Jordan Rakei, the London based, New Zealand born jazz and soul influenced singer and multi-instrumentalist is in a relaxed and contemplative place at the start of 2025. This follows a year that saw him release “The Loop”, his most personal album to date, reaching a wider audience than ever and playing “career highlight” shows at Glastonbury and the Royal Albert Hall.

“When I was reflecting on my year in December, I was just so grateful for how many milestones I’d hit and how many gigs I’d played to new and massive audiences,” he says as we chat before a set of interviews to promote his upcoming antipodean tour.

For Rakei, “The Loop” represents a fundamental shift in how he produces albums – one which is also in a way a reconnection with the roots of how he makes music. “On one of Marvin Gaye’s famous albums, he had people in a room doing live takes and there are no overdubs. That was the energy I was going for.” He lights up when talking about this “freeing” way of making music, that embraces the moment and happenstance, and as he says, “takes a lot of pressure off the post-production phase”.

Six albums into his career – one of those an electronic focused release under his Dan Kye alias, Rakei exudes an easy confidence. He relishes existing at the cross-roads of multiple styles, where he can lean into his “Radiohead and Jeff Buckley influences” when the mood takes him, and into “classic hip hop like A Tribe Called Quest” when that feels right. 

“A lot of preparation went into the record, but it was preparation to be free. I wanted to embody a sense of looseness and humanness. It was about not overthinking things. If you like an idea, that’s it”, he says as he ponders the career stage he finds himself at.

Creating “The Loop” feels like something of a full circle moment for Rakei. The confidence he gained from producing his previous albums allowed him to “embrace his teenage way of making music” as he puts it – in other words going with things that feel right, making decisions in the moment and not being bogged down by process or perfectionism.

One of the most notable developments in his sound this time around was his use of much bigger arrangements, but the album also retains a genuine intimacy and juxtaposes the big hitting moments with tracks that are stripped back and emotionally raw. 

He states that “If I wanted a song to be huge, like “Learning” or “Friend or Foe”, I’d add a choir, a horn section and percussionists. When I wanted a song to be emotional, I’d go fully into stripped back vulnerability like on “Hopes and Dreams” where it’s just an organ and me singing. It’s either extremely dense or very sparse. It was a conscious decision to be a bit bolder with my choices”. Rakei’s willingness to go where the music took him is what makes the record so impactful. 

Life changes also played a huge role in the approach he took and how he continues to view his artistry. Prior to creating “The Loop”, Jordan became a father for the first time – an experience that fundamentally impacted and changed how he works as an artist. “It made me more efficient with my time. I found myself being way less judgemental about the whole process. I was writing these lyrics that were more vulnerable and, in a way, simpler. It helped me strip back a lot of the musical ego”. 

Fatherhood and becoming a more established and longer standing artist have significantly shaped his outlook and his view of what comes next. It seems a wonderful and poignant internal contradiction that it is maturity and experience that have allowed him to embrace his inner “teenage” creativity. 

For now, Rakei is riding high after a huge year for his career.  He tours Australia and New Zealand before once again playing London in May. This time as one of the highlights of the vibrant line-up for Cross the Tracks, a festival that he’s played twice before. 

On what the future may bring, he is excited but open to seeing where the ride takes him – “I started writing again last December. One day I’m making a boom bap beat and the next I’m writing a seven-minute ballad on the acoustic guitar. It’s going to be a fun year of very different music from me”. The one thing fans can be sure of is that as he develops beyond this point as an artist, his sound will continue to be a glorious melting pot of influences all filtered through his own particular soulful lens.

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Andrew Taylor-Dawson is an Essex based writer and marketer. His music writing has been featured in UK Jazz News, The Quietus and Songlines. Outside music, he has written for The Ecologist, Byline Times and more.

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_{Header image: Jordan Rakei. Photo: Samuel Bradley.}