Jeremy Loops released his first album in 2011 and has gone on to be a much-loved South African musician. Image: Ross Hillier
This musical latecomer has had a meteoric rise in popularity in under a decade — and he has a feel-good new single out.
Jeremy Loops released his first album in 2011 and has gone on to be a much-loved South African musician. Image: Ross Hillier
For many 2020 will feel like it was a waste, but not for Jeremy Loops. He not only has a great new summer song, called Til I Found You, but Mortal Man was a mega-hit earlier in the year. On top of that, Loops raised more than R1 million for food security this year.
‘Til I Found You‘ is about the search. For a person, for a feeling, the search for you, even. So there’s big themes of love and connection here, but it’s really about fulfilment,” he said of his new single.
In a career characterised by smashing through glass ceilings to break onto the international scene, the new single is a taste of his singular sound while showcasing his global momentum through A-List collaborations. It’s a summer anthem through and through.
Co-written and produced by Jake Gosling (Ed Sheeran, The Libertines, Shawn Mendes, Nina Nesbitt) and Tobias Kuhn (Milky Chance, Jack Johnson, Rhys Lewis), Til I Found You is bright, buoyant and hopeful.
The music video also marks Loops’ directorial debut, something he’s very proud of.
“I had this very specific vision and I know as someone who creates, sometimes the best way to see out your ideas is to chase them down. I think it captures this positivity and sonic energy that says so much under the surface, especially given this year,” said the musician who, incredibly, first picked up a guitar while he was a student.
It’s a sun-soaked remedy ushering in the warm days and South Africa’s silly season.
Endless pandemics? Haha. It’s not exactly gotten off to a good start!
Access. The attention is just bad sugar for your ego, but getting access to influential and important people is valuable.
I’m dead? I love all the things I’m interested in, so ‘retiring’ seems like the wrong way to think about what I’ll spend my sunset days doing.
Duplicity.
A time capsule of the most important moments in my life.
The travel and live performances.
Too many. Slips and falls, crazy fans crashing the stage.
Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan, my mom and my dad.
My guitar.
I’m almost always drinking red wine. That’s my favorite casual drink. But if we’re doing shots, I’m partial to high-quality tequila like Espalon or Patron. Can’t go wrong with a good gin too. I made my own limited run of JL gins in partnership with Inverroche, which are very, very tasty.
Sold-out Red Rocks gig in Colorado. Or sold-out Cape Town Stadium. The ultimate homecoming.
Originality is cool, but consistency is the clincher, funnily enough. You don’t have to be zany to get noticed, you just have to keep showing up every damn day.
Jezza, Loopholes, Jem.
Philosopher, photographer, eco-home developer.
Pulp Fiction.
Woody Guthrie – This Land Is Your Land.
My family. Maya. Mathilda.
My shirts! I oscillate between which one is my absolute favourite.
Becoming a musician full-time. Just getting in the room is an achievement too few of us are sufficiently grateful for.
How time disappears!
Not living up to my full potential.
Living up to my full potential every day.
Go HAM! Every show could be my last and I never take that for granted.
Show up, be kind and be consistent.
Only on very special occasions. World Cup finals, for example.
I’m right where I want to be, but yeah, it’d be nice for international travel to return.
Other than the tree-planting NGO Greenpop that I co-founded back in 2010, my most recent focus has been on The Big Food Drive.
I established a crowdfunding initiative called The Big Food Drive that focused on donating fresh produce to various community organisations throughout the lockdown, which helped contribute towards more than 54,000 meals a week and is now focused on building self-sustaining community food gardens.
Read more about our work at thebigfooddrive.org
Check out other videos by Jeremy Loops here.
Follow him on Twitter @JeremyLoops, Facebook @Jeremy Loops and Instagram @jeremyloops
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