{"id":76585,"date":"2020-09-09T06:00:23","date_gmt":"2020-09-09T11:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fordhamram.com\/?p=76585"},"modified":"2020-09-08T23:12:56","modified_gmt":"2020-09-09T04:12:56","slug":"jadens-ctv3-is-a-breath-of-fresh-air","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fordhamram.com\/76585\/culture\/jadens-ctv3-is-a-breath-of-fresh-air\/","title":{"rendered":"Jaden\u2019s \u201cCTV3\u201d is a Breath of Fresh Air"},"content":{"rendered":"

Summer is almost over, but sunsets have never been more vibrant in light and color. As one season begins to fade into another, Jaden Smith\u2019s music career has quietly begun to change as well. Since striking his last name from the records, the artist currently known as \u201cJaden\u201d seems to be untangling himself from any preconceived notion of what the Smith family has to offer to the entertainment industry. \u201cCTV3: Cool Tape Vol. 3\u201d effortlessly encapsulates the coexistence of sadness and love with a less-is-more style of production and a perfect pinch of features.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I would be remiss if I recognized the assets of \u201cCTV3\u201d without mentioning \u201cSummertime in Paris.\u201d This breakout hit from Jaden\u2019s 2019 concept album \u201cErys\u201d foreshadowed his shift in sound from Fresh Prince rap royalty to pseudo-indie singer-songwriter. Collaborating with his sister and fellow mononym Willow, this mellow tune shows Jaden\u2019s audience the vulnerable side of his musical persona without the shroud of booming 808s and high-profile features that take over the rest of the LP. Thankfully, he did not let a good thing pass him by and ended up making an entire project out of it just over a year later.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cCabin Fever\u201d takes Jaden\u2019s listeners on a sunset joyride through the love and longing of forced separation. Bass, drums and guitar are all this song has and all it really needs, setting a precedent for what the instrumental style of the rest of the album was going to be like. As for the delicate lyricism itself, whether it is meant to display the turmoil of being away from someone you care about or the literal distance imposed by COVID-19, this dreamscape focuses more on the excited anticipation of reunion rather than how time ticks away in quarantine.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>It took an entire decade, but Jaden and Justin Bieber finally got to jump on a track together again. Both artists have undergone many changes since \u201cNever Say Never\u201d asserted itself as the pop anthem of middle schools across the country, but this power duo has managed to flawlessly complement one another yet again on \u201cFalling For You.\u201d Their lyrics capture the manic fluctuation of joy and misery that seem to come with true love and longing, but the juxtaposition between these different emotions blend so well into the song\u2019s accompanying guitar and string section that it all starts to make sense.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cLUCY!\u201d is my favorite song off of \u201cCTV3\u201d by far. It is quite literally all love\u00a0 \u2014 two straight minutes of pure fun and positivity. Reminiscent of \u201960s surf rock with a slight Y2K-era boy band twist, this track is perfect to play with a maximum of 10 people while social distancing on Eddie\u2019s or at the beach. On the flip side, if you ever want a soundtrack to feel cinematically sad to, \u201cDrops of Sun\u201d is perfect for when you want to remember the good old days or be purposefully overdramatic about a breakup. However, listening to these two songs back-to-back without any buffer tracks might leave listeners in an ambivalent emotional state.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In all, I recommend putting \u201cCTV3\u201d on shuffle while avoiding the pandemic outside so you can remember how to feel when it ends\u00a0 \u2014 you will not be sorry.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Summer is almost over, but sunsets have never been more vibrant in light and color. As one season begins to fade into another, Jaden Smith\u2019s music career has quietly begun to change as well. Since striking his last name from the records, the artist currently known as \u201cJaden\u201d seems to be untangling himself from any…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":76546,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3,10],"tags":[7849,7850,7443,7848,1525],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fordhamram.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76585"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fordhamram.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fordhamram.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fordhamram.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fordhamram.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76585"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/fordhamram.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76585\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":76687,"href":"https:\/\/fordhamram.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76585\/revisions\/76687"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fordhamram.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76546"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fordhamram.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fordhamram.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fordhamram.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}