A newcomer to A1234, JonesJrr (AKA Shaun) has truly made a splash of a debut with his new track, i might not be happy. The Seattle/Tacoma, Washington-based artist released the unskippable song on his birthday, which makes him the ripe age of 23. Growing up in a low-income family in a small town just two hours drive from Seattle, Shaun says he was inclined to pursue a standard path where he works hard in school, finds his way through college, and amounts to his “dream job”. In reality, however, JonesJrr spent most of his four years at college watching Youtube videos on how to mix vocals and would end up releasing near 40 songs in his time at the University of Washington. Clearly, his discography is expansive as he has songs dating back to 2018, however, something about this one clearly stands out from the rest.

The song came about as Shaun vented his emotions to a close friend of his who told him “Shaun, you aren’t happy”, hence the track’s title. He wrote the record as he watched his peers get married, settle down at 9-5 jobs, and move away from home, yet he remained stuck in what he would call “the same monotonous loop” he’s felt for years. Throughout the record, a listener can dissect the lyrics and note these very feelings, with grim lines such as, “Well look at me… it’s another year past, I ain’t where I wanna be”. If the track had to be summed up in two words, they would be unequivocally raw. Soon after teasing the song on TikTok and receiving over 11,000 views (where I made this discovery), JonesJrr would come to realize many resonate with his message and found solace in his words.

The simple, yet powerful production was done by VOV. It consists of a beautifully played acoustic guitar melody, one that could easily stand on its own. Although, when paired with boom-bap drums reminiscent of Logic’s early work, you have a rap instrumental that begs for well-crafted rhyme schemes and heavy-hitting bars… something JonesJrr does not fail to deliver.

I look forward to the future and hope for Shaun to find further success in his musical journey, as it seems he has finally found his “dream job”… a beautiful story.