Jacob Collier will visit Madrid and Barcelona in November next year. Tickets to see him at the WiZink Center and Palau Sant Jordi go out today in pre-sale mode. Hardened on YouTube, where he became famous covering songs for example by Stevie Wonder, he was signed by the management office of Quincy Jones and since then his rise has been meteoric.
He is a Grammy favorite: he has accumulated 5 statuettes and is the first British artist to have obtained nominations for his first four albums. He now returns with the 4th part of the “Djesse” project (his 5th album in total), which will take him on a world tour. Improvisations, self-samples, audience participation, versions of Queen or the Beatles are common in his shows… although in this article we focus on his own material.
All I Need
What Jacob Collier will present next year in Spain and the rest of the world will be the fourth volume of “Djesse”. The third and last one so far included two of his best songs. The first of them is ‘All I Need’, a delicious funk between Stevie Wonder and Prince. A soul-tinged declaration of love, with the help of Mahalia and Ty Dolla $ign, which only Beyoncé’s ‘Black Parade’ separated from the Grammy for best R&B.
Time Alone With You
On the same album and with similar influences, ‘Time Alone With You’ stood out, with spectacular vocal harmonies, one of their great strengths. These first two topics that we recommend are the ones that Jacob chose to open his particular “Tiny Desk.” An absolutely historic session in which he invites us to his studio multiplied by 4. He was only in charge of vocals, keyboard, guitar, bass and drums, adding everything later in the montage. Thus he knew how to defend alone what was in principle a collaboration with Daniel Caesar.
feel
Going back in time, volume 2 of “Djesse” contained one of Collier’s warmest and most comforting recordings. I’m talking about ‘Feel’, a collaboration in which Lianne La Havas’ sweet voice alternated with Jacob’s half-robotic harmonies. Both of them mulling over the idea – a standard in soul – “you make me feel new” for 6 minutes.
Don’t You Know
Jacob Collier’s first album came out in 2016 under the name ‘In My Room’. There were two versions of Stevie Wonder (‘You and I’) and the main theme of the “Flintstones”, which achieved Grammy nominations. Specifically to the best arrangements. Also on this album were originals like ‘Hideaway’ or ‘Do n’t You Know’, which are the songs that he has played the most live, and that still appear in his repertoire from time to time. Specifically, ‘Don’t You Know’ closed the album, extending to 9 minutes, like a self-sampling festival, with a moment of piano, double bass and projections. This is how he recreated it alone with many of the live elements.
Witness Me
On February 29, the fourth volume of “Djesse” will be released, as we said. The first of the singles, ‘Never Gonna Be Alone’, actually dates back to 2022. The most recent is one of their best, and they have just released their video clip, which is family-oriented and quasi-Christmas. Collier offers in ‘Witness Me’ at first a doo-wop song, with his finger snaps and everything, to which Shawn Mendes first joins and then Stormzy’s rap (Kirk Franklin co-produces). Perhaps one of the themes in which he has best combined past and present.
