Saint Paul, Minnesota native, r&p (rhythm and pop) artist, and singer-songwriter Jack The Underdog teams up with producer sigh to take us through post-relationship rage through their recent single, "Hit."
Rendering his perspectives in song with unapologetic honesty, Jack The Underdog garners inspiration from genres like pop, r&b, and hip-hop, creating his sound known as r&p (rhythm and pop). After moving to Nashville with his band at the time, it wasn't until 2016 that Jack The Underdog began embarking on a solo career.
Through his latest single, "Hit," Jack The Underdog and sigh catapult us into the heat of a relationship's turmoil through the descriptive and hostile words that sing a spiteful story. Giving us a modern blend of pop and hip-hop through the bouncy and textured production, the two creatives have truly molded this song to tell a relatable and gut-wrenching story, sonically and lyrically.
Opening "Hit" is a deftly-produced beat by sigh that shakes our speakers with punchy kicks, an eerie background synth, and crispy snares that make way for Jack The Underdog to begin telling a personal story surrounding his side of a broken relationship. We can hear similar tones to MGK merged with a G-Eazy attitude through Jack The Underdog's striking and emotional delivery.
Pushing through the track with each fiery element that meets us along the way, we must note the incredible production by sigh that genuinely makes the song irresistible. Alongside Jack The Underdog's honest lyricism and rhythmic bars, the two offer a melodic and punchy ode to hip-hop while filling the piece with boundless truth.
Catch Jack The Underdog's spiteful single "Hit" on all digital streaming platforms, and feel the groove with sigh's intricate production and Jack The Underdog's relatable bars.
Hello Jack The Underdog, and welcome to BUzzMusic. We're head over heels for the raw honesty and truth you've spilled within the single "Hit." What inspired you to create this piece and touch on your side of the story?
Despite what you may gather from the song, I'm actually a very positive person. I really value honest, straight-up, genuine people. I started writing this song a couple of years ago when I was involved with a few people that turned out to be fake friends. Long story short: when I confronted these people, they acted like I was in the wrong for calling them out. This was the central inspiration for the hook of the song, "don't forget- talk sh*t, get hit". This song was extremely therapeutic to write because I don't feel like holding anger or sadness inside leads to any good. I let myself be completely raw and honest within this song in order to let out those negative feelings that I was holding onto. I always say "when sh*t happens, make something good out of it". Turning bad experiences into music that I'm proud of is my personal way of doing this.
What drew you to the works of sigh to collaborate on your single "Hit?" Did he help with the songwriting as well or only the production?
sigh is one of my best friends and has been ever since ~2012. We attended the School of Rock in Saint Paul, MN (where we are both from) and we were actually in a few bands together throughout high school. sigh was the drummer of our most notable band, "Painting Stars", and the background singer on this song is actually the singer from the same band (Shoutout Sarah Underwood!) "Hit" was co-written and co-produced by sigh and I, and although sigh's specialty is production and mine lies in songwriting, we swap ideas and collaborate on all parts of the music when we work together. sigh and I share a similar vision with our music, and based on the fact that we've been making music together for almost 10 years, teaming up is always fun for us.
When creating the sonics for your single "Hit," how did you go about merging the sounds of r&b, pop, and hip-hop to create such a dense and modern atmosphere?
I am a HUGE fan of melodic rap. I love hearing songs with pop elements intertwined with hip-hop and r&b production. After sigh and I released our EP last year, we had a discussion about what kind of vibe we wanted our next project to be. We both cited rap artists like Travis Scott, Juice WRLD, & The Kid Laroi, as well as pop artists like blackbear and Mod Sun. We agreed that we wanted to take a little bit of the pop out of our music to make this next project a bit edgier. Combining hip-hop production, 808s & trap bass, melodic auto-tuned vocals, and plenty of ad-libs helped us make "Hit" the hard-hitting song that it is.
We've heard that you're also making your way into the pop, dance, and alternative markets. Should we expect any upcoming projects that explore these sounds?
Absolutely! "Hit" is actually the second single that sigh and I have dropped from our upcoming project, so we are working hard to finish that up. Although it is a bit more rap and r&b inspired, there are a diverse array of genres to be explored within the project, including pop, dance, and even LoFi. Beyond that, I am currently working on a couple of projects: the first being some dance/pop stuff with CyFi (another one of my best friends & a phenomenal producer), the second project being a Remix EP for "Dolly", one of my favorite and more successful songs, and finally, I am working on a solo pop-punk-rap album. Growing up, pop-punk was my absolute favorite type of music. I still listen to it almost daily, but I was incredibly inspired by Machine Gun Kelly's new album, "Tickets to my Downfall" that came out this past year. Hearing the way that he and Travis Barker mixed punk with rap made me want to try to execute it myself, so stay tuned for that.
What is the main message you'd like to deliver through your music?
I chose the name "jack the underdog" because I have always kind of felt like the 'underdog' or 'outsider' in life. When I started my solo artist career, I decided that I wanted to be a voice for those that don't have one. I wanted to lift up marginalized people and I wanted people to be able to relate to me through music. Since day one, I've been honest about my identity as an LGBT person and I let my values be displayed throughout my music. Sometimes I'll write a really sad song. Sometimes I'm super pissed off in my music. Every once in a while there's even a happy song in there! (lol). Although my songs oftentimes explore deep or heavy emotions, the point of it all is to escape from your micro-reality for a bit. I truly want other people to hear my music and not feel alone. Growing up, there was a lot of music that made me like I fit in, or that someone understood me. "Hit' may sound like an angry, call-them-out, venting song — and in a lot of ways, it is that. But beyond all the ranting is healing. PSA: Drop those fake friends and make some dope art instead!
There’s a playlist linked to my Spotify called ‘Best of JTU 2017-2021’. If you’d like to keep up with my releases in real-time and hear what I consider my “best” songs, consider giving it a like or follow :) spread love y’all!
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