EP Review: Twenty Something by Jaz Karis
Reunited with the sound that introduced her, the South London singer turns the fights, unsent texts, and unreturned calls of her twenties into her surest writing yet.
Jaz Karis was introduced to the public through her song called “Petty Lover,” which was recorded at the COLORS series. Then, she released a string of EPs followed by an incredible debut, Safe Flight, but the theme of her music remained a heartbreak delivered as a speech, a craft from the BRIT School supported by intimate confessions from the living room. Karis calls Twenty Something, “a return to the sound that introduced me,” and the theme of her songs on this album is about the decade that she experiences right now, the time of life when those people whom you love become people with whom you need to have conversations.
Those conversations on “Hi” tells the story of calling an ex-boyfriend and trying to convince him to go back together with promises to “fall in deep and deeper then run it back/All of our years at a time,” plans about the trip and Mrs. in front of her name, and swearing “Cross my heart/And hope to die/If I don’t deep dive.” “Life is Unfair” is about the morning after that impulsive act, and it is based on the text that she should have sent and never did. While working it out, she acknowledges that “silence was my favourite weapon” and mentions the therapist who has already told her that she knows better. She constantly implicates herself in these stories, scrolling back “all our conversations” and wondering if she has been crazy or just a patient girl. Even “Loves Gone,” which tells about the start of drinking on the Monday and not sleeping for four days, relies on some words that she should have listened to, pockets burning, cup empty, waiting on the call that won’t come.
Nothing of that kind goes into depression, mainly because of the amount of details she notices. That boyfriend, who is getting dumped on “Stuck In Sixteen,” is being dumped thing by thing: the skinny jeans, the messy bedroom, the dirty tissues by the bed, the night out proposal he makes despite being unable to drive there. She evaluates a bike against her heels and chooses the heels, says “Maybe I’m a bitch for this,” and still manages to write the most sincere line: “I think I’m done betting on your potential.” This song is produced by Aston Rudi, who has worked on the previous song called “Petty Lover.” “Not 4 U” includes the dumping with the apology in it. She doesn’t like his friends, the way he drives that Benz, the Benz itself, lying. She apologizes for him but still acknowledges that she is guilty as well: compromising, the break she asked for even though she never left. She will miss, she says, “this little life, I had, with you.”
“FAITH” raises the address up and starts with the question: “What does it mean if I fear nothing now?” and comes from the person who lived in her place and lost patience and tried to fit and change the size. Her answer is a promise signed with two names: “Now I got faith in myself/And I will get me there,” trusting God’s help with the rest. She chooses the long way deliberately and finishes with the step into her worth.
Favorite Track(s): “Life Is Unfair,” “Stuck In Sixteen,” “FAITH”