DOPEST Song of the Day: "Sleep" by Vancouver Based Pop Singer-Songwriter Nat Jay
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Our DOPEST Song of the Day comes from pop singer-songwriter and recording artist Nat Jay who is thrilled to announce the release of the first single, “Sleep,” off her forthcoming album. Released independently, the single is the first taste of what’s to come on her second full-length album, out later this Fall. Her first full-length, “All I Think When I Wake Up”, was nominated for Pop Album of the Year at the Western Canadian Music Awards in 2015 and named in the Top 10 Pop Albums of the Year on PopDose.
Recorded with award-winning European pop producer Ovidiu “Ovi” Bistriceanu, “Sleep” shows Nat Jay has shifted from girl-with-guitar pop to a more commercial electropop sensibility, though still featuring the artist’s signature hook-friendly melodies and thoughtful lyrics.
With Ovi’s ghostly and impeccable track underneath, Nat Jay’s topline writing skills shine through on “Sleep,” with their rhythmic proficiency and vibrant lyrical imagery. “I originally wrote this song for Ovi, who suffers from insomnia due to a medical condition,” explains Jay. “One day he described to me how he feels like he lives in two different worlds: one in the daytime, where he has his normal family life and works on music at his studio, and one where it's just him against the night, where he is so tired and tries everything to fall asleep, but sleep doesn't come. After hearing the ‘sleepy’ bell sounds Ovi was playing with at the beginning of the track, I decided to try and create that nighttime world he had described.”
Since writing the song, Nat Jay—who suffers from her own health issues that greatly affect her sleep—recognizes that the meaning of “Sleep” has morphed into a bigger picture for her on how difficult it is to live with a physical illness, a mental illness, or a disability, to find an escape from it, and to try and reconcile this part of ourselves with the ambitions of our everyday lives.
Since the release of her first demos in 2007, Nat Jay has amassed over 30 placements in film and TV on networks around the world. She has also shared the stage with Juno Award winners Dan Mangan and Sebell, as well as Matthew Barber, Oh Susannah, Justin Rutledge, Jay Brannan, and Angus & Julia Stone. She has been a featured songwriter at the Vancouver Folk Festival, a nominee for SOCAN Songwriter of the Year at the BCCMAs, and a guest on CBC’s “Canada Live.”
Listen to our DOPEST Song of the Day, “Sleep”, right now, and connect with Nat Jay on her website and social media.