Watch: Drive Me Crazy by Jean Valery

Jean Valery

Drive Me Crazy

Hailing from Belgium, Jean Valery brings together a loose and engaging blend of hip-hop, alternative rap and rock into a seamless sound with an effortless sense of cool. Having worked within the hip-hop duo Blackwave, Drive Me Crazy sees Valery unveil his debut solo single.

Drive Me Crazy has a snappy sense of momentum to it, skittering along on rapid rhythms and fuzzy instrumentation. Jean’s performance slips between a percussive rap flow and sung vocals, giving the song a sense of dynamism, and creating a sense of it being constructed in-the-moment, in response to his experience.

The song is an encapsulation of the sense of superposition that can exist in a relationship — of being in two states, both wonderful and distressing. As Jean Valery’s performance switches between styles and a sense of delivery, it feels like two sides of the same story. His deadpan rap is cold, rational, reflective, but gradually builds up as the addictive force of love overrules his head. Describing the song, he says:

‘Drive Me Crazy revolves around a string of experiences and emotions that were lived in a very intense but short, raging love story. So passionate… but turbulent. Blissful… but woeful. Fresh out of a swimming pool full of lovers, urging to feel connected, we shared plenty. Love, affection, pain, and trauma. It was a trip, to say the least. I let her chaos set fire to my being, to my spirit and whichever path it was to be taking me, I became acceptant of it… letting it lead me. While sinking deep into my thoughts, I embraced her beauty, her fury. Succumbed by its existence, I let it fuel me like a raging flame that got out of control… out of character. Until I broke. Until I found myself in the middle of the aftermath, looking to reconstruct the beauty of it all.’

The result is both emotionally resonant, and melodically infectious. Check out Drive Me Crazy below.

Written by BlackPlastic.co.uk