Q&A: Jutes is Building Something Real
OTTAWA-BORN, LA-BASED ROCK AND POP ARTIST JUTES — released his latest single “Holy Ghost” on September 18. It’s the eighth single released off of his upcoming album Sleepyhead, and it’s a seamless addition to the dark yet love-filled world of Sleepyhead.
Based on the tracks we’ve heard so far, the album is a union between light and dark. Jutes writes about the devotion of romance as clearly as he writes about the agony of grief. He has an instinct for representing multiple views — it’s never one-sided for Jutes. Through abstract metaphors, colliding sonic decisions, and variations to the speed of the album’s flow, the images that Jutes paints all work to represent the diversity of any given relationship, opinion, or experience.
Sleepyhead is also a sensual album, with songs like “Sex & Palo Santo” and “Obsessed.” It has a give-and-take pattern that adds to this sensuality, swinging from subdued and drowsy, to heavy and resounding. This also makes it digestible — you’re never overwhelmed or underwhelmed because the record maintains motion.
What is always true on each track is that the guitar thunders its way in. There is nothing subtle about its arrival. On “Holy Ghost,” the guitar makes its introduction in the pre-chorus and for the duration of the song, it interlaces with Jutes’ vocals as if the two were a single component. It’s smooth and satisfying which is a quality that has been catching the attention of music fans on social media.
Jutes often posts snippets of his releases on Instagram and TikTok, gaining millions of views. He has built a specific ambiance that is Sleepyhead. It has clear intentions and people are finding it one single at a time — and they’re understanding it. For Jutes, the most important aspect of his artistry is creating community. The full album is not set to release until 2025, but through Jutes’ diligent efforts to connect, Sleepyhead is already fulfilling just that.
LA-based listeners are showing up to experience Sleepyhead at Jutes’ first headline show on October 18 at The Moroccan Lounge. The show sold out in under a month.
Throughout our time together, his smile is warm, he listens and converses with consideration, and he expresses gratitude for the life he gets to create through music. It would be impossible to mistake Jutes for anything less than authentic. Read our conversation with him below.
LUNA: Congratulations on “Holy Ghost!” Each new release is a step closer to the full length of Sleepyhead. Tell me about the latest single.
JUTES: “Holy Ghost” is an extension of “Vertigo.” [That song] is about somebody who’s coming to terms with the fact that they’re dying. I was thinking about friends of mine who have died. I have friends who died in accidents, so they didn’t really have time to take it in. I also have friends who died in the hospital. I’ve talked to family members and they were like, “We had this weird feeling that they knew it was their time even though the doctor said they’d be fine.” They called everybody and kind of wrapped everything up in a weird way, as if they knew what was coming. I was thinking about what that would feel like and I wanted to write a song about somebody who was in the process of dying and knows it’s coming. It’s coming to terms with passing over.
Then, I wanted to write part two, a bit more abstract. “Holy Ghost” is about a fallen angel who comes back down to Earth and falls in love. It’s kind of inspired by “Iris” by Goo Goo Dolls which is my fiancé and I’s song. I wanted a heavy, creepier, personal version without it sounding anything like “Iris.” A fallen angel falls in love and she can’t even see him, doesn’t know he’s there, but he would give up everything just for her to see him and be with him. It’s kind of abstract, but it’s rooted in a place that comes back to me and my fiancé.
LUNA: The idea of fallen angels, whether in the Bible, mythology, literature, or elsewhere, is often associated with sin, punishment, temptation, or whatever you want to call it. But the character in your song is associated with the Holy Ghost — the ultimate symbol of the opposite. That gives us a really interesting contradiction. What does this character represent for you?
JUTES: I like the oxymoron of a fallen angel really being the Holy Ghost. I like it being ambiguous. Who is this person to her? Did he give up heaven to come down? Maybe it is temptation. Maybe it is sin. Maybe he is being punished and he’s back down, stuck on Earth, and falls in love. I wanted to leave it open and my favorite lyrics are lyrics where the audience can take it however they want depending on how they grew up and their beliefs. I used to write songs very literal and from time to time, I have moments in my songs that are literal. But I always like to have this mix of letting the audience put their own life into the words I’m saying.
