J.Lauryn : Paying tribute to her Hawaiian and reggaeton roots

J.Lauryn has shared her latest single, ‘Catch That Groove’, as she continues to hit the
ground running in 2024.

The artist, who hails from the small town of Kailua, in Hawaii, is perhaps best known as an
eight-time RIA platinum-selling songwriter, having co-written songs for artists such as Post
Malone, BTS, Blackpink, Ziggy Marley, Ty Dolla $ign, French Montana and Jessie J.

J.Lauryn has had an exciting career, which has taken her from being a professional backup
dancer to being a go-to songwriter for the stars and a successful recording artist in her own
right.

In terms of her road to becoming a recording artist, J’s first big break came when she had a
standout appearance on VH1’s The Big Morning Buzz in Times Square in 2015. Here, she
performed her original song ‘Criminal Love,’ off her debut EP ViBeS & HiGhS.

Two years later – just after winning a GRAMMY Award for co-writing songs on Ziggy Marley’s
self-titled album – she released her debut album, Golden Year. Not only did the album give
audiences a comprehensive insight into her rhythmic reggae style, but it was also noted for
being self-produced, written, and engineered.

J.Lauryn has shared plenty of other singles throughout the last few years, even while she’s
helped major global artists amass multiple billions of streams. In 2021, she collaborated with
electronica group Cash Cash for their song ’42’ – taken from their Say It Like You Feel It
album. The track currently has over 12 million streams on Spotify.

In 2024, the artist shared the hotly anticipated news that she’d focus on her solo work for the
foreseeable future, confirming that now was the time she’d chosen to “step into the light as
an Artist and out of the shadows as a Songwriter.”

The news coincided with the release of J.Lauryn’s January 2024 single, ‘Who The Man’. The
song said more about J.Lauryn’s career trajectory than any press release ever could; it was
a proud, bouncing, intensely listenable track about her story and what it meant to be gunning
for success.

J.Lauryn’s new song, ‘Catch That Groove’, continues in the same fashion as her previous
single. The song was produced by J’s long-time collaborator, Sam Yun, and it captures the
unique energy and vibrancy of her last releases. In particular, the song is dripping with the
kind of Hawaiian-tinged reggae sound that J.Lauryn has been perfecting for years. You can
hear it not only in the production and her vocals but also in the song’s blissful, island-based
imagery: “Life’s an endless dream, got me floating with the stars,” she sings before adding,
“I’m on a wave, no getting off tonight.”

All of it is backed by a chorus so catchy that you’d think it was cooked up in a lab. Maybe it
was. Either way, J.Lauryn continues to have the winning formula.