JessB has delivered her first new music in almost a year, sharing a colourful new single titled ‘Can’t Fake It’.
In a press release, the Auckland rapper (aka Jess Bourke) described the MOW Music-produced track as “a lighthearted club banger for ya head top”. It builds on the club- and house-inspired sound she established with 2020’s ‘3 Nights In Amsterdam’ mixtape, spitting catchy bars over a playful soundscape of quirky synths and 808 beats.
Speaking to NME at this year’s BIGSOUND, Bourke expounded on the story behind the track: “It’s a very, very literal sounding song – it doesn’t have any secret meanings. Now that the borders are open and we can travel, I went back to Amsterdam to make some music with [MOW], who I made my last project with, and it was one of the songs that just happened during that week.
“I made it in… literally maybe half an hour, so it’s giving ‘low concept, high vibes’. It’s just a banger.”
Have a listen to ‘Can’t Fake It’ below:
‘Can’t Fake It’ follows on from last October’s ‘From Tha Jump’, which itself marked the first song to follow the release of ‘3 Nights In Amsterdam’. During her appearance at BIGSOUND, Bourke revealed to NME that she’s currently working on her debut studio album. “[I have] no idea when it’s gonna be out,” she said, “but I’ve been working on it literally since COVID, so… we’re in the last parts of getting it done.”
Bourke also teased a new direction for her sound, which she joked has been “the bane of my existence for the last couple of years”. She continued: “I’ve really been trying to find a sound that feels the most ‘me’. I think I’m there.
“For the last couple of years, with COVID and not being able to travel and do studio sessions in big groups and stuff, my ‘self-project’, I guess you could say, [has] been trying to sing. I’m not giving Adele, I’m giving [more] like, ‘Oh, you’re a rapper who can hold a tune?’ I’ve actually been making quite a few… almost R&B singing tracks, which will be on the album.
“I’m really excited to do that, because I guess it’s like the last thing people are expecting from me. I wanted to build on the sound that I started to create on ‘3 Nights In Amsterdam’ – kind of like [an] afro-inspired, hip-hop sound.”
Come November, Bourke will perform at the inaugural edition of touring queer music festival Summer Camp. She will appear alongside the likes of Years & Years, Big Freedia, The Veronicas and Cub Sport, as well as fellow Aotearoan Ladyhawke.
The rapper will also perform alongside Jesswar at a one-off co-headliner in Brisbane, scheduled for Friday November 18 – find tickets to that show here.