Upcoming Artist: Meet Jack Kays and his “MORBID MIND”
Jack Kays is a singer/songwriter from Ohio who’s stripped-down indie songs are full of heart and catchy hooks. This year, Kays, who now resides in Washington DC, released the single “MORBID MIND” a fast-paced, acoustic guitar track that quickly went viral on TikTok and racked up over a million streams.
Far from his debut, Kays has been making and uploading music online for four years now. Though once “MORBID MIND” began to gain traction, Kays scrubbed all older releases from his catalog. In an interview with Daily Chiefers, Kays explained his reasoning for removing his older music. “I’ve been making music for four years now. So I had a shit ton of music up by that time that “MORBID MIND” dropped. When it came up and it started to do numbers and people reached out to me, aka my manager, and they were like maybe you should consider taking some of the old stuff down, so you can draw more attention to “MORBID MIND.” But, really to just kinda focus in and be able to drop some of the better songs off the old catalog and get those the recognition they deserve. Because as much as they’re old songs, they’re hits and I think they deserve to see the light of day in the right way.”
Jack Kays “MORBID MIND” (photo: Genius)
“MORBID MIND,” like the rest of Kays’ recent releases, features the singer and his guitar. On the now hit single, Kays opens with the lines “I can’t keep writing songs about the things I left behind/I spent way too much time alone inside my morbid mind/I wanna live inside my dreams but I can’t sleep at night/I lost myself between the seams and I just close my eyes.”
“Music has always been in my family, my Dad is a musician. He plays with a lot of the local groups in Cincy. Then my uncle is a great guitar player, so through that I’ve been exposed to some small industry things and the creative process.” Kay shared in an Interview with DailyChiefers. “Like watching people form bands and put together shows and the motion of talking to labels and making the most of your music career. I think that set me up for success in a way, but a main lesson I took away from my Uncle and honestly my father too. I think they really taught me to love music. My uncle is a guitar teacher and my Dad has a day job and plays in his band at night. It shows me that they do music just because they love it so much.”
Kays, who plays 9 instruments, has a clear love of music as both an art form and an outlet. Through his songs, Kays shares honest accounts of his personal struggles. “I can’t get away from my demons/They come to me when I be dreaming/Taking my life for the keeping/Waking up sweaty and screaming,” He sings on his most recent single “GIN N JUICE,” which was released on October 30th.
Jack Kays (photo: Instagram)
For his upcoming album, Kays shared that “ I have some keys on there, I have some acoustic guitar on there, I have some electric guitar on there, like bass I’ve played, drums that I’ve played. It’s all self-produced also, so as much people are gonna say sampling isn’t an instrument or programming drums isn’t an instrument…Brick, it’s a fucking instrument, it takes skill to do that shit. Making beats is as much of a skill as playing a guitar and the piano, so I’m trying to showcase every part of myself that I can.”
Kays’ recent singles are not only testaments to his musical ability and songwriting skills, but also set him up as one of the great indie acts to watch in the coming year.