One of the most popular words in today’s lexicon is "content." Whether consuming or creating, it's all about C.R.E.A.M. – content rules everything around many. (If not all of us.) Unfortunately, a number of R&B artists seem to have missed that memo, with their music often falling into trite, recycled relationship themes. But on her single “Hashtag,” Sacramento songstress Jessica Jolia delivers content about content. How’s that for some meta music?
Over a smooth trap-soul beat provided by Brandon Williams and Keithen Foster, Jolia shares the internal tug-of-war she experiences in her love/hate relationship with social media that most of us who are adulting can relate to. Fluctuating between humble-brags, insecurities, a sense of necessity as an artist and just general out-loud contemplation, Jessica smoothly bounces syllables in a triplet melody throughout the verses before repeating a hook that should become the unofficial shadow-ban anthem.
With clever lyrics like, “Got them filters, I be flicking / But I still love my imperfections / No disrespectin’ / Just a little bit of introspection / Cause I know there’s so much more, than what a picture can say / So I take my scars and my flaws any day / Thankful to God that he made me that way,” Jessica keeps it real honest. She later even ups the ante by spitting a suave rap verse about getting away from it all. “Make me wanna get ghost / Drive down the coast and just chill for a night / Under the sky with the moon and the stars," she flows before coming back to reality with the quip, "Turn my notifications off - yeah, right.”
The social commentary and the welcomed angle of speaking as if she is all of us while being uniquely herself is indeed a nice break from the current status quo, not sacrificing sound or mood for the message. Or should we say, the content.
Released through her very own Dekada label, Jolia makes it clear that “in the pandemic, still radio spinnin’ my records when I’m independent.” You can hashtag that. Catch a vibe to Jessica Jolia's "Hashtag" right here, and add the single to your collections from your digital music provider of choice.
