In the new age of R&B and hip-hop, rappers Joony and Jordan Ward offer a fresh sound to listeners with their newest EP, JRNY. Released on October 4, 2024, JRNY features six tracks that showcase the two’s irresistibly innovative music style, blending rap with subtle hints of bedroom pop.

Before the Mainstream

Before joining forces to collaborate in 2022 on Joony’s Pretty In Black (Deluxe) and again in 2024 with JRNY, both Joony and Jordan Ward began their rap careers from two vastly different backgrounds in music: one with roots sprouting from SoundCloud, the other in musical theater.

Joony

With humble bedroom-producing beginnings from his home in Silver Spring, Maryland, 23-year-old Jonathan Negero launched his music career publishing homemade tracks on SoundCloud and a variety of other DSPs (Digital Service Providers). He began creating music at the age of 13 under the alias Joony, sampling early 2000s R&B behind the stylings of himself and other up-and-coming rappers like Max Freetown and Lil Xelly.

In a 2021 interview with Office Magazine, Joony described the impact SoundCloud had on his career as an independent artist.

SoundCloud is the breeding ground. That’s where everybody started finding their legs — at least everybody in my generation, even older. That’s where I found so many new artists; I got introduced to so many new experimental sounds that opened my mind up to do even more and just vibe with it.

– Joony, Kayla Curtis-Evans Office Magazine

Eventually, Joony’s fresh lyricism and flow caught the attention of highly acclaimed rapper Brent Faiyaz. After signing him to PULSE Music Group, an independent music publisher with clients including Kaytranada, Ty Dolla $ign, and Kehlani, Faiyaz featured Joony on his 2021 single “Paper Soldier.”

Soon after, the two collaborated again on Faiyaz’s 2022 album Wasteland, on which Joony made his first Billboard Hot 100 debut.

After releasing a series of independent albums under 211, a collective he began with his best friend Max Free (alias Max. Freetown), Joony entered into a partnership with Evgle/Red Bull Records in 2023, releasing his highly anticipated EP Memento in October of the same year.

Joony now has over 2.1 million monthly listeners on Spotify, with that number continuously growing as JRNY amasses more and more streams with each coming week.

Jordan Ward

Before entering the rap scene, Jordan Ward (born Jordan Alexander Ward) initially dipped his toes into the music world through dance rather than solely through vocal performance. Throughout his adolescent years, Ward involved himself in musical theater around his hometown of St. Louis, Missouri, where he developed a love for both singing and dancing.

In a 2023 interview with Billboard.com, Ward detailed the dance experience he gathered from his participation in theater at a young age.

“I was a young Black boy from the south side of St. Louis. First I started doing theater in the suburbs, then I started being the only Black boy at the dance competitions. I wasn’t chasing those types of spaces, but I found a lane. I found a creative space where it was like, ‘This is my escape.’”

– Jordan Ward, Cydney Lee Billboard

After training in ballet, hip-hop, tap, and jazz throughout high school, Ward propelled his future in entertainment forward by teaching dance classes and booking various under-the-table gigs, eventually moving to Los Angeles to pursue his talents at the age of 18.

Eventually landing a job as a backup dancer for musicians like Becky G and Justin Bieber, Ward was inspired to delve back into singing after indulging in the music business atmosphere.

In 2017, Ward made his rap debut with his first EP, A Peak at the Summit, a condensed album of five songs introducing the world to his unique sound. Combining bedroom pop beats with distinct vocals, A Peak at the Summit served as a catalyst of Ward’s future in hip-hop.

Soon after in 2020, he signed a deal with Interscope Records, who he released his EP Remain Calm and his LP FORWARD under in 2021 and 2023, respectively.

As of October 2024, Jordan Ward has over 2.3 million monthly listeners on Spotify, with that number continuously growing alongside Joony’s.

Embarking on the JRNY

Although their EP only consists of six songs, Joony and Jordan Ward’s combined talents are still clear and palpable. Each track features the innovative sound that R&B and hip-hop listeners insistently yearn for in a new album to binge. Fusing playful R&B beats with smooth, entrancing vocals, JRNY is destined to be a gate-kept compilation of hits for years to come.

“Jealousy”

Originally released as a single in September of 2024 teasing the debut of JRNY, “Jealousy” serves as a slower track to contrast the energy of other songs, like “Burning Rubber,” on the album.

Exploring themes of romantic longing and the complexities of possessiveness in relationships, Joony and Ward use soft instrumentals and a slower melody to provide their audience with a mellow listening experience alongside its emotionally charged lyrics.

With lines like “Built this on a friendship, but now there’s more to manage / So I’ll keep a home here, somеwhere you can vanish” and the chorus “Jealousy / I want you all to me / But I can’t give you all of me,” the song is not only catchy but relatable to the two’s listening audience.

“One Too Many Times”

“One Too Many Times” is a quicker track that contains a similar level of vulnerability to “Jealousy,” the song immediately preceding it. With melodic guitar riffs chopped into a catchy hip-hop beat, Joony and Ward layer their vocals with electronic synths and drums, creating yet another brilliant fusion between rap and pop.

The song centers around heartbreak and regret, detailing an introspective view on a failed romantic relationship.

With Ward vocalizing lines like “The back of your mind now is vacant and open / We could make it right, but you won’t have me over,” the two explore a resonant experience in the contemporary dating world through a dynamic earworm of a song.

At JRNY‘s End

With the release of JRNY comes a telling future for both Joony and Jordan Ward as artists. Combining their rapping and singing specialities under an EP of six innovative songs, the album is reminiscent of Frank Ocean’s 2012 album Channel Orange, with the premise and aesthetic of both centering around a radio-based listening experience.

A collaboration as creative and inventive in sound and production as JRNY is bound to become a modern R&B classic, and although Joony and Jordan Ward’s JRNY may objectively be over, the two’s growing popularity and foreseeable entrance into the mainstream rap world is just beginning.