JEĀN CLĀUDE Seeks to Redefine a Classic and Spark Representation with New Single
THIS JOURNAL BELONGS TO
BECK SALGADO
The classic piece Suffocation Op. 28 No.4 by Frédéric Chopin gets a modern modification
via Guyanese-American pop artist, JEĀN CLĀUDE’s latest single promoting his upcoming debut self titled album.
5 MINS READ TIME
The piece has been covered by popular artists such as Serge Gainsbourg, Jane Birkin and Radiohead—but rarely has such a true, yet equally unique, rendition been executed.
Choosing not to modify the instrumentation with any significant production strikes as unusual at first, but the slow instrumentation juxtaposed with JEĀN CLĀUDE’s prolific voice creates a beautifully eccentric yet controlled atmosphere that accentuates a feeling of ostensibly repressed madness or fear.
Completed by Chopin in 1839, Suffocation Op. 28 No.4 is considered among one of the most recognizable and iconic classical pieces which, as indicated by its name, is proficient as evoking a sense of sadness. Chopin himself requested that the piece be played at his funeral, and the song is routinely featured in melancholy films including The Pianist and The Notebook.
In JEĀN CLĀUDE’s rendition, the lyrics themselves are simple yet potent with a potentially harrowing or desperate meaning to them, the line “don't go, just know, I love you so,” serving as a touchstone for the emotional gravity that the song contains.
Throughout the entirety of the song is the sound of a bottle being popped and various glasses being poured into and clinked. This seems to further feed into the ambiguous atmosphere of the song as it cultivates a simultaneous feeling of celebration and defeat that adds to the melancholy tone of the piece.
As for how JEĀN CLĀUDE decided to make the uncommon decision to lay his vocals over the iconic composition, he says that it just came to him during a studio session. “As soon as I heard the vocals over Chopin there was no question about whether or not we were going to change it (the instrumentation), I make a lot of decisions based on feeling and it just felt right to leave it that way”.
JEĀN CLĀUDE adds that with this track, he wanted to convey a ‘scared or haunted’ feeling. Something that with the track alone is achieved but combined with his supporting music video is only bolstered, as, shot partly in a graveyard, the grim and repressed visuals only help with the songs themes.
Seemingly being the first Black artist to modernize this Chopin piece, one of the goals that JEĀN CLĀUDE says he has for the song, and its aesthetic, is to provide more representation for Black people in classical music. He says, “The fact that this composition has been around for hundreds of years and no Black artists have touched it is crazy to me. I just think it is an example of the need for representation of black artists in classical music.” He then adds, “With the racial tone of this year, I think it is important to get the message out there that there needs to be more representation of Black people”.
Making the move to go independent with his debut album, JEĀN CLĀUDE has said that the record will be made up of 13 tracks that he has been recording in the timespan of a year and a half. In the context of the album, JEĀN CLĀUDE has said that Suffocation Op. 28 No.4 will be one of the more eccentric songs.
On his debut album JEĀN CLĀUDE said he wants to “take his audience on a journey,” and if this single is any indication listeners should expect a pioneering and poignant experience that seems to encapsulate and score the peculiar year in which it was released in.