By Tiana Cole
Inventive and witty, 19-year-old Jonathan André Singh is considered a creative genius by those who know him personally. This young amiable singer-songwriter, also musically known as JTK and André, has been doing this since the age of four.
Jonathan likens his style of music to those of rappers like J. Cole, Chance The Rapper, and Tyler, The Creator but has his own mellow interpretations of his sound.
In an interview with Guyana Standard, he said, “Being bullied at a young age really messed with the way I viewed myself as a person and writing is a way to create a version of myself that’s like a superhero.”
This young man, who claims the birthplace of New Amsterdam, Berbice, has been residing there for his entire life.
He is also a part-time photographer who has worked with his friend Keon Hector but is looking forward to one day making money from his music directly as well as continuing his studies in the scientific field.
His fan base has developed from close friends and family to persons both in and out of Guyana, mostly teenagers like himself. He said, “I was like very shocked as to how much persons really like and appreciate my music and, with the help of social media, I’ve created a growing fan base. I received messages from young people who struggle with depression and being insecure and they said they find comfort in some of the messages and visual creations I’ve given them thus far.”
He added that his venture in releasing what he wrote is quite a funny story. “To be honest, the first time I wrote and performed something was for a girl I really liked while I was in high school. I’ve been called cheesy a lot for doing things like this but I really liked the era of time where guys would get girls flowers and write sweet things for them so that’s how I go about doing it.”
Funny indeed, but amiable much. Jonathan said his creation towards his artistic names has been a “journey” and represents his different styles of music; the creation of ‘JTK’ was, he said, quite childish but as he grew into an adult with a deeper meaning of life — one which he keeps to himself — this name represents his hip-hop styled music while his second stage name ‘André’ leans towards the style of alternative soulful music.
Meanwhile, Jonathan’s drive comes from his love for what he does and how much it gives him the opportunity to meet new persons. He also really likes to travel and considers himself very spontaneous. He said travelling is like his music, “It’s the feeling you get while moving and experiencing awesome things, like the warm sunlight or the sound of trees and animals.”
He further said his music varies so much that anyone listening has to “vibe” with at least one of his songs. He has thus far recorded two extended play (EP) records, one single, and five features. He uploads his music on Audiomack, Soundcloud, and Facebook. It is from Facebook that Jonathan sees the majority of his support, he said.
His advice to other young people is, “Stay trying; don’t fail and let it stay a failure, there’s always a wall and you can choose to go over or through but don’t let it stay blocking you.”
Jonathan says his biggest challenge is “not being good enough” and, according to him, it is what also gives him drive to do better.
Jonathan continuously expressed that “people need people” and he said that is what he promotes by being of much help to others who have started their journeys. He also reaches out to persons he considers to be ahead of him on a similar path.
He mentioned a few names of persons he is very grateful for, such as his eldest brother Matthew, who has always been one of his biggest idols. He also said he was very thankful for his parents who gave him the opportunity to explore the recording aspect of his journey and he said he is funnily also thankful for the girls that came along in his life who inspired some of his work.
He said too that he is very thankful to Renaissance Music, the company that he recorded with a lot and he further mentioned Josh, better known as Nino, who is another young recording artist.
Leaving me with a smile, he finally said, “Honestly I like making people happy; music makes me happy and I hope my work does the same for someone else.”
