Singled Out: Jay Elle's Miss Mess

Keavin Wiggins | 09-01-2021

Jay Elle just released the new single "Miss Mess" from his album "Ride The Wave" and to celebrate we asked him to tell us about the song. Here is the story:

Hello everyone. Thank you so much for the opportunity. My name is Jay Elle. I am a singer, songwriter and guitar player based in New York City. I write guitar-driven melodic pop songs, sprinkled with hints of folk, rock, pop and Americana, among other genres, including a little bit of classical music. I use a nylon string guitar on a few cuts of my new album "Ride the Wave". The songs are full of energy, passion and witty lyrics, containing hopeful and powerful messages. On some songs I go for more intimate voice and guitar arrangements. Others have a definite rocking feel to them.

"Miss Mess" is the first single from my new album "Ride the Wave". The album gives you a good sense of how I have been dealing with the pandemic. The pandemic feels like one of those endless rainy days that I hated as a child. Boring!!!!! Back then, on rainy days I couldn't go out. According to my mom, if I were to get my hair wet I would most certainly catch a cold. Apparently, everyone else's mother thought so too. There was no one to hang around with on rainy days. At home, I was on lock down with the same old toys. No guitar then. No Internet. My new album is about how to best enjoy yourself while waiting for the sun to shine again. "Miss Mess" was written as I thumbed through TikTok videos.

I think that much of what we do in life is ride one wave after another, as best as we can. Some waves are fun to ride, like recording a new album, and some are tough. Riding a pandemic is no picnic. But what choice do we have? I take life as it comes, and ride the waves as they rise. As my friend Jett Harris reminded me, "Surfers are really cool interesting people and their philosophy on surfing is very similar to your analogy of waves and life. The adage "Luck is when opportunity meets preparation" is appropriate as you never know when you're going to get the opportunity to ride that really great perfect wave, but you hope to be ready to take advantage of it. If not you'll find sympathy in the dictionary between sh*t and syphilis." Jett Harris, a fantastic drummer with whom I recorded a few albums and countless songs, takes great pictures of surfers, among other subjects he focuses his lens on. (Instagram @jettt1209). I was inspired by these pictures.

All of the songs on my new album are fun waves to ride. "Ride the Wave", of course, and "Want Me Bad, "Rainy Day", "Tequila Kiss", a song written for The Vampire Diaries lead actress, Nina Dobrev (Instagram @nina), and of course "Miss Mess". All the songs have a story behind them. I wrote about them on my website "jayellesongs.com".

"Miss Mess" is a song that reflects on the strange "relationship" I developed with the TikTok algorithm while on lock down. I get served these incredibly entertaining posts by women from around the world. The ladies are dancing, joking around, acting, shooting arrows, exploring beautiful sites, playing with their pets, venting about their boyfriends, playing pranks, flying helicopters, etc. They seem to be in total control of my life for 30 seconds or so. And there's nothing I can do. Of course I could stop watching... But I am liking it. A lot. There is always some "messy" elements to these posts. And some of these ladies are reckless and sometimes flawless in their recklessness. I love watching puppies. I had dogs. Cavalier King Charles. They all passed away, sadly. I wrote a song titled "Angeling™" in their memory. But TikTok doesn't serve me a continuous stream of videos full of doggies for some reason. Just them ladies... Some of these ladies are pretty intense. You've got to see the gymnasts. Wow! And the military ladies. Intense. Some great actresses lip-synching to movies and TV shows dialogs. Very funny ones too. I don't always understand the thrill of some of the stunts, like jumping from the roof of your house into your pool. But, to each her own. After all if there isn't a "tsunami" hitting your shores, you may as well create one. Make a TikTok.

Caleb "kbc" Sherman, who produced the album did a magnificent job capturing the spirit of all the songs, especially rendering the feel of "Miss Mess". There's a groove to it that gets you going from the moment you start the song until the end. Perfect for walking down the New York City streets. The sounds are perfectly chosen to express the multitude of playful scenes I see on the TikTok videos. It's witty and you keep discovering clever touches that Caleb introduces through the course of the song.
Nothing like a great song to get you through a rainy day. Thanks to the algorithm on TikTok, I hope this song is a fun listen for everyone.

Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen and watch for yourself below and learn more about the album here