Introducing: Jess Kent + lead single 'Get Down'

Introducing: Jess Kent + lead single 'Get Down'

8 November 2016, 6:00AM
UMusic

Jess Kent releases her debut single ‘Get Down’ to the NZ public - just a month before her opening slot for UK superstars, COLDPLAY, on December 3 at Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland

Jess Kent is an England-born 22-year-old singer/songwriter/guitarist who has played guitar since age seven, she’s also a self-taught producer with a natural skill for crafting boldly nuanced electronic music. Now based in Sydney, Australia, Kent’s mastered a potent approach to rapping that pairs her rapid-fire flow with lyrics both defiant and vulnerable.

Her debut single ‘Get Down’ has recently been a breakout hit in Australia, and sees Kent bring her melodic ingenuity and edgy sensibilities to a reggae-infused piece of alt-dance-pop with an unforgettable ear worm.

‘Get Down’ recently won the adoration of such superstars as will.i.am and Coldplay, and has cemented her the opening slot with Colplay on their Australasian tour in late 2016. With a brash energy born from her lifelong love of bands like Blondie and the Clash, ‘Get Down’ also shows the emotional complexity of Kent’s artistry. “It’s one of those songs that’s an accumulation of a lifetime of thoughts,” says Kent of ‘Get Down’,” which she began writing as a teenager in Adelaide. “Most of the lyrics are written from a place of feeling nostalgic and missing my friends, and thinking about all the fun we used to have just kicking around.”

Within days of uploading ‘Get Down’ to triple j Unearthed, Kent had her first major success when the track was thrown into full rotation on triple j. ‘Get Down’ also won the triple j Unearthed competition, which landed Kent a spot on the lineup for Field Day 2016 (a New Year’s Day festival featuring the likes of Disclosure and Pusha T). In the meantime, Kent landed a deal with Capitol Records and continued work on her debut EP, collaborating with producer Nicky Night Time.

Naming her festival-closing appearance with Flume at last July’s Splendour In The Grass as a personal career highlight, Kent’s carved out a high-energy live show that finds her accompanied by a female drummer. “Coming up in the industry, it felt very much like a boys club, so it’s really cool now to be able to be around a community that’s both boys and girls,” she notes. And in her music and songwriting, Kent aims to build a greater sense of unity by tapping into her own eclectic background. “I feel like all these little jigsaw puzzle pieces have combined to make who I am now as an artist—like all the things that were always different about me, I’m now choosing to embrace,” she says. “I’ve been able to find so much freedom in not worrying about what people think, and I want to spread that message to as many people as I possibly can.”

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