JGrrey Opens Up Her World With 'If Not Now?' Mixtape

“If Not Now?” is a potent question that we all should ask ourselves, and apply when we have the moments hesitant before deciding whether we should do something or not.

For JGrrey, it’s holding herself accountable on whether there is something that exists called perfect timing and a question that holds itself in the air.

It is also, the title of her new mixtape and the signal of return since her last releases four years ago in an attempt to find the most daring and freeing expression through her limitations to voice what she couldn’t before.

Composed of 8 tracks, the Londoner distils thoughts and feelings with elegant transparency as her distinct, timeless and soulful tone takes you on an impressionistic venture.

The Beginning of the track opens up with the entrancing ‘When?', where JGrrey muses during the aftermath of a personal relationship ending, there is a fondness in her soulful vocals that is endearing but she cannot help but revisit the bad.

Each of the other tracks is unique and individual, on the shortest offering on the project, you can hear the raw live recording of the instruments on ‘Theirs13’ as they improvise on the track.

‘Superfly’ leans into the realm of neo-soul with blue feels and a carefree attitude; ‘Sick Of Me’ is a seductive ego-driven tinged offering and ‘Boys?’ is a typical British nostalgic-sounding track from the early rock 2000s, that taps into her justifiable anger at the action of boys.

There are also barely any features on the mixtape you can only find Brooklyn rapper Zombie Juice and Mercury-nominated Kojey Radical on the project. The latter features on the ‘May’, whilst the Brooklyn native makes an apparency on the jazz-influenced ‘Drream’.

Produced by Grammy-nominated producer Maths Time Joy, we close with the mournful ‘Marble Flaws’ as she likens her relationship to the dying summer, abandoning the pulsating jazz feel, you are kept in time by a gentle guitar and percussion drums and lulled to comfort by the Londoner’s uncharacteristic soft tone.

The music video is also self-directed and shot in Metropolis, featuring JGrrey getting talked down to by a boardroom official. The overall message of the video, however, is of fair inclusion and shows JGrrey choosing to live authentically

Speaking on the project JGrrey says “I would like to think that my music does what it says on the tin, when I call a project if not now… then that's why I've released it, because I had to, because why not, because I can. I wasted a lot of time, so did you, we all did… and I’ve decided to start making my art unapologetic and without reason, because I can.

I’ve doubted myself for years, then the whole worrld closed and I tried my best to be as close to who I wanted to actually be as possible, an ode to myself, I made some huge changes, everything, I changed everything, I finally listened to what my soul/gut was trying to say.

My partner would ask me why I’d often set my self proclaimed ‘best work’ to one side and wait for the right time to release it? I moved into club36, she saved me.

A sacred place with sacred souls, people I’ve known such a brief time but found home in, we cried, we laughed, we questioned one another and had discussions about everything and anything.

My housemate Frraser would often look at me when I’d doubt myself, or question a big decision, assertively she’d say girl, if not now? And even though it was probably rhetorical, I knew the answer, when? And so if not now is just some prices of art, some things I had to say, and feel, for Uu.”

Announcing a headline show on November 25th, JGrrey, who on this mixtape is her most honest and self-assured, we cannot wait but anticipate what’s to come next.

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