While moonlighting as a dance music artist with over a million monthly listeners, Barbadian-Canadian Jenny Mayhem finds room in her independent releases to play freely with genre boundaries and influences. Her 2020 EP Social Piranha draws from a range of pop, reggae, rock, and folk to create an eclectic sound that reflects her Caribbean upbringing with a twist of coming of age in Canada’s largest city. Her songs as Jenny Mayhem have been featured on CBC Radio and Spotify’s ‘Fresh Finds’ playlist as well as television placements on Hulu, MTV, the CW, and more.
“Karma Tattoo”, the latest single from Mayhem, starts off firing on all cylinders with a deep, 90’s Beck-infused groove that only gets more ingrained in your soul as the song goes on. A slick repetitive bass line so steady it can cure the most arrhythmic among us holds it down while the vocals cycle through a series of instantly memorable hooks. In 2022, Jenny gears up for her next EP with ‘Tightrope’ and ‘Karma Tattoo,’ two singles where she joins Toronto-based Sugar Jesus as co-producer.
‘‘Karma Tattoo’ is a nod to some of my favourite music growing up. It started out with a dancehall bassline, then the guitar part took it somewhere unexpected. I was building a character in my head of an idol or a love interest who embodied coolness in the early 2000’s, complete with a tattoo of a karma symbol. I was thinking of a state of youth where you’re not sure who to be or how to spend your time, and the sense of freedom that can come with that.’
