Jacob Christensen, also known by several different names on Youtube as well as his Musician persona “Jakey,” is a 27 year old from a small town in South Dakota. He’s amassed a big following on YouTube by posting video essays where he sits on an exercise ball and talks about games, movies, or any subject that interests him. Most of these videos have around 3-4 million views each. He has a big passion for music that shows itself in many of these videos, and with this passion he’s produced a handful of singles that have since been posted on his YouTube channel and Spotify page. With his new EP titled Romcom slated for release this month, I wanted to take a look at what he’s released so far.

            In 2016, Jakey published his first single “Cafeteria”. The song starts with a sample from the Disney Channel original movie, My Date With the President’s Daughter. The clip lasts 8 seconds. This audio might seem out of place, but it’s very consistent with Jakey’s personal brand of content. He uploaded a video later in 2019 about Disney Channel original movies, and there are many references towards them in his other videos. He has a second channel whose name is a reference to the nonsensical naming scheme these movies tend to use. 

            My first reaction upon hearing this song was surprising. I was listening to it under the impression that it was just another YouTuber song. I thought it would be a very low-effort experiment, something along the lines of Pewdiepie’s foray into rap back in 2018 that was fun to listen to, but didn’t really go anywhere professionally.

            Thankfully I was proven wrong within the first thirty seconds of the track. After the dialogue clip pulled from My Date With the President’s Daughter, the sound of piano immediately transitions the song into music. 

            The use of samples in this song is done very well which is something that stays consistent throughout most of Jakey’s songs. In this track specifically, he uses a couple of lines from “It Takes Two” by Rob Base and DJ EZ Rock that really shouldn’t fit but somehow do. They blend in with the piano instrumental and combined with Jakey’s vocals, it makes a very interesting but pleasant listening experience. 

           While not my favorite, the fact that this is Jakey’s first single is mind-blowing. It sounds like a professionally mixed song with great vocals and sound editing instead of a first attempt.“Cafeteria” was an amazing song that left a lot of people excited to see what came next. 

Rating: 7/10

            What came next was “South Dakota.” This song had big shoes to fill, and luckily it further cemented Jakey’s place in the realm of Youtubers who branched out to music and did so successfully. The lyrics of South Dakota read like a stream of consciousness, the barely sensical but connected thoughts about the artist’s hometown and the comparison between small-town South Dakota and people-dense California. Little snippets of his life are scattered throughout which give the listener a feeling of familiarity that’s only a tiny bit parasocial. 

            After the signature opening dialogue sample, this time being a guy from the show 90210 talking about the state of South Dakota, we jump right into the lyrics which are a lot more fast-paced than what we’ve seen so far. It took a few listens before I started clicking with the song and understood what was being said. Once I did though, It was instantly one of my favorites.

            A big part of the song is the theme that despite being from a smaller area with less opportunities and more obstacles, Jakey still made it work. Despite his internet being slow, he powered through it and taught himself online the skills he needed to know to pursue his passions. When he realized college wasn’t teaching him anything useful he dropped out. He’s proud of his background and sees how it separates him from the people around him now in California.

            This song is very catchy and has been stuck in my head for the last week. Also not my absolute favorite of what he’s released so far, but absolutely worth listening to. 

Rating:8/10

            “Saintlike” however is easily a tie for my favorite song from this artist. 

Opening with a few ear-catching synth chords that replicate organ instrumentals, this track is reminiscent of gospel music at the beginning. Jakey’s vocal performance in this song is very impressive as he shows off his ability to really sing, capturing the resonating notes of a church choir during the intro. This slower start somehow flows seamlessly into his signature hip-hop/rap style. It’s almost jarring how well this works; just a verse later he uses lyrics from the song “Baby Got Back” by Sir Mix-a-lot. It works in the context of the song, somehow. The lyrics clicked with me the first time I listened, and paired with the beat they make a very catchy and head-bob-inducing song. The other lyrics tell a few specific stories as the song goes on: 

• Jakey waiting on a phone call, presumably from a girl.
• His experiences spending his nights alone with nothing but an Xbox and malt liquor.
• His self-image changing as his friends drag him further and further into self-destructive behaviors.

            It surprises me how personal some of these lyrics are, being more specific about his experiences than a lot of other artists who prefer to keep things vaguer. 

