12 Interviews of Christmas – Jordan Adetunji: "I really want to link up with some great Nigerian artists. It’s such a musical hotbed"

Originally published in Hot Press in January 2025:

Who said that the rags to riches romance of the music industry is dead?

Not long after Jazzy learned that she’d scored her first UK number one whilst taking a tray of croissants out of the oven in the Tesco where she was working, Belfast rap ‘n’ roller Jordan Adetunji went to bed a virtual unknown and woke up the next morning to find he was a viral TikTok sensation.

What happened next is one of those stranger than fiction stories, which involves American hip hop superstars, Grammy nominations, Presidential big-ups and yachting-related revelry not witnessed since the glory days of Duran Duran (ask your parents).

So, let us rewind to May last year and the song that changed everything…

“The first thing that happened in 2024 is that I got dropped by my record label, (RCA),” he recalls. “I didn’t understand why ‘cause I’d had such a good year. I was like, ‘Okay, what am I going to do now?’ I decided to be positive so I bought a camera, upgraded my microphone and got an Airbnb in London for a month where I recorded a couple of songs. Then I came back to Belfast and wrote another one, ‘Zack And Cody’, which I put out to pretty okay feedback. I was trying to perfect this formula that I had in my brain and in May wrote and recorded ‘Kehlani’ in my bedroom. I dropped it on DistroKid and TikTok and it just blew up.”

Incidentally, Jordan is still occupying that same bedroom in his parents’ house.

“They can’t get rid of me!” the 25-year-old laughs. “When I say I wrote ‘Kehlani’, I only had the hook bit then. It sounded good but I was like, ‘Should I put Kehlani’s name in it? This might go horribly wrong!’ My brother was in the room with me and said, ‘What’s the worst that could happen?’ So I decided to keep it like that and hit ‘upload’. When it went crazy I was like, ‘Okay, now I have to go and finish this!’”

At what point did Jordan realise that Kehlani had heard his homage to her?

“I posted it on Instagram, said ‘I love you Kehlani!’ and she liked it but didn’t leave a comment, which I was kind of disappointed by. Anyway, I was like, ‘I’m going to keep on posting until she reacts again’, which Kehlani did by posting a video of her dancing to the song.”

That was merely the start of things…

“I was on TikTok and she hit me up saying, ‘What’s your number?’ so I gave it to her. Anyway, she didn’t hit me up. So I went down to Dublin with my friends to sort of drown my sorrows. We were in a club when Kehalani Facetimed me and said, ‘I’m in the studio and about to record a remix, do you have the stems?’ My computer was a hundred miles away but luckily I had them on my phone and sent them to her.”

Starting out in 2011 as a member of a girl band called PopLyfe who finished fourth on America’s Got Talent, Kehlani Ashley Paris’ own big break came when she posted a song on SoundCloud.

“There have been a few similarities in our careers,” Jordan notes. “You hear stuff about people all the time but she’s just this truly amazing person and so supportive. Kehlani gave me the most important advice which is, ‘Enjoy the love of making music, not the stuff that comes with it.’ I really took that on board.

“She could have done the remix and left it at that but anytime we’re in the same city and she’s performing I get a call saying, ‘Do you want to come out and do the song?’ The answer always being an immediate ‘Yes!’ Our first time performing together was when I was the surprise guest in Boston. As I walked on there was this big scream, which I wasn’t expecting and kind of threw me off a bit. I was like, ‘Oh my days!’ We did the stadium the other day in Tampa - it was 20,000 people or so - which was such an adrenaline rush.”

Just days after he and Kehlani received their Grammy nomination the equally gobsmacking news came through that Barack Obama had picked their collaboration as one of his tracks of the year. Jordan must be stinging from all the pinches he’s been giving himself.

“I’ll be honest, I didn’t expect that. When he released it, I was like ‘There’s no way!’ Kendrick, Billie Eilish, Fontaines D.C. and Hozier are also on his playlist so it’s good company to be keeping. Every day something surprises me with this song.”

Another being Travis Scott dropping ‘Kehlani’, which has been streamed a whopping three hundred million times, in a DJ set.

