stand out on this project, but overall every song on here needed to be here.
This project tells a story of growth. The intro track ‘Krushh’ sounds so innocent and pure. Like something the teenyboppers would love, but that switches up INSTANTLY with the follow up track ‘I Need It’. This beat is so fire. That “crush on you” sh*t went out the window really fast. “Baby you been f*ucking with the realest of the real ones” J exclaims on this track, and you can tell from how she said it that she 100% meant that. She was probably beating on her chest in the studio when she recorded this one.
The vibe switches up on ‘Can’t Be What Love Is’. This is my favorite track on the project, and as I continue to post these little write ups you’ll see why. Whoever she had a crush on in the beginning of this journey is pretty much out the picture. You can tell J is done with whatever that situation was. What she wanted, was not what she got it and women will always get what they want. If you won’t provide it someone else will. She’s so calm on here compared to “I Need It’ that you know she’s done. When women get real calm on you it’s over bro. Just go ahead and load up your breakup playlist and cry it out because she’s done.
‘What It Do’ and ‘H I G H S H I T’ is where things completely flip from the first half of this project. This is grown and sexy. That situation on the front half of the project made her into a beast and this is where the ‘big d##k energy’ I mentioned earlier is shown in its entirety. If you miss hearing new Rihanna music, turn these two tracks on and that void will be filled. Baby j is taking charge of things now. She’s in complete control, there won’t be no more games moving forward. She’s going to dictate how things go and that’s made perfectly clear.
‘Holla’ is the grown up version of ‘Krush’. This isn’t a crush at all, this is an I WANT YOU AND I’M GOING TO HAVE YOU situation. If you ever had a girl “holla” at you, you know what I mean. You was her’s before you even got to process it. Like I said earlier, women get what women want.
‘Energy’ closes out the project, and I felt the energy completely throughout this whole process of my 16 minute play through. What wasn’t given to J on the first half of this project was taken. She matured, and she grew as her confidence spiked - she just isn’t that girl she was on the intro anymore. This song felt like a cliffhanger. Though it is a single and I’ve heard it before, this is the first time I’ve heard it as the outro for the EP. The sound of this project evolved throughout just as the lyrics and tone did. There’s much more to come and you can hear it clearly on this track. She’s just getting started as this project comes to close.
I’m looking forward to hearing more Baby J music in the future, and I may or may not have heard a few things, but trust me when I say - we are all in for a treat.
Shout out to gang. Follow her on Instagram @babyjxoxo
Listen to ‘Energy” today https://music.apple.com/us/album/energy/1548174699
Shop her ‘Krush’ and ‘Energy’ merch designed by myself and my wonderful design team
https://baby-j-merch.myshopify.com/collections/all
Until my next koffee *peace sign*