Delivering high-powered female empowerment is JVNA with her incredible new single and music video, titled “Play With You”. On top of this release, she has also announced her second studio album, which is set to share the same name. The release of this single acts as the follow-up to her collaboration with CHYL on the single “Demon Time” which featured Demie The Destroyer.
JVNA, a California-based singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, specialises in producing electronic music that beautifully navigates the realms of light and dark, seamlessly blending melodic bass with a fusion of organic and synthetic elements. Coming from a background shaped by Taiwanese immigrants, JVNA’s musical journey started early with classical piano lessons at the age of 6, evolving into songwriting by 11. Further studies at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music exposed her to film and video game scoring, broadening her creative horizons. Her ingenious remixes of beloved anime and video game soundtracks garnered attention, but it was her 2018 hit “I’m With You” that unveiled her ability to delve into deep emotional territories, a sentiment she even directed into its music video. Capitalising on this success, her 2019 single “Catch Me” set ablaze a sold-out U.S. tour. When the pandemic struck, JVNA returned to the studio to pour her energy into her debut studio album, “Hope In Chaos”, which was released in 2021. This album is a stunning amalgamation of electronic pop, melodic bass, and raw emotional storytelling that highlights JVNA’s remarkable versatility, firmly establishing her as an artist poised to captivate audiences with her distinctive sound and genuine artistry.
Talking about this single, “Play With You”, JVNA said: “Visually, I pictured this song being about a cunning anime demon girl in a video game seducing her enemies and killing them at the end. But this song’s message is really about being in charge of your own fate and winning the game of life itself throughout its challenges. Sort of like you’re the game master behind everything pulling the strings. I often face a lot of issues, and I feel like it’s constantly a boys club. I talk about overthrowing the patriarchy in this song with the lyrics – ‘the boys think that I’m here for company, but I’m conducting all the symphonies. I’m the final boss that’s gonna tear them down.'”
Watch the official music video to “Play With You” by JVNA here:
Written and produced by JVNA, “Play With You” is a sonically-induced synth-dominated dance track that takes on a variety of genres as JVNA impresses both vocally and productionally. A hard-hitting bassline flows through her vocals as she plays around with spoken word, rap, and breathy singing to give a dynamic flow while heavy synths slide in, exploding outwards during the unforgettable drop. Lyrically, JVNA experiments with words, rhymes, and poetic language whilst also conveying female empowerment, self-empowerment, and self-belief through a fluid storyline. Twisting around the theme of gameplay, JVNA showcases the warrior and survivor that she is, enticing her love interest into a game where she comes out on top. Women tend to be seen as someone to rescue or someone who stands back in certain combat games, and so JVNA refuses to bow down, determined to be the fighter. The interesting way she’s tackled this track as a whole allows the lyrics to mesh with the synth-heavy production and in turn that meshes with her exploratory vocals.
As for the music video, JVNA has taken the gaming theme of the song and imported herself right into a game. We start off with the opening still where you start a brand new game and you get to see four JVNA characters who all have a variety of different stats. As the game starts, we realise we’ve entered into a decision-based visual novel storytelling game, where we meet up with JVNA, take her to a JVNA concert, go to an arcade with her, take her home, and instead of staying the night we choose to leave which seems to be the wrong decision as she refuses to let us leave and in the end kills us, which gives us the game over screen. We love that we see her react to our choices and it leaves the viewers wondering what would’ve happened if we had chosen the other option. Clever and insightful, JVNA takes us into her gaming world and makes sure we don’t forget.
Stream the newly-released single on Spotify here:
“Play With You”, by JVNA, is available to download and stream, right now, across all platforms, via Violet Arrow. Look out for her forthcoming sophomore album, set to also be titled “Play With You”.