Member Spotlight: J2
credit: trailermusicnews.com
Jay Singh, known professionally as J2, is a British Indian producer and composer currently producing and co-writing music for famous artists such as Beyonce and Lady Gaga, as well as composing music behind the thrilling trailers for major Hollywood movies including ‘The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1’ (2014) and the Oscar-winning movie ‘Django Unchained’ (2012).
Starting his music career out as a DJ in England in 1995, J2 drew inspiration from his heritage and family history. Speaking to magazine Talent Monthly, J2 says the biggest influence on his career has been his father, who came to the United Kingdom from India with just £2 in his pocket and ended up building a business from the ground up. Inspired by his father’s drive, J2 pursued a career in music, determined to not give up on his dreams.
Coming from an Indian background but growing up in the UK, J2 told pop culture website Glamber Girl Blog that his musical influences included the melodic music featured in Bollywood movies and the diverse range of genres – pop, rock, country, R&B – he would listen to on British radio station Radio 1.
After first staring out as a DJ, J2 then began creating remixes. It was through creating remixes that his first big break would come – soundtracking the trailer music for Oscar-winning film ‘Django Unchained’ (2012) with a remix of Johnny Cash’s ‘Ain’t No Grave’. He would then go onto have further success when he produced and co-wrote Shakira’s song ‘Dare La La La’ in 2014, which peaked at No.1 in the US Billboard Dance Club Songs Chart and later became the FIFA 2014 World Cup song.
His career exploded and J2 went onto produce for artists such as Beyonce, Usher and Lady Gaga, and create even more remixes and ‘epic trailer music’. His music has been featured on TV series’ such as ‘Grey’s Anatomy’, in video games such as ‘Far Cry 4’, on adverts for T-Mobile and even on a Super Bowl halftime commercial, for American TV series ‘Allegiance’.
Aside from creating trailer music and producing music for internationally known pop stars, J2 has also released 3 albums of his own music, titled ‘The Iconic Series’ and has released an album of intense trailer music, called ‘J2/LV’ with fellow composer, Lucas Vidal. The pair’s co-composed track ‘Blueshift’ has recently been sync licensed by Tracks & Fields for Porsche’s thrilling new FIA WEC film.
Listen to J2’s epic trailer remix of ‘Born to Be Wild’ featuring Blu Holliday here:
