PHOTO: Benjy Bradshaw
„I’m always hesitant to do covers,” Jack Tracy admits. “I want people to know me as a creator of original music. But sometimes the best way to convince people to give you a listen is to put your spin on something they already know, so I’ve taken an ‘intermission’ from my normal stream of original tracks and videos to sing some old favorites, all with an LGBTQ+ twist of course.”
On this second volume of covers, Jack finally tackles his all-time favorite artist–Janet Jackson–turning her sultry and explicit bedroom jam “Would You Mind” from her All For You album into a synth-pop dance number. While Jack may have reinterpreted the track, which was left off of clean versions of the All For You album over twenty years ago, he did not remove any of the explicit lyrics. “Just like Janet sang all those years ago, ‘I wanna make you cum,’” Jack remarks on his decision to leave the track explicit.
Jack’s love for R&B continues with his nod to Aaliyah, teaming up with friend Kodi Maurice Doggette on “If Your Girl Only Knew.” While he sped up the Janet track, he slows down his cover of the beloved Aaliyah track from her One In A Million album, turning it into a vibey coffee-house jam–and a duet. “Kodi is an incredible singer and has this beautiful upper register that when paired with me, gives me all the T-Boz and Chili vibes from a 90s TLC track,” Jack explains, “so I absolutely wanted to work with him.” He again maintains the original lyrics, including all the original gender references, transforming the song into one about two men dishing on a man who’s stepping out on his girlfriend to be with them. “We change the entire story behind the song without changing a single word.”
Finally, Jack takes on My Prerogative, which most LGBTQ+ listeners may attribute to the recently emancipated Britney Spears. Jack, however, has a strong connection to the original–from Bobby Brown’s Don’t Be Cruel album. “That album was my very first cassette tape,” Jack reveals. “My cousin Molly gave it to me when I was 6 or 7, along with a My First Sony tape player. My Prerogative was likely my very first favorite song.” In coming up with his spin on it, he anchors it with a Billy Jean style drum beat, samples his original track Love Yah from 2021, and merges moments from both the Britney cover and the Bobby Brown original into an entirely unique production. “I wanted to reinject some of the lines Bobby did that Britney left off of her cover. It’s a nice little hybrid.”
Jack Tracy’s latest EP follows his Intermission, Vol. 1 EP from 2021, which included covers of Ginuwine, Toni Braxton and Tweet. Between intermissions, Jack recently released three original songs–Daddy Made It, Overdrive and It’s Time–each of which were accompanied by uncensored music videos posted exclusively to Jack’s OnlyFans. Jack also previously released two studio albums–Older and For You–as well as the EP Love Yah.