Up and Comers Music

The title of m0n0 jay’s “L.L.L. (Lift, Lift, Lick It)” might have you thinking it’s a deeply seductive track riddled with intimate details. Perhaps you might even conjure a certain musical genre or sound associated with the types of music you’ve heard containing such themes. Well in our case, we went in with these expectations, but as soon as we hit play, we were in for quite a surprise. What we thought would be an innuendo-dominated hip hop track was instead a playful, understated, and highly textural composition with subtle hints of seduction.

In just 2 minutes and 46 seconds, m0n0jay packs in quite a variety of sonic elements and styles. Starting off with just a xylophone, she quickly layers in a thick bassy synth, poppy keyboard, various percussive textures, and multi-part vocals. The diversity of nontraditional sounds and textures and how the artist sequences them in a way that makes sense is something to behold. She doesn’t just use the verse to build into a chorus, as is typical of most modern pop. The verses have their own ebbs and flows, and the first verse contains its own entire part (“energy flows, up and low” repeated) that is absent from the second. In contrast, the second verse contains a more distinctly EDM style that was not as prominent before. In the culinary world, the song would be more akin to a set of disparately-themed, deconstructed dishes than it would be to a typical three course meal.

In addition to its unconventional structure, the song dabbles in multiple musical styles. This isn’t music you can easily trace back to one influence or another (other than the keyboard, which reminded us of fellow Swede Lykke Li), or even to one genre or another. It contains elements of pop, indie, house, and heavily electronic. But it’s also sensorial, with various textures triggering ASMR-esque tingles, and it’s whimsical, seamlessly jumping at times from gentle and introspective to upbeat without warning. We like the chaos of it all, but we also appreciate that everything seems to fit within the overall framework of playful, understated seduction.

If you’re not curious yet to check out the work of m0n0 jay, you really should be. Describing her own music as “slightly unhinged” and “pop as power, not performance”, m0n0 jay has developed something that is truly delightful and that we can’t quite put our finger on. Maybe you’ll be able to describe it more succinctly than we have; share your thoughts in the comments below and let us know what you think.

Stream L.L.L. (Lift, Lift, Lick It) here and follow m0n0 jay on Instagram to catch more from her. 

Follow our Up and Comers playlist to discover more emerging artists that you’ve never heard of.