I firmly believe Jon Bellion quietly has one of the best songs that have come out this year in his track Guillotine (ft. Travis Mendes). And my only wish is as many people as humanly possible hear this song. I believe in it. I believe in Jon Bellion as an artist. And I think he's flirting even closer to the genius level in the way he constructs songs, being the multi-talented musical engine he is.
When I hear Guillotine, I immediately admire the vocal performance from Jon Bellion and Travis Mendes. These two have belonged to the same camp for a long time and it shows on this song. Their chemistry lifts this soft plane of comfort gone awry to such a fiery passionate place that I feel the feelings they're emitting into the track. I think Jon sounds so great. The balance of lullaby softness in his voice, to the strong, nightmarish worry inflected in his singing sounded wonderful, yet his vocals are still completely driven by blind love so it brings this scenario with his love to life for me. I picture this kingdom he's painted for the two of them and it becomes real. And that's when Guillotine becomes so interesting. In song, I wonder where these feelings and story are going. I love it. And I love how Travis Mendes pushes the agenda. When he and Jon duet on the bridge I thought Guillotine gained desperation in the vocals. The emotions, the mission, every nook and cranny of the song was ramped up. I got that chilling stomach drop I get when I hear something so good it's mandatory to run it back. And that feeling carries over to the second chorus (Travis' solo chorus) and the second duet on the outro. Guillotine was that thrilling throughout the whole vocal performance, in my opinion. But the beat adds a whole new take on the song.
This instrumental is what you get when the artist is a product of J Dilla's production regin and a fantastical creative. Something about Guillotine's production clashing with the track's cover art makes me picture nothing but a grim, rainy night in a universe that looks like Disney's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. I can hear the work put into this beat. His popping drums stomp through the track. There is a stretchy (I'm guessing a low E chord) that Jon gave a jelly, elastic ziltch sound that brings in an addicting groove. The string section (likely the work of the orchestra Jon brought in) is fantastic. Their unicy in sound brings this magical lore to Guillotine. The violins are lovely and ring out feelings of sorrow. The strums from the acoustic guitar constantly switch from muted to open chords and it sounds like beatboxing in its own right. And Jon adds in his own rhythm-boosting beatboxing to boot.
Jon Bellion genuinely pushes these instruments (himself and Travis Mendes included) to their limits. Jon Bellion has that Kanye West blueprint in squeezing out every sound he possibly can. Birthing amazing results. Guillotine is different and nothing that has come out this year sounds like it. Jon is in his own musical space. It's been that way even before The Definition. Now he's just creating his own tale, and I can't wait to hear it on his forthcoming album The Human Condition come 6/10.
Enjoy Guillotine below.
Photo Creds: soundcloud.com/twitter.com
Video Cred: youtube.com
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