| June 17, 2021 – Santa Monica, CA – Indie maverick JAWNY returns with a dynamic new version of “take it back” featuring alternative icon Beck, out today via Interscope Records. The original track was included on last year’s The Story of Hugo EP and now the famously genre-blurring and GRAMMY®- winning legend Beck joins JAWNY as they elevate the song to rambunctious new heights. “take it back” featuring Beck is available now at all digital retailers via Interscope Records. “I think it’s no secret that Beck has been a giant influence on me” JAWNY says on the collaboration, “getting to work with him on this record was nothing short of a full circle moment. Having him on the song and being able to play it live together was more than I could have ever imagined.” JAWNY first realized the potential for “take it back” when performing the Hugo track live but the revamp ended up being far more than even he could have imagined. Built on fuzzed-out guitars, scrappy drums, and a boisterous sing-along chorus, the song thrashes in the spirit of gritty garage rock as JAWNY blows off a lost love. “If she never loved me, then I’m better off alone,” he cooly intones. Beck adds a buzzing layer of guitar, harmonizes on the chorus, then takes over the second verse before JAWNY jumps back in for a blistering solo. “I was always looking at the track as a square and then Beck kind of rotated it. Everything he added, I loved. It felt more alive,” JAWNY says. “I’m super stoked for people to hear it.” JAWNY is currently supporting Beck on his European tour, which kicked off earlier this week in Edinburgh, U.K. Next, JAWNY will continue playing live as he joins Oliver Tree on tour starting in August. For now, the Beck-featuring “take it back” is JAWNY’s first release of 2022 and follows last year’s The Story of Hugo EP, which served as the gut-punching prequel to JAWNY’s 2020 Interscope debut project For Abby. That 10-track conceptual mixtape features the singer/songwriter’s breakout hit “Honeypie,” which has since amassed over 36 million views on YouTube and more than 700 million streams globally. JAWNY’s entire catalog is nearing 1 billion total streams globally, and now with today’s release of “take it back” featuring Beck, it’s clear that he is destined to reach an even wider audience as he continues to expand. JAWNY has built his career by intuition, letting his music evolve naturally as he grows personally. Instead of chasing the high of past successes—including his 2019 Gold-certified hit, “Honeypie”—he’s following his gut and tapping into a childlike wonder that’s wide-eyed and widescreen in vision. Born Jacob Sullenger in the Bay Area, and raised in Philadelphia, JAWNY first picked up a guitar at age 6 after watching his dad jam to the Grateful Dead, Pink Floyd, and Led Zeppelin. At 13, he began making beats with his brother, eventually landing placements with rappers on SoundCloud. In his early 20s, he began writing his own songs, and started to gain buzz with his 2018 debut EP under the name Johnny Utah, landing placements on critically acclaimed shows like the HBO series, High Maintenance. JAWNY followed that up with a handful of buzzworthy singles, including Honeypie, that landed on a number of tastemaker playlists and garnered millions of streams. In 2020, JAWNY signed to Interscope Records and soon released a pair of vibrant, critically acclaimed projects, For Abby and The Story of Hugo, which further showcased his sharp storytelling and sonic experimentation and put him front and center covering notable playlist covers around the world. Upon releasing The Story of Hugo, JAWNY headlined a US tour, selling out shows across the country, and was selected as one of Vevo DSCVR’s Artists To Watch 2022. With all those career highs under his belt, JAWNY remained steadfastly in the moment. And he does so now too, as he continues work on his debut album. “I just chased whatever felt right in the studio that day,” he says. “I can’t overthink it.” As the title of his 2019 album Hyperspace would imply, 2022 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame nominee and eight-time Grammy-winner Beck has traveled light years from his emergence as a reluctant generational spokesperson when “Loser” exploded from a rejected 1992 demo into a ubiquitous 1994 smash. In the decades since, Beck’s singular career has seen him utilize all manners and eras of music, blurring boundaries and blazing a path into the future while simultaneously foraging through the past. Surfacing just as the mainstream and alternative rock intersected, no small thanks to his 1994 debut Mellow Gold, Beck quickly confounded expectations with subsequent releases including the lo-fi folk of One Foot in the Grave. But the album that first cemented Beck’s place in the pantheon was 1996’s multi-platinum Odelay. Touching on all of Beck’s obsessions, Odelay remains a key cultural touchstone from the indelible hooks of “Devil’s Haircut” and “The New Pollution” to the irresistible call and response of the Grammy-winning anthem and live-show staple “Where It’s At.” Beck’s creative evolution has always progressed at an exponential rate. From the world-tripping atmospherics of 1998’s Mutations and the florescent funk of 1999’s Midnite Vultures, the somber reflections of 2002’s Sea Change (which celebrates its milestone 20th anniversary this year), 2005’s platinum tour de force Guero and 2006’s sprawling The Information, 2008’s acclaimed Modern Guilt, 2014’s Album of the Year Grammy winner Morning Phase, the “euphoric blast of experimental pop” (Rolling Stone) that was 2017’s Colors and his 2019 “best in a decade” (People) Hyperspace… No Beck record has ever sounded like its predecessor — though The New York Times notes a consistent thread: ““Though Beck’s records through the years have tended toward maximalism, a kind of meticulous sonic gorgeousness, melody remains central to his art.”  Credit: Spencer Ford. |
JAWNY ENLISTS BECK FOR BLISTERING NEW VERSION OF “TAKE IT BACK”
