Jai Paul: Cult Hero
Bait Ones was the album Jai Paul intended to release. That was until it was leaked online in 2013, unofficially uploaded by an unknown source. This weird and unorthodox way to reveal yourself to the world led to Jai Paul achieving a status that no other artist had: Paul became a star, with the likes of Drake, Beyonce and Ed Sheehan sampling his music yet he had only officially released two songs and conducted one interview.
It all began when Jai Paul, an Indian British musician from Northwest London uploaded a demo to My Space, titled BTSTU. It is disputed at what age he was, anywhere from 19-22, but regardless it is believed the song was made in an hour. BTSTU quickly became swept up by music blogs and soon became a hit across U.K. radio. Labels sought after this kid and a bidding war commenced with XL recordings to come out on top. Having initially claimed in his only interview at the time that I didn't think anyone would like it though. Music to me was just a hobby and, in a way, I didn't care about showing it to anyone', the music world was waiting on Jai Paul's next move.
He released a second demo in 2021, called ‘Jasmine’, which appeared on Bandcamp. It had a DIY sensibility that was combined with the pop brilliance of Michael Jackson or Prince. The following year, an album of untitled tracks appeared on Bandcamp. They were all demos with inconsistent quality with parts unfinished. The demos were quickly removed from Bandcamp. Paul took to Twitter with his first-ever post, he had to explain that he hadn’t uploaded the music stating that ‘this is not my debut album’. Yet it received worldwide acclaim. Pitchfork listed it at No.20 top fifty albums of that year and they were leaked demos…
After the album was leaked, Jai Paul retreated into himself. Releases since the leak have been few and far between yet his influence continues to spread.
