Jay Americana Parties, Reflects, and Disrupts with EP 555
Photo courtesy of Nick Khan // @suivannt
Drawn from a range of musical genres such as drum and bass and house, Atlanta-based Jay Americana’s 2023 EP 555 delves beautifully into the nightlife scene. Covering everything from wild parties and intimate moments to aftermath in the form of a raging hangover, the project captures every possible perspective and emotion that could be experienced by the end of a night out.
Lovingly named after the exact time he was born, Americana wrote 555, released on March 31, after a winter trip to New York City. The trip left him with memories of chance encounters, and newfound inspiration that ached to be turned into something tangible.
“I spent a lot of nights out, maybe more than I should have…those experiences plus some of the music I was hearing [while around the nightlife scene] really impacted me,” he says.
For the queer hip-hop musician, there is a clear drive for change and an innate desire to rattle some cages at the core of their artistry. From the 26-year-old’s refreshing authenticity to even his chosen pseudonym, Americana seeks to challenge the conventions he came across growing up in a small town in Georgia.
While the definition of “Americana” is up for debate, historically, it’s a term that has long been laced with white supremacy, conservative ideology, and industrialization by way of capitalism—all things that, while being found across the U.S., can be seen in higher concentrations down south. Americana, the artist, hopes to cause more progressive ideologies and other people like him—queer, Black, and radically creative—to associate with the term.
“[The stage name] ‘Jay Americana’ is supposed to subvert expectations around what people may think of when they think of what ‘Americana’ means,” he said.
Since releasing his debut album, like you’ve seen a ghost in 2018, Americana has incorporated a swath of carefully chosen elements from varying inspirations into his music. Softer and romantic tracks like “idle hands” stir recollections of Kevin Abstract or BROCKHAMPTON during their GINGER era, whereas the production and overall industrial-style sound of the fast-paced 2021 single “elevator” can be compared to Vince Staples’ Big Fish Theory. On 555, Americana continues this trend by mixing the sounds of his favorite artists with his own personal flair.
When asked which elements on 555 can be traced back to who or what, Americana mentioned names like FKA twigs, as well as more abstract sparks for creativity, like video game soundtracks. Americana even cited the ethereal sound of breakout hyperpop princess PinkPantheress as an especially influential source for the EP.
“She is wildly inspirational to me because she has a sound that is very honest and has almost a DIY feel to it,” he says.
The variety of influences on 555 can be easily picked up by listeners, with each track using its own unique production and vocal stylizing to work as a chronological walk-through of the highs and lows that come with a party-fueled getaway to the city. The house-based opening track and first single off the project, “sweat,” acts as a “stick of dynamite,” as Americana puts it, by lighting a bass-heavy fuse to the EP and setting it aflame.
“[sweat] is meant to replicate the pounding sound and intense atmosphere of a dance floor. Lyrically, it is absolutely self-indulgent and braggadocious, but that doesn’t last,” Americana says, hinting at the emotional rollercoaster to come while following the story of 555. “Between the house beat and the swagger in the verses, I wanted to channel a track that would make listeners stand at attention and open the project.”
The pulsing beats continue into the second song of the album, “lucky strike,” which maintains the flex-on-em lyricism found in “sweat,” but also plays with a soon-to-be-discovered recurring theme on the album: morality. “One life / and I might not make it,” Americana declares over drum and bass-style breakbeats. “‘lucky strike’ was a very fun song to create…I was very much leaning into that classic house vibe, listening to a lot of Daft Punk,” he says.
The EP takes a turn into the left field soon after listeners are presented with the euphoric nature of the first tracks, with “parasite” (Americana’s personal favorite song on the EP) and “actress” representing the tough and often heartbreaking comedown.
“‘parasite’ is very much an unrequited love song, I really wanted to exaggerate those feelings where you really want someone to be a constant presence in your life…that’s why I play with the metaphor of living in someone’s skin to know what they know and feel what they feel,” Americana explains.
On the penultimate track “actress,” Americana reflects on the lives and deaths of various friends who had overdosed on drugs over a span of two years “almost back to back.”
“I think it's a very taboo part of the music and entertainment industry, where we may have friends that don't necessarily make it as far as somebody else does,” he says. “But, I wanted that message to remain palatable for people, which was the reason for putting that over drum and bass where people may not expect that type of subject matter.”
Americana brings 555 to a close and listeners home with the contemplative “last call.”
“The clubs are closing, everybody goes home. [‘Last call’] is where you're left to sit with your thoughts. In the song, I meditate on that, but I also wanted to offer a little bit of hope as listeners reach the end of the EP,” Americana says.
As a queer person in the hip-hop scene, Americana hopes that 555 and his music, as a whole, will continue the work that others before him started and push for the genre to be a safe place for queer individuals.
“Hip-hop is traditionally viewed through a very masculine and heterosexual lens, and being able to disengage from that has been very impactful,” Americana says. “I want to not necessarily dismantle the genre, but disrupt it. 555 is very, very gay, and a lot of [hip-hop] is pioneered by queer and trans people. I want people to know where this music came from.”