The sunlight of the century: How Jessica Pratt’s niche sound is bleeding into wider music
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(Credits: Far Out / Samuel Hess)
Some artists seem destined for niche fame. Perhaps their voice is a little too strange for mainstream radio but endearing enough to garner a cult following. Maybe their penchant for experimentalism is too strong, or perhaps their sound would have been better suited to an era that has already passed us by. San Francisco-born artist Jessica Pratt certainly seemed to fit into this category with her vintage take on folk, but recently, her influence appears to be pushing beyond the realms of the Golden State.
Pratt has been making music for over a decade, kicking off her career with a self-titled record of analogue tape recordings back in 2012. Jessica Pratt laid out a sound for the singer-songwriter that she has yet to stray too far from. With each new, sporadically released album, she has built upon the quaint, Californian style of songwriting that permeated her debut, finetuning her poetic prowess and melodic strums.
This came to a head earlier in 2024 with Here in the Pitch, Pratt’s most exquisite offering yet. On the record, she’s more indebted to her hometown than ever before, pulling from fellow California dwellers The Beach Boys to concoct lush compositions full of harmonies and that distinctively haunting quality. The influence of her folk predecessors remains too, as the album continues to suggest that Pratt may have been born in the generation.
Her sound is far more suited to old-timey radios and turntables than TikTok fame or Spotify audio quality. She’s far more similar to the folk artists of the 1960s—from Joni Mitchell and to The Carpenters—than to the singers who dominate today’s arenas and airplay. And yet, Pratt’s audience seems to be extending beyond old folk fans and guitar enthusiasts into the realm of pop stars and rap.
Pratt has, of course, found favour in the world of guitar music. Rate Your Music users and vintage fashion lovers have flocked to her discography like moths to a flame, but her fuzzy sound has piqued the interest of some more unexpected fans, too. Namely, Youtuber turned global pop star Troye Sivan, who sampled her 2014 track ‘Back, Baby’ last year.
‘Back Baby’ appeared on Pratt’s gorgeous sophomore album, On Your Own Love Again, and currently boasts the most streams in her discography. It’s quintessential Pratt, pairing gentle acoustic strums with her distinctive voice as she prays for the rain. It’s a far cry from the synth-pop stylings of Sivan, and yet, when he came to his third studio album, Something to Give Each Other, the South African singer opted to pull the vintage sounds of ‘Back, Baby’ into the modern day.
‘Can’t Go Back, Baby’ opens with the sound of Pratt’s voice as she sings the title phrase over an unfamiliar piano instead of her usual six-string. Her words become a refrain throughout the track as Sivan sings atop. “I wish I could, but I can’t go,” he declares as if responding to her laments. The track almost emulates a conversation, a call-and-response between a 2014 folk record and a 2023 pop star.
It’s a sample that, on the surface, probably shouldn’t work. And for some, it won’t. Pratt’s style is entirely indebted to the past, evoking nostalgia for the 1960s, even in 2000s babies, and Sivan is entirely an artist of the present. He spawned from social media, he works with hyperpop producers and makes Tiktoks with Charli XCX, and, yet, Pratt’s sound endeared itself enough to Sivan for him to incorporate it into his own.
This is just one example of Pratt’s seemingly niche sound finding favour beyond cult followings and quirky California. Earlier in August, just three months after Pratt delivered Here in The Pitch, a new single arrived on her Spotify page. The artwork wasn’t quite in her usual style, and a parental advisory warning was in the corner. Those expecting another dose of hippie-inspired harmonies may have been confused when they hit play and were met not with Pratt’s dulcet tones but with the voice of A$AP Rocky.
Rather than leaning further into Beach Boys influences and nostalgia for an unlived-in Los Angeles, Pratt took a complete left turn and linked up with the rapper for a track called ‘Highjack’. “[Pratt] kind of gave me this kind of Portishead meets Stevie Nicks vibe a little bit,” A$AP Rocky told Zane Lowe during an interview with Apple Music 1. “Right. So I always fucked with her as a artist and so I figured it necessary to get her, Jon Batiste on this one, and kind of make it feel soulful to bring it on home in the outro.”
Though A$AP Rocky may have had the advantage of working directly with Pratt rather than borrowing a sample from a decade ago, ‘Highjack’ blends the sounds of the two artists much more seamlessly than Sivan’s offering. The first half of ‘Highjack’ is devoted entirely to Rocky, who raps over an almost sparkling beat. He doesn’t compromise on his sound, but he doesn’t ask Pratt to, either, showing genuine respect for his collaborator.
After Rocky finishes his final verse, the song devolves into a slightly softer refrain, cushioning Pratt’s entry. “And when I’m gone, you wish you stayed,” she sings in the outro, her words blending into layers of other vocals. It’s a truly considered collaboration that respects the creative interests of both artists, finding the perfect way to fuse them despite their marked sonic differences.
Pratt is known for taking her time with projects and being clearly deliberate with her artistry, so she likely respects A$AP Rocky just as much as he admires her talent. This mutual respect is clear on ‘Highjack,’ and Pratt seems primed for more samples and collaborations in the future. Her niche sound is likely to endear itself to artists and producers who are interested in a wide range of music and may look to pull from her catalogue.
Pratt’s sound pushes beyond the constraints of her discography, beyond her influences and sonic interests, into the worlds of pop and rap. Though she has created one of the most distinctive voices and vintage sounds in modern music, and it seems like her solo work will remain within that realm, she still refuses to be contained within one genre.
This also serves as an example of modern music’s tendency to blur the boundaries of genre a little more. Rap fans will be introduced to Pratt’s more peculiar offerings through ‘Highjack’, while vintage folk fans will be encouraged to delve into A$AP Rocky’s catalogue. With the entire history of music at their fingertips, contemporary music fans and the artists themselves seem to be much more open to genre exploration and unexpected collaborations.
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