Before the Jamilla we know now, producing hypnotic rnb beats and layered vocals, Emily Branson would perform solo: just her and a guitar; and this is where “Love Himself” takes us, right back to Jamilla’s sonic roots.
It’s the latest installment from Jamilla after her 8 week long tour of Australia and New Zealand was cancelled due to COVID. There was no slowing Jamilla down from working on new and developing material whilst she awaits the rescheduled dates announced for October and November (fingers crossed everyone).
… years later I sing it in a sarcastic way. Internally rolling my eyes…
Jamilla
Gearing up for her inevitable debut EP, Jamilla has a few more courses to dish up before releasing her freshman body of work.
Recorded in long singles takes, the distinct flush tele guitar tone backs Jamilla’s warm, articulate vocals. Listening to such a hearty, rounded vocal, it’s almost hard to imagine the lyric content comes from such a vulnerable naive place for the usually outspoken, fiercely independent Jamilla.
Originally written to reflect on her experiences dating the egotistical, ‘tortured’ artist type boys; Jamilla explored a curiosity and intent to draw understanding. It’s that journey of thinking someone else is the interesting one, and then discovering the interesting one was you. That’s how the song began anyway, but Jamilla now reflects on it in a different way:
“… years later I sing it in a sarcastic way. Internally rolling my eyes at young Emily, but I still love the song. I can see how much I’ve grown and matured since then”
Standing as an expose on an early stint in the dating world, the song now beams as a snide, eyebrow raise to the old Emily. Enter, Jamilla:
I need a sad guy, bad guy, he’s always too high
With his ripped jeans, his torn up dreams, he’s perfect for me.
Don’t fool yourself thinking Jamilla needs a bit of high end production and complex swirling vocal harmonies to have you captivated, Love Yourself is raw, honest, and dishes up a nice huge eye roll at the person we once were before we got a bit more life experience under our belts. We’ve all been there.
Hear more Jamilla tunes on Spotify…
