Jack Van Cleaf is back and better than ever. After the runaway success of his song “Rattlesnake,” the Nashville-based singer brings similarly emotional lyrics and haunting production to his new single, “Smoker.”
Videos by American Songwriter
In a conversation with American Songwriter, Van Cleaf said the idea for the song was sparked by a conversation about smoking habits when he realized, “Oh, I’m a smoker.”
“I’d been smoking since I was 16 and never had thought of myself that way before,” he said. “There comes a point where you look at how much time you’ve been doing a certain thing and you realize, ‘Oh, that does kind of define me to a degree.’”
With his reflective nature, Van Cleaf began to wonder how his childhood self, who was “scared” of smokers, would view the person he grew up to be.
“That was never gonna be a part of my future,” he said of smoking. “Just to kind of look at yourself in the mirror now and reckon that with what you expected to be is ultimately what I pulled from for the song.”
Inside Jack Van Cleaf’s “Smoker”
Verse by verse, the grungy folk-rock track contrasts the innocence of childhood with the reality of grown-up life. That theme is underscored in the track’s black-and-white music video.
“That chorus of ‘Never thought I’d be a smoker,’ that kind of… destroys all the simplicity that you experience when you’re a kid,” Van Cleaf explained.
At its core, Van Cleaf said the track is about coming to terms with the unrealized expectations you once held for yourself in a nonjudgmental way.
“Obviously, smoking’s not a healthy habit and [it’s] something that I’m working on changing in my own life. But the song to me isn’t about looking at this thing and trying to beat myself up for it,” he said. “It’s a scary song a little bit, and I think the fear is a little bit important there. I want to capture just the unexpectedness of life, I think.”
What to Expect from Jack Van Cleaf’s Sophomore Album
Listeners who respond to the themes in “Smoker” can be rest assured that other tracks on JVC will speak to them.
“The theme [of ‘Smoker’] felt consistent with the rest of the record, which has a lot of weight, a lot of the heaviness in it lyrically… It’s a bummer at a lot of points,” Van Cleaf said. “The themes about taking that depressive period and then constantly trying to figure out where this came from. [I did that] by looking into my past, and especially looking at myself as I’ve grown up, and realizing I’ve grown up. I think that’s a big part of the record. “
In comparison with the rest of the album, Van Cleaf said “Smoker” is sonically “pretty unique.” However, the track does bridge “the gap into some other grungier songs on the record.”
Making JVC
Van Cleaf brought the album to life with his friends for college. Doing so was both out of habit and respect. The singer said that his pals “kept me afloat when, post-graduation, I hit a depressive wall.”
“It was love, and time, and attention from these people that made me feel OK,” he said.
Van Cleaf hopes the record can provide similar comfort to anyone who’s struggling as he did.
“I want people to feel like, if they’re walking through any of that, that they’re not alone. Hopefully hearing the songs live or in their headphones in their room is cathartic in some way,” he said. “There’s a little bit of a beacon of hope at the end of the record, I think. But mostly, it’s just a bit of grieving what’s lost and trying to put things back together. I hope people who listen to it walk away feeling that freedom and empowerment to start putting things back together.”
“Smoker” is out now. JVC will be released May 9.
Photo by Joseph Wasilewski
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