Ten years into creating music, the artist is now seeing viral fame

Few take a path as original as Brooklyn artist SAINt JHN has taken over the past few years. Despite not seeing an abundance of fame for the better part of a decade, the artist stayed true to his musical sound and didn’t bend to the sound of others.

Despite two full albums, as well as a string of mixtapes and Eps, SAINt JHN didn’t experience a true celebrity status until he found viral fame through a remix of his track “Roses” by DJ and record producer Imanbek. SAINt JHN took full advantage of this viral fame by preparing a full project to capitalize on the name-awareness.

With the release of his third studio album, ‘While The World Was Burning’ upon us at last, SAINt JHN delivers his most concise, remarkable project to date. Some have debated that the artist resembles a young Kid Cudi at times, the similarities stop at the sound of their vocals.

The artist similarly uses an emotional and melodic crooning through autotune, except chooses to use it over vastly different instrumentals and tempos, resulting in something entirely new. It’s no wonder why he’s attracted so many new fans to his music over the past year.

Over a brisk 13 tracks and 40 minutes, ‘While The World Was Burning’ showcases SAINt JHN’s improvement in focusing on quality over quantity. The artist offers more than sad, lo-fi rap, as he brings a hard-hitting flow on “Gorgeous” and upbeats tempos on tracks such as “Monica Lewinsky, Election Year” with DaBaby and A Boogie Wit da Hoodie.

The album has no shortage of star power in its list of features. Standout contributions come from artists including Kanye West, JID, 6LACK and Future, among others. SAINt JHN also uses an interesting new concept of improving a handful of old hits on the album.

The album sees songs such as “High School Reunion, Prom” remix past track “High School Reunion” with a new cadence and flows, new lyrics, as well as a solid contribution from rapper Lil Uzi Vert.

It was very smart of the artist to keep the project to a limited 13 tracks, as his sound often tends to sound similar from song to song, which could’ve caused many to lose track of which songs were which. Choosing to focus on a smaller selection of tracks for the new project, these 13 songs are bound to hold fans over for quite some time.

While he may be a full ten years separated from the release of his first mixtape, ‘In Association’, SAINt JHN’s patience has paid off more than most. After staying true to himself and investing in his sound, he’s on track to be the next Kanye, just as he’s always said he wants to be.

Review: 4/5