In 2019, the song “Honeypie” by JAWNY skyrocketed to viral success thanks to TikTok with its users using clips to soundtrack their videos. Although the exposure for the Northern California-born artist was a good thing, the growing expectations and pressure forced JAWNY to take a pause and regroup. The break in thought to absorb the moment and reset was exactly what he needed as his recently released EP, ‘for abby’ is a collection of songs that embody JAWNY’s penchant for experimentation and varying sounds. Written during the first four months of quarantine, the EP is highlighted by the single, “Sabotage” that JAWNY describes as his “most honest song on the entire project”, “4Tounce” and “Trigger of Love”. The latter, inspired by his current relationship is one that JAWNY stated was one of his favorites- “I feel like because of how good I was feeing in those moments, that it just made the song so good.” Born Jacob Sullenger, JAWNY had previously performed under the moniker, Johnny Utah and initially started making beats with his brother, eventually landing placements with several rappers in the Soundcloud scene of the late aughts. Experimenting with the lo-fi sounds inspired by the likes of Alex G and Daniel Johnston, his sound would evolve fusing the beat-driven electronic sounds with the songs that were initially created on guitar. It was while living in Philadelphia and witnessing the underground DIY music scene that he realized that he could make music as a career, stating, “At the time I had a girlfriend who was really into the underground DIY music scene, and seeing all these
people who were making music on their own made me realize there was nothing stopping me from doing that too.”
JAWNY spoke with host Pete Mar about his new EP, ‘for abby’, how he overcame the struggles and expectations after the viral success of “Honeypie” and more.
