If you haven’t heard of Lupa J, your first thought after listening to her recent single 'Put Me Back Together' will be, ‘why haven't I been listening sooner?'. Swiftly followed by,‘wait, she’s how old?’
While most of us spent our high school years getting braces and taking driving tests, Lupa J aka Imogen Jones made waves as a finalist not once, but twice in triple j’s Unearthed competition, released four singles, and casually shared stages with Sarah Blasko, Grimes and Tegan and Sara.
'Put Me Back Together' is the first music Jones has released in 2017, and if this track is anything to go by, this year will be huge for the once classical violinist. Not content with simply creating a catchy dance track, Lupa J has managed to create lyrics with a serious feminist message, the inspiration for which came from Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper. Jones explains the meaning behind the song on social media, ‘I feel like there is still a lot of discomfort & distrust surrounding female emotion, a lot of pressure on women to remain pretty & easily digestible not-quite-human beings at all times.’
Not only is this track dreamy and danceable, but it's also politically charged and powerful. It’s a serious feminist message wrapped up in an electronic indie bow, decorated with glittery vocals and heavy drums and synths. It’s the kind of song that will have you slowly spinning beneath the lights of the dance floor, but not before thinking twice about the lyrics. As Lupa J says, ‘I like to think that this song is in honour of Gilman, for leading the way in this fight, for bravely rejecting male views on female intelligence & expression in an era where women's rights were basically nonexistent’.
Amen sister.
Written by Rowan Montgomery
