JVKE is adamant that he never saw this coming. The 21-year-old recording artist and producer from Cranston, Rhode Island, dreamt of a life spent writing songs for other people. That is, until the COVID-19 lockdown of 2020. His song “Upside Down” went viral on TikTok, where influential creators used it to soundtrack their videos. Pronounced “Jake,” JVKE is the moniker that Jacob Lawson chose when he realized he had a rare opportunity for a different kind of career. 

“Since I wasn’t expecting it, I was kind of reluctant,” JVKE recalls. He had been writing songs with his brother, Zac, and they debated whether to release “Upside Down” together or to list JVKE as the artist. They went with the latter option, though they continue to collaborate. “Upside Down” is a buoyant and hip-hop-inclined pop song, featuring a sample by Philadelphia rapper KBFR. The song launched JVKE’s career, but he describes feeling disconnected from his public output. “I was having kind of a love-hate relationship with my artist project,” he says. “I never really took ownership of it. It was just kind of like I was writing for another person.” In recent years, JVKE has both connected with his identity as an artist and transcended the pressures of early viral success. 

Growing up, JVKE played multiple instruments and taught himself to produce with the software Logic Pro X. He honed his craft, but he wasn’t yet receiving recognition for his efforts. “In high school,” he explains, “I would sit in the ‘other’ section where the not-so-popular kids sit, even though people didn’t reject me, necessarily.” JVKE’s quiet diligence paid off, and he skipped two grades ahead, allowing him to go to college at age 16. He studied to be a music teacher, like his mom (who stars in many of JVKE’s TikToks), but eventually, he dropped out to focus on songwriting. 

JVKE began posting original songs on TikTok in 2020. Today, he has 10 million followers on the platform. That audience has translated to streams (including 270 million streams of his current single, “golden hour”) and performances at iHeartRadio’s Jingle Ball and Alicia Keys’ Holiday Masquerade Ball. JVKE is even slated to ring in 2023 at the iconic Times Square New Year’s Eve show. Viral fame is easier to quantify than it is to understand – “A lot of those numbers, I don’t really connect with very well,” the song-writer observes – but seeing a crowd of fans is indisputable validation. He says, “I think it’s starting to connect more that there are real people who actually care about me and my music and are waiting for new releases.” 

Despite his success as a TikTok creator, JVKE doesn’t have the app on his phone. He elaborates, “I have had TikTok and Instagram deleted off my phone for a few months now… I find, if I am on there too much, I can just start to lose focus on things that are important to me.” Sometimes, JVKE sends content to his brother to post on his behalf, but he doesn’t often use TikTok himself, though he acknowledges its importance for his career. “We’re in a time and space now where things are so reliant on virality,” JVKE says. “I’ve just seen my career as a culmination of a lot of viral moments.” 

JVKE’s debut album, this is what ____ feels like, arrived in September of 2022. The album tells the story of his first relationship, with all its attendant highs and lows. On this album, he proves himself to be a songwriter capable of narrative-building far beyond the confines of a catchy viral snippet, though he favors cathartic choruses. The music is eclectic, combining elements of classical, pop, and hip-hop. Sometimes it is explicitly referential; the soaring final song interpolates Elvis Presley’s “Can’t Help Falling in Love.” JVKE explains this conclusion: “The whole story is told, but then I just can’t help falling in love again, and then the cycle continues.” He laughs, adding, “Hopefully one day it will end with the last song.” 

JVKE’s approach to songwriting is informed by the music he discovered on his brother’s iPod in 2014 and by his experience playing music in church. He found the framework of Christian contemporary music ideal for learning to write songs of his own, observing, “There are certain unwritten rules that a lot of these songs tend to follow.” By improvising at church, JVKE practiced experimenting within their structure. “I think ultimately the art of songwriting is to make a creative idea that’s special but also is memorable and sticks with people,” he muses. “And I think every great song has to stick in some way. It doesn’t have to be the conventional way, but somehow it has to grab people.”

With his commitment to craft and knowledge of production, JVKE has not only grabbed fans’ attention but maintained it. After scoring his second viral hit with “this is what falling in love feels like,” JVKE’s discomfort with writing for himself began to lessen. He notes, “The thing I’m most proud of is how I made the pivot from writing songs for some guy named JVKE to becoming the artist myself.” There’s now a sense of confidence underlying his work, and he plans to release lots more music in 2023, estimating that he now has roughly 1,000 songs to choose from. Jacob Lawson and JVKE the artist have something important in common. As he puts it, “I just really love writing songs.”