By Hannah Newman

Jordan Lutes, more popularly known as Jutes, is the Toronto-based artist who is quickly gaining traction in the industry. Though raised in Ottawa, Canada, Jutes’ passion for songwriting and rapping bloomed in Toronto after he left his film studies and basketball background to study and create music on his own time.

Since his personal music discovery began, Jutes has released two albums with his first titled Overrated. The early 2020 album consists of top hits “Sideshow” and “Start Over,” tracks that resemble the early 2000s’ rock scene with trap beats mixed under edgy vocals. Not long after this first album dropped, his second, A Really Bad Dream, arrived with an astounding welcome. Jutes' style remains the same but more experimental, perhaps an introduction to the music project he’s taking on now.

The 23-year-old star recently left Capitol Records to pursue his own independent artist goals, one of them being his project of releasing a “song a week.” Of course, this seems difficult and nearly impossible, but, as anticipated, Jute$ dropped his first weekly track on February 26th titled “Sober Up” featuring Miles Wesley. Since then, Jute$ has kept up with the weekly collection, releasing tracks such as “BOY WITH A BROKEN HEART,” “Give u a Call,” and “Say it Out Loud,” which only means that we have a lot more to see from him throughout the year.

On Instagram, you referenced these weekly song releases as a “historical catalogue.” What does this mean for you, and why is that important?

I want to make history because I haven’t seen an artist drop a song a week and cover so many genres and sounds and vibes. I just want to be a timeless artist and make music for my soul instead of to impressive a label head or chase whatever song is currently #1 on the radio. Making history is important to me because I want to be an example of someone who refuses to say “die.” I want to show people what hard work and passion and self-belief can do, all from the desk in my bedroom. 

You describe yourself as an artist who is “meant to move on his own time and make whatever kinda music [you] feel like making.” What are the realities of being an independent artist?

Definitely no or low budgets to pay for stuff like videos, mixes, production, etc. But just make friends and rock out with them and give them some ownership in the final product while you can’t afford to pay them upfront. Owning the songs I record again is a great feeling. Instead of trading all my work for a one-time fee, I get to live off it forever and build on it...weekly.  :)

Capitol Records was your previous label. How long were you with them, and what made you decide to leave?

I was with them for 2 years I think? And I left because due to Covid mad budgets got cut, and I guess they didn’t want to hold me and not give me the support I needed, which is so blessed of them to do. You hear about labels shelving people or holding them without pushing them so often, and I can’t say how grateful I am that isn’t me. I had been wishing I could be indie again for a while just because I love being totally in charge of my own career, so it worked out quite nicely. 

What’s it like to be a singer/songwriter during a pandemic? How has that affected your creativity?

At first, I wrote a ton of songs about being isolated and lonely lol. Then I hit a gnarly writer’s block and started to just turn into human filth. Now I’m back in the groove and low-key enjoy being an introverted lil homebody and writing alone in my room. I made the rounds of LA for a year getting in rooms with different people daily, which was dope but honestly I enjoy pandemic workflow. Might not be the popular opinion, but it’s my excuse to go MIA. 

What do you see yourself creating in the future? Do you have any other projects in mind?

I draw as well and want to make my own animated show with my homie from Toronto who I met in film school. Would love to act eventually as well.

Your latest musical release was A Really Bad Dream with songs like “Movie” and “Backseat (Kiss Me)” quickly rising to the top. What was your creative vision behind these tracks?

These songs almost all got written in about a week. I had stopped rapping or doing any hip-hop for about a year, so they were pretty left-field, to be honest. The concept behind the title was that I was technically living my dream but it didn’t feel how I thought it was going to. I dreamt of signing a deal and worked on my writing and singing every day for 7+ years to make it out of Canada and get to LA, which led to me getting a deal with Capitol in the first year living there. I had $3.03 in my bank account when I signed and felt like I had made it, which turned into the “bad” dream part. I realized the deal was more just symbolic of success but ended up messing with my head a lot more than I let on. 

You just announced that you will be releasing a “song a week” starting February 26th with the plan to continue it throughout the year, perhaps longer. What inspired you to do this?

I really live to write songs—it’s what I do every day. Sometimes at 3 am before bed, sometimes while I have my morning coffee. It’s my therapy, and it’s how I first started being honest about my emotions and mental health, so my connection to it is very deep-rooted. I’ve got over 300 demos on my phone and those are just the recent ones. So, I figured hey no one can tell me what to do anymore, so why hoard this music to myself. Even if a song helps one person then it has a purpose and will also make me a little cash in the process. I feel free these days and want to stop overthinking so much and just let ‘em fly. 

Will you have a different method for approaching each song?

I love to make a bunch of different styles of music. I love rapping, singing pop songs, punk, R&B, and indie stuff. So yes there will be a nice mix of vibes. I’m not going to plan out too much on when what song drops, that part is more basically depending on who can get the paperwork and business part of each song done the fastest. Been only working with my friends lately to keep it moving nice and quickly.