Blame it on blasting my brain with incessant smartphone use, ADHD, or a commitment to myself never to be one of those old assholes who insist the music that just so happened to come out when I was in high school is the best music ever made, but if I don’t get a little novelty in my music, I crash out.
Not just novelty, I want it a little weird. If it can be sweaty, a little manic, and violently bisexual? Even better.
Enter Victor Jones.
His Instagram is a pastiche of guerrilla music videos filmed in subway cars, public parks, and wherever else he can fit them in. His wardrobe is sometimes white collar and other times white-suited Miami Vice. His eyes are a striking blue and seem to dare you to take the lyrics seriously. And the lyrics? Fever dreams, pop culture references, dancing with religious figures, touching moments, and pleas for death – set to a danceable beat, of course.
My first exposure to Victor Jones was his single “Shoulder Song.” It’s a vulnerable song where he shares his desire to be “Famous and happy, in that order.” He powerfully declares his desire for mean women and soft men. He laments a desire for death and a need for solitude. The lyrics get stranger, and the beat gets more intense, until he pulls a switch and we realize that, if it’s not exactly a love song, it’s something close. A plea for intimacy? A hope that spilling his guts might result in something bigger, or at least a soft touch?
If that hasn’t sold you, might I ask your feelings about the arguments Mahatma Gandhi and Mother Teresa might have about housework, or what it might feel like to be cut into “five easy pieces by a big, strong woman with a big pair of scissors?” Does it sweeten the deal if she curses like a wizard? What if I told you we finally had an answer to the question on everyone’s mind, “What the fuck does Gaga know about cameras?”
The one good thing about getting obsessed with Victor Jones (besides the music and general what-the-fuckery of his social media) is that he doesn’t seem capable of waiting very long between releases. By the time I learned all the words to “Shoulder Song,” the album Zookeeper was released. Four months later, he dropped the single “Mother Teresa.” I didn’t even have the time to learn all the words to that one before he dropped the psychedelic video for his latest, “I Get Hurt.”
Wouldn’t you know it, before this article could even go to press, Victor Jones went on tour, filmed a forthcoming episode of Subway Takes, and, of course, released more music.
So here’s my newest obsession. Enjoy it! Or don’t.
