Chords for NakeyJakey - "Not Dead Yet" TRACK REVIEW

Hey buddy, [C] did you hear the news?
_ [Bm] _
_ [D] It's [G] track review. _ _
Hey, hey, hey everyone.
Anthony Fantano here, Internet's Busiest Music Nerd.
[G#] Hope you're
doing well.
And it is time for a track [F] review.
I'm going to be taking on the newest single,
Not Dead Yet, from Jakey, aka Nakey Jakey, aka New Jackman, who you guys might remember
from his ever popular YouTube channel of the name Nakey Jakey, where he does a series
of video essays, many of them centering around the art form of video games.
But now it would
seem after some time of being what Jakey would describe as in the stew, Jakey is making maybe
a serious run at a music career here, dropping some serious music that he wants you guys
to stream and listen to.
Maybe this will go somewhere.
I don't know.
I think that
will entirely depend on how good the music is that he's bringing to the table.
So again,
Not Dead Yet, new single from Jakey.
Let's give it a try.
Let's give it a shot.
Let's
see what Jakey is trying to do, not just in the YouTube sphere, but also on the musical
end of things and give it a serious critique, a serious rundown.
Obviously, I have _ my love,
my personal love of Jakey, but that's for the man himself and his content.
That doesn't mean
I got to like the dude's music.
We will see whether or not this appeals to me in any way,
shape or form.
But [F#] bam. _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Okay.
Nakey Jakey, Not Dead Yet, new single.
Here are my thoughts.
Part of me feels like, whoa, didn't know he had it in him.
That was like surprisingly good,
considering that [N] I don't think he's had any kind of industry backing doing any of this.
I don't think, you know, the dude's connected to a label or anything, but still the track
sounds surprisingly good considering that it seems like it's a DIY job.
There are some spots
of it that I do think are rough.
For one, that refrain, that chorus vocal, way too much reverb,
way too washed out, please.
The singing also kind of rapping sounded much better during the verses
where the vocals were a lot more upfront.
I thought vocally and [F] instrumentally the bridge
was a little rough too.
Maybe I need to give it some more listens, but for the most part,
it just sounded like a total mess that didn't really know what it wanted to be.
The transition
was weird.
The way that it lingered was kind of weird.
I appreciated he was trying to work this
structure into his track, but I think this bridge could use a redo.
Beyond that, though,
what I was impressed by were, one, the strange combination of what I felt like were the
influences [F#] on this track.
For one, I was catching a pretty strong Joji vibe.
Like there's obviously
a hip hop and an R&B influence going on here, but there is a very strong sort of DIY and dream pop
vibe going on.
It's meant to be enveloping.
It's meant to be moody.
As a YouTuber who has
transitioned out of the platform for the most part and has become a professional full-time
commercial musician, I feel like Joji has kind of paved that way with music that sounds exactly like
this and Jakey is sort of following in those footsteps.
But I'm not trying to corner this
track as simply being some kind of Joji ripoff or something like that.
I will say there were
some elements that to me sounded a little vapor wavy, sounded a little Bon Iver influence.
The
yelpy, half-rapping, half-sung vocals on the verses almost reminded me of Isaac Brock of
Modest Mouse fame.
So the musical inspirations going into this track seemed at least somewhat
wide.
And in a weird way, the song, especially if you get into the verses, was kind of bittersweet
in its tone.
There were some bars that felt a little sad or dramatic.
There were some elements
of the lyrics that felt kind of funny.
In a way, I feel like this music runs along the same emotional
vibe that Jakey's content on YouTube actually does.
Because while it is very funny and it is very
entertaining, there's also something deeply personal and I guess reflective about a lot of
what he does too.
So I guess it's interesting to hear those same moods embodied in this song, but
in a way that I guess you wouldn't necessarily expect.
I think the beat was consistently good.
I certainly loved how gargantuan and pillowy and hazy and almost trippy it all felt, even if I
thought some of the hi-hats and some of the more trap-influenced elements of the percussion were a
little plain and basic.
And I feel like that's most, if not all, of what I have to say about
this track.
It's not bad.
It could definitely use some retooling, I think.
Certainly the more buried
vocals in the mix and how smudgy some parts of it are.
But yeah, I think there are a lot of compelling
ideas going on here.
And I don't know, I think it's certainly good [G#] enough to make me curious
about what Jakey is going to do on his next song.
So I think I'll leave it at that.
Over here next
to my head is another video that you can check out.
Hit that up or the link to subscribe to
the channel.
Thought this track was okay.
Thought it was okay.
But leave your thoughts down in the
comments.
Let me know what you thought of it.
Did you love it?
Did you hate it?
Why?
And we will see
you in the next video, guys.
Anthony Fantano, Jakey, [N] forever.