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Jaz Karis is getting ready to take off. The 26-year-old south London singer and songwriter has been making waves with her silky voice and lyrical, candid pen since her first EP back in 2017, building herself up steadily over the years. 2024 will see the long-awaited arrival of Jaz Karis’ debut album, Safe Flight, out in September.
It’s a record about her journey so far, with her many trips back and forth between home and LA, figuring herself out in these new places. The imagery all pertains to identity and travel – IDs, lanyards, videos shot on nostalgia-tinged film footage, all highlighting the path that Jaz Karis is on. Even the features and collaborations spotlight a global outlook, with appearances from the likes of Mahalia, Juls, Reekado Banks, June Freedom, Tone Stith and more. Accordingly, the record also spans a breadth of sonics: slinky Afrobeats, gleaming R&B, warm gospel, shimmering flecks of pop, hip-hop, jazz and amapiano, all woven through with the glowing thread of Jaz’s signature soulful feeling. “Soul to me is a feeling,” she explains, “All I want to do with my music is evoke feelings.”
Jaz has been determinedly honing her craft to make songs that do just that. Over the last few years, she’s been rising the ranks as a respected artist in the UK and beyond. She’s had coverage from the likes of Notion, Wonderland, Fred Perry Subculture, Clash, Complex UK, GRM Daily and more. Her 2018 Colors session went viral (at the time of writing it’s on well over 16.7million views), and on Spotify she’s got nearly 1.5 million monthly listeners. Plus, her work with other artists has been popping off – notably, her collaboration with Juls on the amapiano-infused banger ‘Soweto Blues’ back in 2020 (the track also provided a novel experience for Jaz: “It’s the first time I’ve heard my music in the club!”).
But in spite of all these achievements, for Jaz this album is really only the beginning. “It’s a journey I’m only just embarking on,” she says, “I haven’t even started yet! Even though I've been doing this for a long time, for me this is the first step and I've got so many more things to do; I'm nowhere near where I want to be.”
Jaz Karis has maintained that kind of clear-headed, focussed aspiration throughout her career so far. Originally from Brockley, before her family moved to Croydon, Jaz credits south London as playing a big role in her musical upbringing. “It really is a part of who I am,” she says, “The south just oozes culture, and being from a mixed background of St. Lucia and Malta, I grew up listening to so much good music; soul, to jazz, to reggae, to soca.” Though her family wasn’t musical per se, growing up listening to what her parents were putting on left a big impact on her style and taste, she says. She always felt encouraged to pursue her creative passions.
From the age of five she was dancing ballet, tap, jazz and street, and it wasn’t long before she was learning piano and singing in her church’s gospel choir, doing summer music play schemes, even using a Barbie toy with a built-in recording device to create loops and write songs from the age of eight. She was performing Beyoncé and Amy Winehouse songs in her school’s talent shows (“I was pretty ambitious, looking back!” she laughs) before she got a place to study music at the prestigious BRIT school (notable alumni include Adele and Raye). While she was there, she started working as an occasional receptionist at a local recording studio, in exchange for free recording time. The grind had started.
Jaz’s time at the BRIT school had cemented to her that music was what she wanted to focus on when she was done, rather than heading to university. And so, with her family’s blessings, she started working part-time day jobs – Three Mobile, John Lewis, Ikea – to fund her recording studio sessions, all while hustling in London’s music scene. She was constantly playing live shows, writing new music, meeting people. There were even two years where Jaz was managing herself: “I would be using my mum’s name as my manager, then would have to get her to take calls for me so people heard a different voice,” she grins. She released several singles and EPs, and it was around 20 that she finally got to the point where she could quit her Ikea job, and put the last of her money into a flight to LA to sign a publishing deal with Downtown (now, she’s signed with Concord).
And so, we come to Safe Flight. The album takes its name from the messages Jaz gets from her mum whenever she’s going off on these international work adventures, recording in LA, shooting music videos in Barbados, partying in Ghana, returning home to her roots in London. “It’s about me being a young British girl from south London in LA,” she says, “Somewhere that’s the polar opposite.” Hence the record opens with Prodigal Sons-produced track ‘Nostalgia’, a fond remembrance of her younger days, peppered with voice notes from her friends and colleagues, indulging the blessing and curse of romanticising memories, but also gently nudging herself to move forwards.
From there, the album talks us through the period which Jaz laughingly reflects on as being her “quarter-life crisis”, figuring herself out. That means saying goodbye to the cosiness of former young love on Camper-produced ‘LYTM’, getting swept up in the thrills of connecting with someone new on ‘Tequila’ (with a stellar feature from Nigerian pop star Reekado Banks), and just luxuriating in the joy of that on Needlz-produced, hip-hop-infused ‘Sunset Blvd’: “It just feels like you're driving down Sunset Boulevard with the love of your life, having a great time, hands in the air,” Jaz explains.
Later, we get to the ‘Water [Interlude]’, produced by Etienne. The track is a homage to how Jaz feels in LA, and all its possibilities. “It’s like I’m in a dreamscape” she explains, “It’s like Saturday night going into Sunday morning and you’re going to sleep, and anything could happen.” It also brings to mind the cleansing, restorative powers of water, providing some respite in the centre of the album. Then ‘Sims Castaway’ is still part of the dream state, literally inspired by Jaz’s love of playing Sims, with its humid beat from Juls bringing to life the fantasy of being on an island with your love.
By the time the record comes to a close, Jaz is cutting right to the core. On single ‘Love Me’, she’s vulnerable in her heartbreak while trying to muster hope: “But it’s all love, I don’t even need a response” she refrains on the track, as if holding herself through the pain. The final song, ‘Prayer’, is a nod to Jaz’s faith, which was originally written when thinking about someone she loves who struggles with alcohol abuse. “But you wouldn’t necessarily get that from listening to it,” she says, “You can apply this song in so many ways, because it’s a song to say, ‘I’m not giving up’. I’m a Christian and I believe that prayer works, and I do a prayer to end the day always – so, a prayer to end the album, hope to end the album…Hopefully it reaches someone who needs it.” It’s a special moment to end the album on, with that feeling of finding home and comfort in faith and hope amidst all the unknowns and uncertainties.
Safe Flight finds an accomplished, assured artist reflecting on where she’s been and ready to step up to the next level. At once soulful, vibey and poignant, this is an album about embracing possibility, admitting mistakes, and trusting the process. “It’s about getting free,” Jaz says with a smile, “And it’s not that I have it all figured out now or anything, but I’m on this learning curve. There’s something exciting about being on the journey.”
