Overexcited fans were waiting for it: Jvke, a 22-year-old TikTok star whose music has accumulated a billion streams, appeared in Cannes to present a remix of one of his hits. Smiling, the young American, who has 11.5 million subscribers on this social network, was bombarded with photos by a swarm of mobile phones. Jvke – to be pronounced “Jake” – came to present a new version of his 2022 hit, Golden Hour, after an order from the Magnum ice cream brand in collaboration with … NASA. Having reached number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, the song, which evokes the “golden hour” (period after sunrise or before sunset), has been remixed by mixing it with the actual sounds of the Sun, from the US Space Agency database.
Real name Jacob Dodge Lawson, Jvke, a native of Rhode Island, the smallest state in the United States, became a sensation when he started creating songs on TikTok during the confinement in 2020. “I realized the success at the start of the Covid when I was trying to make cool videos on TikTok,” the pianist told AFP. “I did some with my mom (her first music teacher) and then I started posting my own music and it started getting a ton of views,” added Jvke, whose songs Upside Down and This Is What Falling in Love Feels Like also went viral.
Despite his success on the networks, where he posts humorous music videos, he likes to consider himself “above all as a composer”. “Writing songs is my pride and my pleasure. I just focus on writing the best song I can.” “I’m just a normal guy, I like spending time with my family and friends at church,” where he wrote his very first songs, he said.
In his videos, he insists on his independence, refusing all offers from record companies and claims to want to “prove that you don’t need a label to break into the music industry”. He has already collaborated with other artists or brands. More and more social media stars and influencers from all walks of life are coming to the Cannes Film Festival, some even parading on the red carpet.
