Who is Jean Dawson: Biography, Personal Life, Career

Photo: Essence

Jean Dawson Trivia

→ Jean Dawson was born in Tijuana, Mexico.

→ Jean Dawson’s birth sign is Capricorn.

→ He released his debut song “Bull Fighter” in 2018.

→ Jean has uploaded a variety of scary pictures and his photos on his Instagram account.

→ In early 2020, he earned more than 190K monthly listeners on Spotify.

→ Jean has accumulated over 81K fan followers on Instagram.

Jean Dawson's Biography: Early Life

Bad SportsRapper and singer Jean Dawson is known for his lyrical and hypnotic genre-mashing blend of hip-hop, trap, and experimental indie rock. He garnered widespread buzz with his 2019 EP Bad Sports and quickly followed up in 2020 with his debut full-length Pixel Bath, as cited by All Music.

Born in Tijuana, Mexico, Dawson was raised in a biracial black and Mexican family and was first introduced to hip-hop by his parents. Growing up, he crossed the border for several years to attend school before moving with his family to San Diego.

From a young age, Dawson imbibed an eclectic mix of music, driven in part by his older brother's love of downloading and his own voracious musical appetite. By his teens, he had developed a wide-ranging taste, listening to artists like Jay-Z, Kanye West, N.E.R.D., and Nirvana, as well as sundry other indie rock artists.

He eventually discovered Bon Iver and Frank Ocean and began writing his own songs, pushing his sound in more experimental directions. Working with producer/songwriter Lecx Stacy, he recorded his 2019 debut EP, Bad Sports. Included on the release were the tracks "Bull Fighter" and "90s Green Screen." In October of 2020, Dawson released Pixel Bath, his first full-length studio album. Pixel Bath included a guest feature from A$AP Rocky on the song "Triple Double."

"90s Green Screen". Photo: Office Magazine

Besides, Jean wants to keep his profile low as he hasn’t shared any information with respect to his love life, according to TV Guide Time.

Jean Dawson's Career

In a recent interview with NME, Dawson explained how his genre-bending sound first came into being. “I’ve been a product of so many different cultures that when people ask me about the genre-bending, I don’t even look at it as anything other than making music that I would want to listen to,” he said.

“Half the time I have no fucking idea what people think I’m doing,” says Jean Dawson, when the reporter asked him to describe the kind of music he makes. “I know exactly what I want to do musically, but I can’t even give it a name myself.”

Photo: NME

Dawson began his singing career in the mid-20s. His first official single titled Bull Fighter hit the market in 2018. Since then, he has released several singles.

As far as Songs of The Summer go, Jean Dawson’s latest single, ‘CLEAR BONES’, is an unlikely offering. A self-described ode to the lighter side of mortality, it’s Britpop with its cheeky grin turned upside down – Smash Mouth holding Oasis in a headlock as Blink 182 lazily film the incident on their phones. It’s at once completely incompatible, and totally immersive, much like its creator.

2020 single ‘BRUISEBOY’ ramped things up further, a creeping fever dream that somehow captures both the grounding sensation of a mosh pit and the out-of-body dissociation of a panic attack. Singing in both English and Spanish, ‘Ooga Booga’ is Brockhampton doing The Prodigy, with a bonus Spice Girls reference – “tell me what you want, what you really really want.” Each song is a piece of the Jean Dawson puzzle, a snippet of the many multitudes that make him who he is.

“I’ve been a product of so many different cultures that when people ask me about the genre-bending, I don’t even look at it as anything other than making music that I would want to listen to,” he says via Zoom. “Listening to a lot of the rock groups that inspired me growing up, none of them really looked like me and it created an inner conflict.”

A pick ‘n’ mix approach to music provided a strong comfort in Dawson’s early years, soundtracking the 4 am starts he made each school day to cross the US border via two trolley-trains and a bus. “Eight-years-old with just a skateboard, CD player and the wherewithal to get to where I need to be and come back.” Never quite settling in with anyone clique, his outsider status resonates with his listeners, drawn to his refusal to dampen his personality for the sake of blending in.

“I never wanted people to feel like they have to be a weirdo to listen to my music – from my experiences at least, I didn’t know that I was weird until people told me!” he laughs. “But I guess being a Black Hispanic person, who looked and sounded different to everybody… we’re all just so multi-dimensional as people."

His words, and the vivid sincerity with which he speaks them, recalls the energy of a fellow maverick, capable of undeniable moments of brilliant musical self-expression, as cited by NME. “Kanye is definitely an inspiration – ‘My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy’ is probably my favourite album of all time,” he says.

In his ascent to popularity, it’s clear that Dawson has a close circle of friends that he’s planning on bringing along for the ride. Seeking to expand his songs out from a place of singular narrative, he regularly finds lyrical inspiration in the lives of his collaborators, encouraging them to open up about their pressures and perspectives.

“I’ve been working a lot with my friend Zac Fogerty, and because we’re so close, I can ask him those questions about his life that drift into song-making."

Details around Dawson’s follow up to ‘Bad Sports’ are still cagey, but there’s every chance that it may deliver him that Lambo. Currently titled ‘Pixel Bath’, he’s enjoying laying breadcrumbs of information around the internet, a treasure hunt for eager fans to unearth.

Photo: Earmilk

Jean Dawson's Big Hits

Here are top 10 songs considered as Dawson's best songs, ranked by Greatest Hits:

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