Jelani Blackman continues his busy summer with the release of new single ‘Bubblin’, out today via 18 Records / eOne Music.
The track comes hot on the heels of his latest offering ‘Don’t Matter’, as well as his return to playing live with a headline show at Brighton’s Green Door Stoor, also joining Gorillaz onstage at The O2 last week as he looks ahead to upcoming festival bookings at All Points East, Love Saves The Day, Boardmasters, Sound City and more. Jelani recently announced a hometown headline show at Bush Hall for the 22nd October – tickets available here.
Written and recorded in the space of one wavy night home alone during the first lockdown, ‘Bubblin’ is a lively release of pent-up energy. As with his 2020 anthem ‘Hello’, Jelani recorded it in one take, and you can feel that raw positivity shining through his electrifying vocals over a playful, classical guitar-sampling beat. “I was actually Bubblin when I recorded this tune. Was in lockdown and had to record in my studio at home. The next day there was a letter through the door with a noise complaint ‘cos I was on such a wave. That‘s the whole mood of the song for me,” Jelani explains.
Heavily influenced by r&b and soul, yet coming up at a time when Grime was everywhere, Jelani’s sound swerves stereotypes, blending the hard with the soft, the dark with the light; reflected in an impressively diverse rollcall of collaborators that spans from Brian Eno to Burna Boy and Wolf Alice to Big Zuu. 2020 was a breakthrough year that saw inclusions in Radio 1’s Next Wave, DIY’s Class of 2021 and Notion’s Ones To Watch followed a collab with Ghetts and Fraser T Smith, a 1Xtra TOTW, as well as what was widely recognised as one of COLORS Studios’ best sessions. One of the most exciting, versatile and distinctive voices in the UK scene, 2021 is fast becoming Jelani Blackman’s year.
