Meet Jae Stephens

I'm totally a JaeBae now.

Sep 27, 2024

Jae Stephens is certainly in the right lane to make a name for herself. I first discovered Jae how most music listeners discover new artist — A viral Fucci tweet. (You thought I was going to say Spotify, hm?) Fucci posted the link to Stephens’ latest single, “Body Favors” and I was reeled right in.

The music video for “Body Favors” is just as cute and fun as the song. It features a dancing Jae Stephens in bright red tights, holding a lollipop, and wearing various outfits against a white backdrop, grooving to the song. In my opinion, "Body Favors" was the perfect choice for a single, with its catchy call-and-response, “Like that? Like that.” It's absolutely an ear-worm.

The EP, SELLOUT is full of other songs that are the perfect blend of nostalgic and current. Songs like “Girls Don’t Cheat” and “Kiss U Back” remind me of early 2000s Aaliyah and Christina Aguilera. Jae's confidence and wit shine throughout the flirtatious songwriting on this project and it truly makes for an enjoyable listen.

The project doesn’t overstay its welcome with a mere six tracks that showcase Stephens’ strengths vocally, sonically, and aesthetically. It’s a great formal introduction to this up and coming artist.

A little backstory on Jae she garnered her first audience by being a Tumblr babe, posting her covers and sharing parts of her life and garnered a whopping 200,000 followers because of it. She’s currently signed to Issa Rae’s record label, Raedio (in partnership with Def Jam) but make no mistake she’s been in the industry for a minute. Stephens has writing credits for major names like Jennifer Lopez, Normani, and Sinéad Harnett. While listening to SELLOUT it’s so easy to spot the Pop and R&B influences that Jae uses on each track and I think that was intentional. In an interview with Essence Girls United, Stephens expresses that she doesn’t want to be confined to a specific genre. However, she highlights her use of Pop song structures combined with the melodies and nuances of R&B, which give her music its distinctive edge.

Available for iOS and Android

If you’ve made it this far I hope you’ll take the time to check her out. I think Jae Stephens has the potential to be really great! I have an auspicious instinct about these things (see below.)

Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this one. My birthday just passed and I’m now 27. *insert crying emoji* Regardless, I hope you have an amazing weekend and I’ll see y’all next week with a good one — in the meantime give my girl, Jae a listen and enjoy this super cute pic of me on my birthday (9/15).