Hopscotch Highlight: Jamaican Queens

Jamaican Queens perform on Saturday, Sept. 6
at The Hive at Busy Bee

It's hard to believe that there's under a week left until Hopscotch, but alas we're inching closer and closer. It's been difficult to quell my excitement for the festival, but now that we're six days away I can begin to truly geek out over how fantastic next weekend is going to be. Although the lineup has undergone a slew of changes, it's still as strong as before with some devastatingly awesome lineup additions happening at the last minute. While the past two Hopscotch Highlights have focused on local artists, this last one will shine the light upon an act from Detroit that's been on my radar for quite some time now.

Jamaican Queens are another group (much like Sylvan Esso) that's been crafting fantastic pop tunes with a strong electronic footing. Many critics have penned the trio as a "trap-pop" group due to their southern hip-hop influence in their production styles, but tossing labels aside it's clear that this band is fixated on deviating from the norm and producing an incomparable sound. With influences ranging from pop stars like Drake to dancehall to punk, Jamaican Queens serve as an amalgamation of various styles that comes out as banging pop gems.

Songwriter Ryan Spencer describes the group's sound as "abrasive pop," citing their bleak Detroit surroundings as an influence for their somber and twisted lyrical content. "Living in a really bleak city like Detroit makes it easy to dwell in depression," Spencer claims. "But that’s kind of my best way to write songs, by being like cripplingly depressed." But despite calling a bankrupt city home, Spencer and the rest of Jamaican Queens embrace their surroundings, as it allows them to do what they do best, craft these infectious pop tunes that are tinged with dark undertones.