In his new single “Sunshine,” pop artist Lucas Jay turns his focus to the dance-inspired element of his sound and entirely abandons the notion of somber surrealism in his artistry at the door. From the moment we press the play button forward, Jay is on top of us with a rhythmic swing from the strings that instantly clears up even the cloudiest of days. There’s a strong sense of optimism engrained in the construction of the hook, but even at its most nimble and streamlined, there isn’t a speck of artificiality for us to look past here. “Sunshine” is sweet and savvy pop for a time in history that needs a shot of aural vitality amid the uncertain vibes that have been coming from some of the bigger players in the mainstream as of late.
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The tempo has a wonderfully funk-influenced swing to it here, and this stimulates the mood of the music in more ways than one. For starters, the melody captures and ultimately extends the aggressive attitude of the percussion when we get into the chorus, and in the bass-led turnaround, the absence of a substantial groove highlights the emotionality in Jay’s words better than anything else possibly could have. On more than one occasion, “Sunshine” flirts with the boundaries that separate indie pop from a more mainstream strain of the genre, but never does it feel like the embodiment of a singer/songwriter’s selling-out. To me, it’s the very opposite here – there’s a lot of passion in every element of the music, and that just can’t be said for a lot of the new pop music charting well this summer.
I’m only mildly familiar with the extended discography of Lucas Jay, i.e. the song “Glass Moon,” but I do think that his performance in “Sunshine” could boast his most melodic vocal so far. He’s showing off a lot of growth from behind the mic, and although there’s a lot of emotion born of the lyrics here, none of it would be even remotely accessible to us were it being presented by a different singer. Jay has a signature sound, and if there was any sort of debate as to whether or not this was the case before the release of this latest single, I think the argument is going to be put to bed permanently now.
Lucas Jay has come a long way in the short time he’s been in the underground spotlight, and judging from the ambitious stylization of this most recent studio offering, his career is destined for bigger and better things just around the corner. 2023 has been a very experimental year for pop music in general, and for indie artists like this one, it’s been one that has opened up a lot of possibilities that had previously seemed out of reach to the masses. Jay is breaking out the big guns for “Sunshine,” and if you ask me, I think he deserves to be lauded as one of the more focused singer/songwriters in his peer group. He’s cool and collected in every moment here, and we could use more of that in modern pop music.
Jodi Marxbury