I kind of get lost in writing these songs and don’t necessarily know sometimes what I’m trying to say. I just know something feels right. There are times where I end up resonating with songs more after I write them than when I wrote them. And that’s the thing with this whole album. I’m not thinking as much as I used to think when writing. I was always writing from a place of, “What’s going to be a hit? What are people going to like?” Now I’m not trying to make things catchy. I’m just living in this world that is Sleepyhead. There are familiar sonics in every song and it feels like a world. I’m letting things come and not judging them too hard. It has been my favorite experience I’ve ever had writing songs. I haven’t been working with other writers. I’ve cut it down to just me and my producers, and it’s very close knit. We allow ourselves to get as weird as we want to get, and see what happens.
LUNA: Sleepyhead definitely is an individual world. It sounds like it has an aligned agenda. Do you remember a moment where you thought, “This is the kind of world I want to create?” It’s different from your past releases. Rap elements of early Jutes, for example, are giving way to heavier elements.
JUTES: Earlier days, like in Toronto before I moved to LA, I started out rapping then taught myself to sing over time. Even before I got into rock, I was inspired by The Neighbourhood. They had this dark thing they were doing that was their own. It was indie, it had pop elements, but also hip-hop elements. It was dark and cinematic, and that was inspiring. So I was mixing hip-hop with those vibes. Then I got away from it. I came to LA and discovered I can make rock music. I grew up on rock music when I was a kid — that’s now a possibility. I dove into it.
I came full circle with Sleepyhead where I’m tapping into dark and cinematic references that I was pulling from early on. But I’ve grown as a vocalist and as a writer. I have more confidence in my taste and I have more of an idea when it comes to production of what I want. It feels like early me mixed with all the tools that I’ve recently acquired, and it created this hybrid sound.
“Sleepyhead” is on the radio right now. It’s on alternative radio, but I don’t think it’s heavy enough for rock radio. Some people have said it’s this alternative thing where the chorus is heavy enough, but the verses aren’t. So it’s a hybrid mix of all the things that I’ve loved. But the moment where I realized I wanted to build this world was after making an entire album that was focused on rock radio. I was feeling desperate — I felt like I hadn’t had any luck in a long time. Things were going downhill for me musically. I fell into the trap of doing what I thought would be popular. It was after making an entire album with that mindset that I then therapeutically needed to make Sleepyhead for myself. Something felt special about it and I was like, “I don’t even want to listen to that other album I just made.” I didn’t recognize myself in it.
Sleepyhead is me from every era. I feel so attached to it. I kind of said, “Forget labels. Forget radio.” That’s ironic because it’s on the radio now. But I just gave it one last shot, trusting my own gut and my taste. Thank God it worked because I think I would have fallen out of love with making music if I got popular just trying to be popular, or trying to make hits, or trying to make something that I thought others would like. I easily would have fallen out of love with that very quickly.
LUNA: And it doesn’t need to be one thing. You’ve been doing this for so long and frankly, you’ve been underrated for so long. For you to bring all those years together and kind of find power in it, that’s the best thing you could do as an artist.
JUTES: It feels good. I’ve been a songwriter for others for a long time as well. I’ve had success with that, so it’s a nice little pat on the back to be like, “You did it yourself.”
LUNA: You mentioned that you’ve grown as a songwriter. You’ve never been an artist who has shied away from writing about your most personal experiences but with the story of “Holy Ghost” that continues from “Vertigo”, it seems like you’re pushing the boundaries of what storytelling can be in music. I don’t want to use the word “fiction” because there’s always a bit of truth in everything, so maybe it’s more accurate to call it metaphor. There are a lot more abstract images in your lyrics now.
JUTES: I watched an interview of Chino from Deftones where he was explaining his writing process. He said that he loved to use metaphors to create kind of what I was saying where it’s a mood. Then however you’re feeling, the details you can fill in yourself. You can experience the music for whatever you need it for. That was like an epiphany for me. I pretty much only listened to music from the 90s and early 2000s which was a way more abstract era. Lyrically, I listened to a lot of The Smashing Pumpkins and, to this day, I have no idea what he’s talking about a lot of the time, but I love that [laughs].