             There are a lot of random sounds sprinkled into this track that I can’t place the origins of. They all add to the experience and continue to demonstrate Jakey’s skill in audio mixing. 

“Saintlike” is more than worth a listen. I had this song on loop for about a week when I first discovered it, and to this day it’s still in my main playlist. 

Rating: 9/10

            The next song, “Medium”, isn’t my favorite. 

            The intro this time is a sample from The Breakfast Club, a few words about how the character is scared of growing up because of the apathy towards life that comes with it. 

            The actual song itself is a mix between a celebration of how far he’s come and a description of what his past was like. At this point in his career, he already had three songs released and they were doing very well, and this success along with his YouTube channel was a pleasant surprise.

            He makes it a point to say that even though he’s had all of this success, people shouldn’t be jealous of him due to the hardships he’s gone through before getting all of this notoriety. There are even lyrics mentioning the fact that he is using his music as a way to communicate with his dead friends. It’s a message that hits hard. 

            While I don’t care for how repetitive the song can be, repeating some phrases over and over, I think the story behind it is very powerful and shows how much passion the artist puts into his music. 

Rating: 8/10

            “Mony Dick” combines Jakey’s usual hip-hop with a healthy dose of mumble rap. Emotional and faster-paced than previous work, it’s a very rewarding song to stop and examine. 

             It starts off with a sample from The Sopranos, a TV show about a family involved with the mafia. In this particular scene he is confessing his love for his psychiatrist, who is rejecting him for obvious reasons. This sets the tone in this track of rejection.

            Jakey said in the comment section of the music video for this track, “I wanted to make a song that could capture the raw and intense feeling of heartbreak, particularly at a young age. You hate the world, you hate yourself, nothing makes any sense, you feel like this white whale has complete control over you and there’s nothing you can do about it.” 

            There isn’t too much else to say about this song, it has a lot of emotion put into it and if you like Jakey’s other music so far you will enjoy this one. 

Rating: 7/10

            “Not Dead Yet” starts off with a monologue by Jake “The Snake” Roberts. He was a professional wrestler and known for having a hard life before turning it around later. This dialogue is a very menacing threat toward his opponent that doesn’t make too much sense but gets the point across that he wants to beat him up. 

            About halfway through the speech, “Theme of Guts” from the 1997 anime Berserk fades in and continues to loop throughout the rest of the song. It shocked me the first time I heard it, a lot like the “Baby Got Back” sample in “Saintlike”. I recognized it immediately and it made me laugh. Once it played a few times and I got used to it though, it seemed to fit right in with everything else going on audio-wise. An odd thing to include but I understand why he did more every time I listen to it. 

            This song sounds like a mix between “Saintlike” and “Medium”, keeping the vocals clear and understandable and incorporating samples in a non-distracting way that still meaningfully adds to the audio. 

8/10 

            After “Not Dead Yet”, for a while, it was radio silence. Uploads on Jakey’s Youtube channel stopped, along with new music. He didn’t say anything before disappearing and many people thought he’d left and stopped creating content for good.

            Then in December of 2021, he made his return, uploading a new video and dropping a new song within days of each other. The video, a simple but very enjoyable video essay on speedrunning, has already amassed 1.6 million views at this point in time. The single already has 1.7 million streams on Spotify. 

            The single in question is “Pine Barrens,” the other contender for my favorite song. It’s one of those songs you just have to listen to yourself, I can’t describe it accurately enough to give it the credit it deserves. 

            The title of this song is another reference to The Sopranos. “Pine Barrens” is an episode title, and some lyrics feel like they are referring to the content of the episode. 

            I couldn’t find where the opening sample is from, but it sounds like the narrator of a commercial for a romantic comedy. This fits the title of his upcoming EP, Romcom. The song isn’t about any of his romantic relationships however, it’s about his relationship with himself. 

Again, I suggest you go listen to this for yourself. It’s an incredible song and a sneak peek of what’s coming next with his new EP. 

Rating: 10/10

If any of these songs sound interesting to you, I encourage you to go check them out. They are all posted on his Youtube, Spotify, Apple Music, and Bandcamp pages under the name Jakey.

If you like his music and want someone similar, I recommend artists like half•alive, atlas, and Tyler the Creator.