Song You Need to Know: Yves Tumor, ‘Jackie’

Regret, longing, and heartache define the latest song by Yves Tumor, the producer-singer who’s spent the better part of quarantine and lockdown recording new music. “These days have been tragic,” Tumor sings on “Jackie,” the standout track from their recently released The Asymptotical World. “I ain’t sleepin’/Refuse to eat a thing.”

Produced and co-written by Chris Greatti, the track’s stadium-sized drums channel 1990s boom-bap, while an electric guitar wails more elegiac than bombastic. Tumor overlays and distorts their voice, building in intensity even while maintaining a slightly detached delivery.

The video blends live-action footage, 3D digital characters, and deepfake technology to portray, as the clip’s directors Actual Objects say, “this hot-tempered and violent relationship between Yves Tumor and Jackie.” Its shifting ideas of identity mirrors Tumor’s own musical shapeshifting, as The Asymptotical World weaves through post-punk, dark synth-pop, and 1980s experimental rock in a blend that nods to its past idols without mimicking them.

Find a playlist of all of our recent Songs You Need to Know selections on Spotify.