I think in the era of TikTok, I feel like the things that go viral are simple lyrically for the most part. I feel very blessed to have any kind of success in this era, being a little abstract. I feel like it’s a tough thing to crack through. I see so many people who are wildly talented but aren’t getting the exposure they deserve because it just takes more than fifteen seconds to get it.
LUNA: To me, the best kind of music is music that evolves with you. A song that can mean one thing at one point of your life, then something completely different ten years later.
JUTES: I love that. That’s what I strive for. Even with “Sleepyhead” the song, there are different interpretations. In the chorus, “I’d die in my sleep to live in your arms,” just that line alone has different interpretations from romance to grieving a loss. There are so many angles that people are connecting to that I didn’t even think about when I wrote it. That’s the power of not being obvious and just letting people make it their own.
LUNA: Those interpretations can change even more when people have a chance to see it live, which is so special. I’ve definitely had experiences at shows where my perception of a specific song has changed because seeing it live, you appreciate it more. One of your least favorites becomes your most favorite. You just sold out The Moroccan Lounge pretty quickly. How are you feeling about that? It’s not a small deal!
JUTES: It’s just crazy. That’s the thing I’m most grateful for. Of course, I look at my views and monthly listeners. But the thing that means the most is selling tickets to a concert. Selling 250 tickets to a show means more to me than a million views on a song. I’m actually going to see these people. We’re going to sing the songs together. I’m going to see what the music means to them in real life. That is the biggest perk of the job — seeing what it means to other people.
It’s also the thing that I want to focus on the most — building something real from all of this. Who knows how long I’ll have success on Instagram Reels and stuff like that. It comes and goes for everybody. But I want to chip away at one person at a time, building a real community that gets it. I don’t have to be the biggest artist. The idea of fame and the idea of being number one, I don’t desire that like I did when I was younger. I think when I was younger, I wanted to prove to everyone that I could do it. Now, I just want something real.
I want something that I know will last because I want to do this for a very long time. I love to do this. So the show is one of the biggest milestones for me. It’s my first LA show period, which is crazy! It’s my first headline show in America and probably the second headline show of my life. I did one a long time ago in Ottawa and I think like 70 people came. Then I’m opening for The Wrecks at The Roxy which is also sold out. The shows are going to be a nice finish to the year.
LUNA: Throughout all the tracks on Sleepyhead so far, I’ve really been digging how your voice sounds intertwined with the guitar. They’re meshed like they’re dancing together. How did that come to be? Is there an order to getting the perfect blend?
JUTES: A lot of people have been saying, “This tickles my brain.”
LUNA: Exactly!
JUTES: That’s what I’m going for. Once I get in the booth, I try to find what note feels the best with the chord. I’m doing a lot of long, held-out notes and I want to find the perfect marriage with the chord. I end up with these melodies that are kind of these long, weird notes that technically aren’t catchy, but it’s kind of satisfying. I might have it kind of mapped out in my head and written in my phone, then I’ll go into the booth and I’m like, “All right, let’s try a bunch of weird things.” Until it feels like you’re in a dream almost, it’s kind of hypnotizing.
LUNA: I love “Obsessed.” That guitar progression, it sounds like something is creeping up. There’s always something ominous in all the songs, even the love songs. It’s a great push and pull, a relationship between good and bad, awake and asleep, dreams and nightmares. Are these contradictions intentional?
JUTES: I think we look at everything that we have currently made, then try to explore whether it’s the opposite or different areas. That could be tempos, chord progressions, or motifs. When we’ve done something many different ways, then we’ll hit it from the other side and flip it. It could be a hook of me singing as hard as I can, then the verse is more chill. We did that with “Safe Word.” It’s giving people a variety while being cohesive. Being cohesive is extremely important on this album. I want the show to feel like you’ve gone somewhere else. I want the album to feel like you’ve gone somewhere else. It has to be dynamic.
LUNA: Again, it’s the idea of listeners making what they want of it. When you have all shades and hues, some will be brighter for some listeners and they’re going to create their own stories with it.
JUTES: Yup, and some people love the heavy stuff while some people like the pop stuff. I want there to be something for everyone.
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