Jacob Collier’s funky new song “In My Bones” featuring Kimbra & Tank and The Bangas is the exact balm we need right now.
Stream: “In My Bones” – Jacob Collier
According to Coldplay’s Chris Martin, Jacob Collier is “more talented than any of us has ever dreamed of being. It’s like hanging out with Mozart or Prince or something like that.” Listening to Collier, it also sometimes feels like he’s more talented than anyone has a right to be. But it’s hard to be bitter about his talent when you watch him perform. Collier’s biggest strength often seems to be his ebullient sense of humor within his music. As technically incredible as all of his songs are, you can’t help but giggle watching him dance around in a straw hat and air-play the trumpet in his last Djesse Vol. 3 video with Daniel Caesar, or his video for “Bathtub” with Becca Stevens, for which he donned one of those furry hats with ears and a paw scarf and danced around in a backyard. In other words, it’s his lack of ego that makes him so appealing. Yes, he’s a wunderkind, yes, he’s probably an actual genius, but he’s also just having fun.
Since his second album, Djesse Vol. 1, Collier hasn’t released a collection of songs that he’s worked on alone. Vol. 1 featured collaborations with the Metropole Orkest, Laura Mvula, and Suzie Collier. Djesse Vol. 2 had contributions from Lianne La Havas, Portuguese singer MARO, JoJo, and more. Collier has embraced the spirit of collaboration that is so present in the genre he began in, jazz, and turned all of his albums into melting pots of talent, diversity, and style.
In his latest offering from Djesse Vol. 3, Collier teams up with Kimbra and Tarriona “Tank” Ball (of Tank and The Bangas) for an exuberant funk number called “In My Bones” – on his Spotify, he’s written, “A joyous metablast for YOU.”
And that’s exactly what it is. Full of frenetic, highly rhythmic percussion and a bass line you can’t help but move to (played by bassist and Instagram comedian MonoNeon), “In My Bones” is a celebration of funk and dancing together.
There’s a funky feelin’
In my bones, in my bones
In my bones, I got that funky feelin’
And I don’t wanna feel it
On my own, on my own
The music video is a bizarre and colorful one, with dancing skeletons and the disembodied heads of Collier and Kimbra singing over their dancing bodies. It is oddly reminiscent of the vaguely fear-inducing Pee-Wee’s Playhouse, complete with a robot made of silver air hoses and a video screen on its stomach (from which Tank, human embodiment of joy, delivers her rap verse). Collier plays a game of Operation on Kimbra while a skeleton plays the upright bass strings resting inside of its ribcage. Kimbra’s teeth become a piano keyboard, and the pair dances together with abandon.
Now I got this feelin’ in my…
Be my rush, be my crush, be my fantasy
Get my blush, feel my touch, baby, you can see
Now’s the time to get that funky feelin’ on me
So use it up, wear it out, oh
The song itself is much like Collier’s other work, which is to say his musical prowess remains at its highest level while maintaining the right level of accessibility for the pop/R&B world. The collaboration provides the type of joy we’re in need of right now – so even if you can’t dance next to someone today, feel that funky feelin’ in your bones and dance anyway.
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:: purchase/stream “In My Bones” here ::
Stream: “In My Bones” – Jacob Collier
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