Today, Croydon-hailing singer, songwriter, producer and rapper Jords shares two brand new singles, ‘Stay Close’ (featuring Kranium) and ‘MoBay’ (featuring Tay Iwar).

Alongside the release, the first part of a powerful and moving short film is made available, which introduces the narrative behind the music and his new album, slated for release via Motown Records UK later on this year. Jords says, “Both of these songs are inspired by Jamaica, and inspired by love. I’ve always wanted to make songs that make people want to fall in love, feel sexy, and ring off in the sun.”

The dancehall heavy ‘Stay Close’ sees Jords experiment without inhibition, wholly embracing the boldness of the Jamaican sound, while taking a calmer approach in his cadence to entice his romantic interest. Jamaican-juggernaut Kranium’s instinctive yearns are felt across the song’s chorus, translating the authenticity of the ‘Stay Close’ collaboration, and contributing to the zest of Toddla T’s backing production. “It was really special to have Kranium on the album,” Jords says. “I had to share that part of my identity with the world in a way that meant something real. It was such a smooth process getting him on board and he killed it.”

On “MoBay”, afrobeat artist Tay Iwar graces the mic with his rhythmically fluid and compelling vocals. Laced with patois, Jords morphs into an intrepid lyricist, his deepest desires translating with an urgent potency packed with love, passion, decisiveness, and flair.

The cinematic visual accompaniment, directed by the award-winning British Nigerian photographer and film director Renee Osubu, explores the duality of celebration and grief.

“Often grief allows us to appreciate the memories, the joy and the rich experiences we have had with those we love,” Osubu shares. Jords’ music takes a lot of inspiration from his Jamaican heritage; a culture that like mine, takes the time to both celebrate the life lived and loss of a person. I set the film in the 1970s to pay homage to the generations before us, who have been intentional about preserving our culture, traditions, and communities after immigrating to the UK and enduring the difficulties that came with that,” Renee adds.

Jords sat down with Wordplay Magazine to chat about his music and what it means to him.

1. So tell me, how did it all begin? What sparked your love for music?

Just the way I was raised, It was just there, before I knew where I was, I’ve always been throughout music.

I came from musical background, there was always music been played in the house, it’s just always been a part of me.

2. We know you from your smooth hybrid of hip-hop, R&B and poetry, who has inspired you over your career, and life?

Just experiences, specifically I remember growing up, my mum use to play all the Michael Jackson’s videos and we use to watch them religiously.

I can’t tell you the artist but I remember Kirk Franklyn, The Rebirth of Kirk Franklin a gospel album, and she use to play it in the car all the time and we fell in love it it, there was also miseducation of Lauryn Hill, Stevie Wonder my grandma use to play, a lot of reggae music.

3. This is the first UK rap album on Mowtown Records - can you tell us how this came about?

I was at great escape last year, the team from the label approached me and said they were bringing back Motown, and they wanted my name to be involved ‘cause they fell it just matched what I am about, I can’t tell you how it came about but whey they told me that I had a big smile I couldn’t take off my face, you know, I grew up on Motown.

I don’t know how big it is yet, because I don’t, to became such a thing, that makes me anxious, but it is a big thing.

4. Your last project ‘Almost An Adult’ was a personal exploration of your Jamaican roots, Tell us more about discovering and connecting with your heritage?

I think it's something that I've always been made aware of. Like growing up I always used to go to Jamaica. I grew up with reggae, always being played, Nothing Hill Carnival from Young age. So there's certain points of my identity that I've never forgotten. Like I've always supported Jamaica football team over English football team. I still remember where I was when Bolt won his first Olympics and it was a world record. So there's certain things that I've always been reminded of, but then there was a journey that I had to take cause I'd never been Jamaica by myself….until we went to Jamaica to shoot the film. And seeing it through, without parents or older family figures kind of worrying about me, of course, it was different, it was more a free experience and yeah, it really connected with me on the deeper level. You know, it connected me with my ancestors on the deeper level too. So, yeah. Touching.

5. What type of energy and sounds do we have to expect from the new album?

Um, there's so much to it, man. There's so much to it. There's so many layers to it. It's my life experience, you know what I'm saying? Like, it took me three years to make it, so I was living life for three years and soundtracking. I wasn’t  happy for three years. I wasn't sad for three years. I wasn't angry for three years. I was a bit of everything sound wise. I was exploring a lot of different sounds. I think I've always been quite diverse, but I think I was just a bit more intentional and taking everything that step further, and really stepping into the sound that I was making, whatever sound it may be, rather than, “oh, let's just make a drag. Let's just make a gram song. Let's just make a little reggae song. Let's just make a a rap song”. You know? It was more like, “what does gram mean to me? What does Joe mean to me? What does reggae mean to me? Let's explore that. What does love mean to me? What does fatherhood mean to me? What does all of that? And, really exploring it and going into conversations about it. And then having the music be an extension of those conversations is, like I said, very organic. But it means the project is very diverse.

