SOHO belongs to Smith's latest album named "The Sunset Tapes: A Cool Tape Story" that was released on the last quarter of 2018. He really did try something new again. I love being a witness of his musical progress as years go by from The Cool Cafe to his latest. He keeps on growing, but more importantly; he does not take long breaks, he keeps on cooking.
SYRE was a progress, no doubt. Icon went gold, the others failed to chart but the ones; Fallen, Lost Boy, Breakfast (feat. A$AP Rocky) and Batman exceeded all the expectations. In Syre, Lido and OmArr were the leading producers. OmArr and Jaden have been working together for almost a decade. We know Lido from "Badlands", the debut studio album of Halsey. He formerly worked with The Weeknd, Banks and Chance The Rapper. But in The Sunset Tapes, Jaden worked with 16 different producers. Yes, it's quite the number. That kind of variety in an album is always a risky move with respect to the balance of the sound. The sound may not find its finest character and might fail to reflect the essence, but it seems that SYRE has achieved the hard one in this case. Moreover, it has been a helpful experience for Smith to see his conformity with each of the producers. Before I bore you to death by being such a music geek, I would like to move on with the track.
"Said she wanna go to SOHO
I just took one sip, all them cars move in slow-mo
New supermodel bae, tryna keep it on the low-low
..."
At first, I thought by SOHO; he meant SoHo, the neighborhood in lower Manhattan which has become one of the most popular districts of New York City lately. The last time I remembered, people were obsessed with posing in SoHo for Instagram, especially supermodels. On the other hand, according to Genius, he means the Soho House. Soho House is a London-based private club which has many branches around the world. There is one in Istanbul. Last year I happened to pass by in front of that club. It was a majestic building located in one of the most attractive districts of Istanbul. I mean, it was literally majestic. That's when I learned about the club. Anyway, the point is that the club is known by its ultra-luxury services for the members. It also could be the reference we have been looking. Both my idea and Genius' interpretation make sense in the context. Well, it still has not been confirmed yet by Jaden Smith if he means SoHo or the Soho House so I'll go with my idea.
Jaden seems tired of having affairs with girls behaving like a supermodel wannabe dreaming an american dream. Luxury life, real kimono, reading Osho, Europe trips to Paris to Florence. What a stereotype right? He is more like a street guy, he does not have a fancy lifestyle. Currently, he is trying to raise awareness about the plastic waste with great effort. His lyrics and musical inspiration is being affected by his personal activism for sure. In Plastic, he gives many references to the terrible plastic pollution around the globe. The plastic is also a metaphor to point out increasing numbers of auto-tune rappers these days. Both SOHO and The Sunset Tapes, represent the attempt of being down to earth. The whole album is modest and ironically assertive. I recommend you to listen to his latest without any prejudice.
You can learn more about Jaden Smith here:
About The Curator - Mert Turan
I was born on the day "Evil Empire" album by Rage Against the Machine was released and I brought those lucky bastards 3 Grammy nominations. I live in Ankara, Turkey and study Philosophy at Middle East Technical University. I have worked professionally in the music industry for more than 4 years, specializing in studio recording, sound editing and mixing. I previously worked for musicto both as an intern and a curator. During my internship with musicto I gained valuable experience on the music business, social media and community management. I love being a part of this community.
