Before Jeffrey Eli was making pop music to break the gender binary, he was a pre-teen singing online from his hometown bedroom in Norfolk for 3 million followers on our beloved platform that we knew as Vine.
Now…after being discovered on the platform by Meghan Trainor, cutting
his teeth in sessions with legendary songwriters like Corey Chorus, SiR, and Liana Banks, finishing highschool, starting school at NYU honing in his production and songwriting, and gaining praise from SZA, Chloe Bailey and Silk Sonic for his music/TikTok’s… Jeffrey Eli has cultivated his own pop/queen fairytale where he shines ever-so bright.
“Casper,” in Eli’s words is a Micheal Jackson’s Thriller meets Beyonce’s Haunted-inspired bop intended to exorcise your exes. Eli’s signature tenor floats magically over skittering drums and choir-like vocal arrangements, before ending in drum and bass catharsis, as his voice is sampled like the howling ghosts of his exes.
Pulling influence from 2000s euro-pop, Crystal Castles and PinkPantheress, Eli flipped the creative process on its head, inviting his audience in beforehand and sharing with them the many different versions and shapes the record took over a 6 month writing period.
I am not going to sugar coat this…I have been a fan of Jeffrey Eli since Vine. He knows it, I know it, and I was so beyond excited to hear his new music as it truly showcases him coming into his own with his creativity and artistry.
If you don’t already know who Jeffrey Eli from Vine like me… or his song with Juliet Ivy, “ZOOM,” or his TikTok‘s that slay so hard, I encourage you to become a stan (like me) and listen to his incredible avant-garde music — there is so much more to come for this artist.