6. Which artists featured on your new album are you excited about?

I don't want to reveal all the features, but Kranium, especially, like I grew up listening to Kranium, even like Masego on the album. I've been listening to Masego for like seven, eight years, and there's a lot of other features like that where I've been listening to them for a while, manifested it. It's a bit surreal that it's on the album TA wise as well. every thing's intentional with the album anyways, so there's not a feature that I'm not excited about, if that makes sense.

7. Can you tell us about your next single from the new album and the story behind it?

Yes. It's a double release. one song is Stay Close, featuring Kranium, produced by Toddla T. The other is MoBay, and I think me personally, I explore, musically I really try to bring a dance hall/reggae vibe to it, especially on MoBay, it’s about Montego Bay which is one of the biggest city’s in Jamaica.

In those two singles, I think the main themes is like loving someone through the war, if that makes sense. Loving someone through the war and expressing that love as well. Cause I think we as a people don't, we don't, we hold so much stuff in and I wish I could say what I said on the song in real life. I know I can't say it, I can't say it. I just have to put it in the music and then express it that way, that's just me fully expressing that feeling.

8. What's your proudest moment to date so far as an artist?

Proudest moment to date. I can't name one, this whole process, I think I'm gonna look back on this and be very proud. I think the fact that I can, there's little touch points. So like, performing at Reading & Leads was a big moment. Um, performing with Masego at Brixton was a big moment, but at the same time, like I remember my first album's listening Party in Shoredich in a little bar. And to me that was like my proudest moment. I remember my first headline show and I still feel the same feeling that I feel when I'm thinking about running a lead. So it's like the fact that music can take me wherever it's taking me.

9. What made you want to make another short film? You were heavily involved in the creative direction along with Renee Osubu - so what were your inspirations for the story and visually?

Um, I think I've always wanted to do a film, but I always wanted to break it down in episodes. I feel like after a film, usually you have a set film in an after or before it becomes a TV series. So I really wanted, I really like the theme of episodic music videos where there's a story to it and a theme and it links, but at the same time it's not, it's also like the music is the soundtrack to it. It's not a music video. And there's something with a plot, like the old Michael Jackson’s probably subconsciously. I've really gone into that and I really wanted to be intentional. and I think with Renee we had the same vision. she listened to the album and we had the same vision with the storyboard that she came up with. But one thing that was in my mind, thinking when I watched Small Hacks, the series, the Steve McQueen series, and there was one episode, so like a Lover's Rock episode, and there was a party and there was like an old school seventies house party type reggae thing. And that I just thought that was beautiful. And I remember going to the Tate Britain, and there was an exhibition about that time, About the seventies to the two thousands and being an immigrant from Jamaica coming over. And I thought, this is, like, I remember going through, walking around the exhibition and seeing an installation. There was a living room. I thought, wow, this is exactly what, like my grandma's living room looked like and I thought, this is sick. my mind was just sparking up all our ideas, But then Renee just shared the vision and we went back and forth about a lot of things, but she really got it on, on a deeper level.

10. Are there any artists on your radar right now that we should check out?

Plenty, let me look for my playlist. Yeah, I'm really into dance hall at the moment. there's one artist called Chronic Law. there’s a guy called Zheli with his song Winner, another one put an album called No Love, it's called Byron Messia UK wise. I'm listening to a lot of nipper at the moment, r&b artists, Nipper.  I'm a big fan of Little Sax who I had the song with.

11. We’ve had a sneak peek at the short film and it’s so beautiful! It’s clear to see that you’re more than a musician, there’s strong story telling from the music, the visuals and everything as a whole - if you weren’t making music, what do you think you would be doing as a job?

I was watching a David Bowie interview yesterday and he was saying like, music is just the way, just the medium that he uses to share his art at the moment. Do you know what I'm saying? So I'm like, the fact that I've got the means to share my art visually as well. I share my messages visually. and like you said, I think it's limited to just one thing or another thing, but if I wasn't making music, I don't know, man. I'll probably be in the hood, bro. I'll probably be in the hood to be honest or I'll be doing like a corporate job. Yeah. Just doing music on the side or something like that. now when I think about it, we only have one destiny, I can't imagine anything else in this path.

12. Do you prefer the writing process of tracks or working on the visual elements?

The writing process of the track. Visuals, it's long days. Yeah, it's long days. It’s lot of being told what to do, which I'm not good at. so definitely writing the songs, but the outcome, it's all just one.

Pictures: emilyjayneshoots

Interview: Silvia

Styling: Lukasz Kostecki

Lighting: Atikah Zainidi

Studio Credit: Aseptic Studios