Photo by Michael Oyaro
One of my early quar watches was the classic Love & Basketball (2000), which combines two of my favorite things (those things are basketball and movies with impeccable soundtracks). So my eyebrow raised when Montreal pop-R&B singer Janette King tweeted out a few days ago that her upcoming single “You Don’t Love Me” was “a late 90s/early 2000s love song made to make you dance and be all in your feelings. Remember how Love & Basketball made you feel?” Not even taking into account the fact that Janette’s existing catalogue consists of some of the best examples of how to balance catchy dance tunes with emotionally impactful content about self-empowerment and navigating the minefield that is romance (c.f. recent single “Airplane” and her 2019 EP 143), well… that’s how you pique my interest in a track.
On previous work, Janette has demonstrated a dexterity to pull in influences from R&B-adjacent genres like house, pop, and hip-hop, which grants her space to dynamically explore the grooves and rhythms of the music she sings over. It also allows her to veer into unexpected territory, like when she posted a beautiful, almost dream pop cover of Neil Young’s “Harvest Moon” on her TikTok back in January. Her recent singles – which include 2020’s “Mars,” “Airplane,” and “Cool Me Down” – have each had a unique tone about them, without sacrificing that thematic mood that lends a cohesive power to an artist’s body of work.
With “You Don’t Love Me,” she is looking back on a relationship that has lost its momentum. It’s not so much lamentful as it is an intuitive, objective observation of the way two individuals drift apart despite early attempts to grow closer. She isn’t saying, “alas, why doth thou not lovest me?” with rose-tinted glasses; King is expressing herself with much more self-assuredness. In the lyrics, she examines a relationship that was “just one of those things,” the kind that fizzles out into a whimper instead of ending with a bang, a mutual dissolution of that initial spark that brings two people together.
Photo by Michael Oyoro
These situations can be tough, and nowadays it seems that people are more willing to separate themselves rather than work on closeness and vulnerability. And that’s ok; if we try to attach ourselves to everyone who falls into our intimate space, that can be a slippery slope into codependency and toxicity. But at the same time, sometimes you do know how much more you both could give and express. And there’s nothing wrong with questioning why those situations don’t work out, or thinking that it could have turned into something more meaningful. Sometimes the timing just isn’t right.
Musically, the track finds its influence in R&B from the late 90s and early 2000s, as well as a tinge of 70s funk, especially in its syncopated, funky bassline. Think Ms. Lauryn Hill singing over a Rufus & Chaka Khan instrumental. The song was produced by Jonny Tobin.
Along with the release of “You Don’t Love Me,” Janette is also announcing the pre-order availability of her upcoming album What We Lost, which comes out on June 25th via Hot Tramp Records. The 12-track album will feature “You Don’t Love Me,” in addition to the other recent singles mentioned above. As the title suggests, the album is a reflection on loss, but those reflections will not be limited to solely the loss of romance. Much of the album was written concurrently with the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020 as a backdrop, so radical social change will be a prominent theme, in addition to the themes of self-empowerment and relationship difficulties that songs like “You Don’t Love Me” explore.
So, uh, it’s gonna be good. You can pre-save What We Lost via your streaming service of choice as well as preorder it via Bandcamp. Stream “You Don’t Love Me” via Spotify below.