JEM - FINALLY WOKEN

Thankfully, I get to write this. If I had to stand before you and recite it, I might be a little difficult to understand. Why? Because I’m eating my words.
Two weeks ago, when I was told we were getting a CD from a girl named Jem, all I could do was chuckle. “Jem?” Is it 1985 again? Has she reunited with the truly outrageous, fully-animated Holograms? Yeah, I’m sure she gets that a lot. Then they tell me, “She produced a track on Madonna’s new album.” Oy. No offense to the Naughty Godmother of Radio-Friendly Dance Pop and her groundbreaking career, but her company as of late has been of the talentless-teen-pop-star-gone-risque-for-attention’s-sake sort. But, like I said, I’m eating my words. I was ignorant, and now stand corrected.
Jem, I owe you dinner, or a drink, or a pony. Finally Woken is amazing. It’s not the cheesy, mass-consumed fluff MTV gives us. It’s Wales by way of Brooklyn, which probably explains your collabo with Ge-ology, who rocked Mos Def and Talib Kweli’s Black Star. It’s songwriting well-done, with lyrics that don’t come off as trite, meaningless banter. It’s production that mixes everything-- rock, dancehall, and symphony strings-- over serious boom-bap. Like Sly & the Family Stone backing Nikka Costa, produced by Andy Smith of Portishead. And that voice,.. oh, how I dig thee.
I’m gonna put this up there with Chromeo’s She’s In Control as another one of this year’s best, especially because of how pleasantly off-guard it caught me.
READ OUR INTERVIEW WITH JEM