From a young age, music has been a central part of Jordan Royale’s life. He began playing the violin at age five and was in a couple joke bands in high school. It was at this point when Royale knew he wanted to devote the rest of his life to creating music.
When it comes to inspiration, Royale looks up to all kinds of artists with various genre backgrounds. His influences ranges from the late David Bowie and Chromatics, artists with a pop and synth pop sound. Royale claims he can also get down to metal core and hardcore by listening to artists such as We Came as Romans and August Burns Red. The famous alternative rock band Nine Inch Nails has been a huge inspiration for Royale as he grew his sound. In terms of Hip-hop influences, Royale looks up to artists such as Eminem, D12, Kayne West, and 50 Cent.
Royale’s latest single “Sinner” debuted mid-June of this year, but it is not your typical summer anthem. The story behind “Sinner” is about a dark time period in Royale’s life when he just couldn’t catch a break with all the curveballs that life threw at him. Royale claims that three months prior to him trying to commit suicide, his girlfriend of 3 years broke up with him and on top of that his car got repossessed.
This was a weird transitional phase in Royale’s life and most days he could not get out of bed—leading to the day he attempted to take his own life. At the lowest point of his life, all these thoughts began to gather in Royale’s mind about putting all of this on paper in a song—and that maybe, some people can feel his pain.
The inspiration behind the title “Sinner” comes from Royale thinking about all the sins he has committed in his life. He began to pick out every flaw of himself: relationships, personal, work, personality, looks, etc. Royale claims to be very hard on himself and overthinks everything, so he uses that to shape the theme of the song of imperfection. Royale has tried so hard to be perfect and he reflects that the only person one can blame for their own shortcomings is themselves—which is exactly what Royale did at the lowest point of his life.
Royale is extremely vulnerable in this song as he lays out all his demons on the table. Royale asks himself the question, “Am I going to be who I always wanted to be or does my life end here and people remember me for who I was?” He made this song as if he is talking to God and Satan, the two battling out who eventually gets Royale—-and obviously Satan is winning.
Today, Royale is working on putting out a new single every other month from his album which he claims the fans can expect in 3-5 months.
“I’ll just drop that when they least expect it, ” Royale states.