“Yeah, the night he got arrested in Paris, that was so funny!” Jordan says referring to the American’s brush with the gendarmes. “I met him when he was in London and he was like, ‘Man, I love that song!’ I got the same positive feedback when I met Sexyy Red and Busta Rhymes.

“Busta being a childhood hero of mine, that was amazing. I was chilling with him and said, ‘Yo, thank you!’ He was like, ‘You’re doing a great job, just keep killing it'. I’ve met so many people…”

What do Jordan’s parents make of his newfound stardom?

“They’re loving it, man,” he grins. “Especially my Mum, she’s really excited. They’ve always been supportive of the music thing.”

There’s a long list of TikTok sensations who’ve disappeared as quickly as they arrived, but Jordan made sure he’s not on it with his follow-up single, ‘Options’, which finds him trading verses this time with Lil Baby.

“He was the first one to reach out to me. We were at a party in London and he left all the people he was with to come over and say, ‘I loved that song you’ve just dropped, we’ve got to work together.’ I was coming to what sound-wise I felt was the end of a chapter and thought, ‘Perfect, I’ll do one more song in this vein with him.’ Now I’m on to the next phase and I’m so excited.”

Was the ‘Options’ video Jordan’s first time frolicking on a luxury yacht with scantily clad model types?

“Yeah, you don’t get a lot of that in Belfast,” he smiles. “We shot that in Miami. It was such a vibe; almost like a big party. The director, Luis de Pena, who’d worked before with Whiz Khalifa, was so cool. We were on the yacht for seven hours and beforehand I got to help with the casting.”

Would Jordan like to get into film himself?

“Yeah, it excites me so much,” he shoots back. “I always want my visuals to make a statement.”

Another massive influence on Adetunji’s work is Japanese anime. Has he managed to trace it back to source yet?

“We were going to do a big club in Tokyo on New Year’s Eve but unfortunately it didn’t happen,” he rues. “I’m planning a trip to Japan this year, though, and when I get there I’m going to be like a kid at Christmas.”

What would he recommend anime virgins, who include me, to watch first?

“Some anime is a bit baby-ish but Full Metal Alchemist has a great storyline and is a bit more mature,” he suggests. “It’s about overcoming fears and stuff like that. Another one I love is Vinland Saga, which is about Vikings. That’s the one I’d recommend the most.”

Like yours truly and Stormzy, Jordan was born in Croydon, a Surrey commuter town that’s gradually been sucked into greater London and gained a reputation for gang violence.

“You’re a Croydon boy too? Whereabouts?” he asks.

15 Briton Hill Road, Sanderstead.

“No way, that’s crazy! I thought my situation, which I’m always having to explain to people, was unique. My Mum came over to Belfast for an event, loved the fact it was so quiet and calm compared to Croydon and we moved here when I was ten. It was a bit of a culture shock at first. I played football for a local club at the time, Newbridge, and didn’t understand anything the other boys in the team were saying!

“Talking of football, I think Stormzy’s now bought Croydon Athletic.”

Yep, he has in partnership with former Crystal Palace and Nigeria star, Wilfried Zaha.

Obsessed as he was with the beautiful game – his allegiances lie with Chelsea – it never quite matched Jordan’s passion for music. Who were his teenage go-tos?

“In the early days it was Michael Jackson. Just how many different sounds he produced blew my mind. I was like, ‘This guy can literally do any genre. How is that possible?’ That was the first time I really went ‘Wow!’ and studied everything about his career. Then, as I said earlier, I came across Busta Rhymes whose visuals, in particular, really intrigued me. That’s when I realised that as well as sounding good, it has to look good!

“A more recent inspiration is The Weeknd – the way he continually reinvents and pushes himself is something I aspire to myself.”

He already is. Presented with the chance of learning an instrument at Ashfield Boys’ High School on the Holywood Road, Jordan jumped at it.

“I loved my time there,” he enthuses. “I did trumpet lessons and played a lot of classical music growing up. When I found out that Gary Moore had gone to my school as well, I went down this big rabbit hole watching all the Thin Lizzy stuff on YouTube. I was also listening to heavier stuff like Static-X and came across Joy Division in a video game. I searched their name and discovered this Ian Curtis biopic, which sent me down another rabbit hole

“When Oli Sykes from Bring Me The Horizon originally brought me to RCA, I was doing a lot of post-punk takes. My influences come from everywhere.”

