JUNIOR CHOI

JNR Choi has become a master of mood. Before he turned genre-fracturing hybrids of hip-hop, R&B, and pop into hit singles, he turned heads on the runway for designers like Givenchy and Lanvin. Those shows—which paired high-fashion with diverse playlists—affirmed what the UK-based artist and model knew intuitively: no genre can soundtrack every environment. “When I listen to my playlists, I want different vibes. Some stuff is for driving, some is for the club,” he explains. “That’s how I see my music: Whatever mood you’re in, you can find a Jnr Choi song.”

Since the release of 2018’s “MOVES,” a sultry blend of R&B and dancehall, Choi has used his smokey voice and innate ear for melody to craft eclectic, mood-defining songs that weave together seemingly disparate sonic threads. On his still-rising 2021 hit, “To the Moon,” he crossed over to the U.S. while creating a new genre he calls “Afro-drill.” Sampling Bruno Mars’ recently viral 2010 song “Talking to the Moon,” Choi’s singular twist finds him floating with Auto-Tuned croons over drill’s chest-caving drums and thundering bass. The combination was natural for Choi, whose debut project, SS21, was brimming with varied and inspired fusions.

“With ‘To the Moon,’ I wanted to make drill in my way,” Choi says. “I felt comfortable bringing the Afro influence, making something the world wasn’t used to hearing.” Now that “To the Moon” has topped multiple charts, the world is becoming familiar with Choi’s forward-thinking sounds.

In hindsight, Choi was destined to create his globe- and genre-spanning music. Growing up with his grandmother in southeast London and his parents in Essex, he heard a broad mix of sounds at family parties. His mother, who emigrated from The Gambia, listened to traditional West African songs, and his father blasted reggae from the likes of Buju Banton. Choi absorbed it all while downloading hits from Akon, Sean Paul, and The Weeknd, whose dark, numb ballads exposed him to the possibilities of creating music outside of rigid sonic boxes.

Choi’s online music exploration eventually led him to Tumblr, where he discovered his love of fashion. He soon went from working retail at Topman to modeling for them. Since then, Choi’s appeared in countless magazine ads, strutted at numerous fashion shows, and posed for national campaigns from designers like Palm Angels and Armani. This was only the beginning. “I never saw modeling as my takeoff moment,” he explains. “It was an experience I needed in order to grow into myself.”

Between shoots, Choi found himself musically. In his early 20s, after receiving encouragement from a friend who heard him sing, Choi became obsessed with songwriting for the first time. He wrote to and recorded over beats on YouTube before releasing his first solo single, 2018’s “MOVES.” The local hit led him to open a show for acclaimed British rapper B Young, where—it turned out—the entire audience already knew the words. “That’s the day that I realized I could do this on a bigger scale,” Choi says. “That’s when I started to take music truly seriously.”

In the wake of “MOVES,” Choi linked up with local producers like Yak and Parked Up (who’d eventually produce “To the Moon”) and began recording feverishly. By the beginning of the pandemic, he was engineering and recording himself at home. Singles like the cinematic club-anthem “Belvedere” and “EXCITED,” a thunderous mix of trap and R&B, poured out of him. Forever wary of being pigeonholed, Choi ensured that every release was vastly different. He applied that same train of thought to composing his debut independent project, SS21.