If You Don’t See It Jenevieve’s Way, She’ll Help You Get There
One of the most exciting parts of discovering new artists is piecing together their identity. While every artist is unique, you can almost always trace their sound, voice, or writing to artists of the past. Its innately harder for some than others; some influences are worn more outwardly, some internalize their muses. Unraveling the DNA of these creatives is typically a non-linear path, making for an entertaining exercise with no concrete measures, statistics, or binaries. The more complex the artist, the harder it is to create some kind of metric to explain their artistic composition. Though it is intensely easy to enjoy her at eye-level, singer/songwriter Jenevieve has a complexity to her art that makes categorization difficult. Everything about the young artist is comprised of diversity: she is a Miami native currently living in LA with Cuban, Bahamian, Spanish, and French roots. For as much genetic variance as she possesses, she has an equal (if not greater) amount of musical identities. Having only released 4 official tracks, each lives in its own space and draws on different aspects of Jenevieve’s voice. Trying her hand at R&B, disco, pop, hip-hop, and neo-soul, its hard to say which genre comes more naturally to the 23-year-old.
Even more challenging is finding comparison for the combination of talents Jenevieve displays in her limited discography. The best metric I can come up with in explaining her music is that she is equal parts Jorja Smith and Doja Cat, perhaps leaning slightly more towards the Jorja end of this dynamic spectrum. Jenevieve’s first release, 2020’s “Medallion”, features production with some gritty qualities, but the song has more sophistication than the opening piano and drum break imply. Once Jenevieve’s vocals appear, in ad-lib harmonizations and composed humming, new air is breathed into the track. Before you can welcome levity into the song completely, the gritty, abrasive instincts that opened the track are rebirthed in the lyrics: “Bullets came flying, through my window/I was in your shadow, trying to escape/ We moved to the country, the city got ugly/And we thought we were safe, we made our escape.” While her words construct a setting of apparent danger and little refuge, her voice creates a paradox. Sultry and confident with range, Jenevieve shares the same vocal aesthetic as Jorja Smith, the basis for the reference. There is also some overlap in the two’s writing, most exemplary being Jenevieve’s “Eternal”. A vividly translucent recording, the musical setting is one Smith would thrive in if given the opportunity. Hazier and more colorful than “Medallion”, “Eternal” is a deviation that remains within Jenevieve’s vague parameters of performance.
Having only released four songs to this point, it would be a surprise to no one for Jenevieve to formulate a distinguished sound to build off of. If someone were to suggest this to her, I imagine her response being something like Cher from Clueless: As if! (I have no idea why this was the reference that popped in my head, but I stand by it). Her scope continues to widen with each release, having yet to stretch herself too thin or miss the mark in any capacity. While “Medallion” built momentum, Jenevieve struck while the iron was hot and dropped “Baby Powder”, a bouncy, slow-burning groove that officially broke her onto the scene. If you’ve heard Jenevieve before, its likely because of this song: garnering over 12.5 million views on YouTube and 22.5 million streams on Spotify in just over a year makes “Baby Powder” her biggest release yet, and with good reason. Embracing the natural qualities her voice exudes, the song leans into lust and overwhelms with just how easy it seems to give in to temptation. Then, instead of pushing music out following the most successful release of her young career, Jenevieve took a break. It wasn’t for another year that new music would surface, the aforementioned “Eternal” serving as her return with another new single released a month later, “Midnight Charm”. Two weeks old at the time of this article, “Midnight Charm” is a personal summer favorite that again proves Jenevieve’s resistance to making bad songs. She simply won’t do it, and in case you don’t take a liking to her music on first impression, she has something to show you.
So, back to the Doja Cat comparison I made for Jenevieve to begin this article. When I think of Doja Cat, I think of the absolute peak of personality an artist can have. Her breakout song was called “Mooo!”, accompanied by a music video where she dances, dressed as a cow, in front of a green screen. Everything she’s done since then has proven that her weirdo personality is legit, for better or worse. I place Jenevieve on a spectrum between Jorja Smith and Doja Cat because while her music is audibly more relatable to Smith, her personality and presence in her songs favors an artist like Doja Cat, even if just slightly. Jenevieve certainly does not reach the highs of personality that Doja does, but she competes with the more timid versions of Ms. Cat. “Midnight Charm” is the most demonstrative we have seen Jenevieve in almost all dimensions. While the lyrics are par for the course of a Jenevieve song, the beat is expressive in a way that would suit Tierra Whack, another artist with incredible character. Then there’s the music video, as there is for every Jenevieve song to date, that contextualizes the song in a setting that makes every second that much more enjoyable. I’ll be honest, I didn’t know what to do with “Midnight Charm” when I first heard it. It may not have gotten much play had I not given the music video a try. Then I saw Jenevieve hop on that scooter and I knew this had to be on every playlist I make this summer.
There’s so much to like about the video. Her energy is effortless and appropriate. Her strut and head-bobbing at 38 seconds of the video? Intoxicating. The shoulder movement at a minute and 39 seconds? I do that shit every time I play this song. That’s like 20 shimmys a day. 140 a week. Over 7,000 times a year. She hit the golf course and made what most frat guys consider a lifestyle look pretty damn fun and cool, which is more than the former have done for the sport. She wore Cortez’s on the golf course. I don’t know what exactly “celestial vibes” are, but I want some as soon as they are available. Jenevieve smoked this video. As far as aesthetic goes, she embodies it here.
This isn’t a one-off occurrence. Like I mentioned before, every one of Jenevieve’s songs has a music video, and she’s 4/4. They all align with the music, no matter what genre or sound it lends itself to. The “Medallion” video is shot in black and white, an ode to the grey atmosphere that looms over the track, more calming than dooming. Alone, the beat is a little rugged, gritty as we called it, but Jenevieve finds a rhythm and groove to nod and vibe with in the video. Transition to the “Baby Powder” video, contrastingly bright and relaxed, in step with the pace of the music the entire way. Moderately comical and majority sensual, there’s no guessing why it is her most popular video. In the same way that Jenevieve the artist is an interesting intersection of Jorja Smith and Doja Cat, the same is true for the “Eternal” video in the context of “Medallion” and “Baby Powder”. Airy with just enough tension to stiffen a butter knife, the video has the most cinematic appeal of all Jenevieve’s videos. As is true for all of her visuals, the pace, angles, and color is completely in-sync with the respective track. Her performance goes beyond the microphone, a visionary artist that compliments her vocal talent.
There are a lot of musical artists out there in the world. I try to know them all (the good ones, at least), but it can be hard to tell which ones will find success. Others, you just know. You hear it or you see it and you just know that they have a singular talent that deserves to be acknowledged. In a small sample size, Jenevieve has proven to be one of those artists. She commands attention, whether it be through your headphones or on your phone screen. To call her a complete artist at this stage in her career would be a bit ambitious, but not irresponsible. She’s one you have to check for. And if you haven’t seen or heard of her yet, when you do, you’ll know.