Now you know why I described him earlier as a rap ‘n’ roller. Jordan is lined up to do The Great Escape in Brighton in May – what were his first gigs, as both a punter and a performer?

“Kendrick Lamar at Longitude. It was the first time I’d seen a rapper with a big live band and it was amazing. I still listen to his stuff a lot. As a performer, I did this thing for Culture Night. I decided to make a big entrance and had all these smoke flare poppers, which I don’t think the stage manager was too happy about! There’s video evidence of it on YouTube.”

RCA’s loss has been new label 300 Entertainment’s gain, with the Warner Music subsidiary giving Adetunji a global push.

“I’ve just got the best team of people around me, including the band of musicians I usually travel and make stuff with,” he says.

Courtesy of our man in the North, Edwin McFee, Jordan was a Hot Press Hot For 2019 pick. At the same time his praises were being loudly sung by a Mr. G. Lightbody who, talking to us before Christmas, said: “Jordan blowing up at the moment is unbelievably cool because I’ve been a fan of his for a long time and knew he was going to be a big star.”

“My first time meeting him was when I opened for Snow Patrol at the 2019 Northern Ireland Music Prize,” Adetunji recalls. “Gary saw my performance with a full band and afterwards said, ‘That’s amazing!’ I met him again recently at another live show and thanked him for being so supportive, because it definitely opened doors for me early on.”

On a less positive note, Gary described last year’s racist rioting in East Belfast as “disturbing and agonising and horrifying.”

Has Jordan generally found the city to be a welcoming place?

“Yeah, I’ve always been welcomed and embraced,” he nods before adding: “It’s disappointing when things like that happen. I didn’t grow up with stuff like that around me, so seeing it now I’m like, ‘Why? There’s no need.’ Hopefully it was just a one-off.

“There are so many great artists in Belfast now like this cool girl Becky McNeice. Down in Dublin you’ve S-Janey making amazing music. It’s hard to keep up with it all!”

Jordan is delighted for those other Belfast rappers who’ve been making international waves of late.

“It was exciting to see Kneecap do so well because we played a big tent together in Donegal. I love those guys, their energy is insane!”

Asked whether he has the 'cúpla focal', Jordan smiles and says, “I grew up in East Belfast; we weren’t speaking it on that side!”

As you can see from the photos and visuals accompanying this interview, Jordan’s visual aesthetic extends to his wardrobe.

“My favourite designer is Rick Owens; I love what he does,” he reveals. “I also love Maison Mihara which is a Japanese brand, Kid Super, Chrome Hearts and lately a lot of Diesel stuff.”

Last month saw the release of A Jaguar’s Dream, a genre-bending mixtape whose lead track, ‘Too Many Women’, features a stunning turn from East London star-in-the-making kwn.

“I met kwn, who’s a good friend of Kehlani’s, on the set of our remix shoot. When she posted a snippet of her own song on Instagram, I responded by saying, ‘Yo, you’re amazing, we should do something.’ Then, when I put a really raw version of ‘Too Many Women’ up, she sang it in a voice note. I was like, ‘Yeah, let’s get together’ and kwn killed it.

“I started working on A Jaguar’s Dream when everything was going crazy in America. The Take A Daytrip boys have this sick recording house in L.A. which I used. Then I brought it back to London where Villabeatz and Jeriq came on board. Another track features Chase & Status who are such talented guys. They have a very different take on sound and we worked together really well.”

As for that intriguing title, Jordan explains that, “A jaguar, to me, is someone who moves through spaces and conquers every one it enters. This is how I feel with my sound constantly evolving and conquering every space I enter into.

“A Jaguar’s Dream is an entry into my love life and my world of thoughts through sound and emotion. A real manifestation of my dreams I wish to make reality.”

With his Nigerian heritage, Jordan is eager to get back to Lagos.

“After this tape is up, I really want to tap into that side of things and link up with some great Nigerian artists. It’s such a musical hotbed, but we’re only hearing a tiny fraction of what’s happening there.”

As for another big Dublin night out, Jordan ends by saying that, “I can’t wait to perform my new music to people live. I’m going to be doing a lot of touring this year and Ireland’s high on the list of priorities.”