Jbabe Breaking Bad

KOCHI: “The song wasn’t meant to be one that people sit down and listen to. It was supposed to make them want to mess something up,” says Joshua Fernandez aka JBABE over the phone from Chennai, about his recent release ‘Punch Me In My Third Eye’. Joshua, the frontman of Chennai-based alternative suit F16s, launched his solo project JBABE in 2019 with the album ‘Play The Piano Drunk Like A Percussion Instrument Until The Fingers Begin To Bleed A Bit’ that featured poignant tracks like Antibambi.

But ‘Punch Me...’ is nothing like that album. Rather, It’s a tasteful slap in society’s face, a satirical outburst ready to rattle our credence — it screams, imprecates, calls out, and even breaks a few things. It is also who we are behind our UA certified social appearances. The opening scene — where a docile, homely Preeti Alex and graceful Jbabe are sat with their parents in an arranged marriage set-up — was one I could immediately relate to. Preethy asks her ‘would be’, “ninak enthokkeya ishtam?” (what are your likes and dislikes), and that is when all chaos ensues.

The video very artistically calls out the ugly cultural mid-place this generation is in — where most middle-class liberal Indian children end up having to be ‘prudent’ about career and marriage to fulfil their family’s wishes, and then run around restless their entire lives with a huge can of mental health worms. 

“I have been observing this era of fake spirituality evolve. We started by talking about affirmations and meditation and positivity, and before you know, people are walking around with crystals in their pocket,” quips JBABE, who, in the video, addresses the modern man’s real best friends that these defence mechanisms are possibly trying to cover up — trauma and a lack of common sense.

“This song came to me one day when I was in my room, alone and I wanted to get all of my frustration out. I was tired of faking it and putting on a straight face. I just kept screaming to myself, which was quite therapeutic,” he says. This, he believes is why it resonated with so many of his audience too. JBABE has gone full quirky with this release, much like his moniker that comes from his Angry birds’ username.

My biggest challenge while talking about ‘Punch Me...’ is bringing out its subliminal deep undertones and also the outlandishly witty, cerebral, yet unhinged craziness simultaneously. Director of the video, Lendrik Kumar, famous for his collaborations with beat wizard Parimal Shais and rapper Hanumankind, admits that he made it “simply to mess with everyone”.

“I have extensively worked with hip-hop artists. This was new to me too. We were all pitching in ideas and it seemed like sky is the limit. The song is laced with ironies, like the scene where a man in a dress is shaving the head of a woman in a saree,” quips Lendrik.

His equation with Prayoon Sajeev, a Bengaluru-based Malayali cinematographer, has paved the way for such out-of-the-box content in the past too. “Everything about this video was DIY — trashing a thermocol table to casting JBABE’s neighbours as parents. I am just trying to say that budget is not what makes a good product, it is the concept,” says the Malayali director. 

SHAVE OUR SOULS!
The highlight of Punch Me In My Third Eye, for me, was an adorable yet defiant Preeti Alex. “The first thing that Lendrick asked me is if I can shave my head on camera,” laughs the Bombay-based model who hails from Kottayam. When she heard the song, it resonated with her too. “Like the part where it says ‘If you say the word vibe, I’ll punch you in the third eye’. That word is so overused, it actually begins to annoy you. These are things and people we have all wanted to call out our entire lives,” she says.

On Youtube: Jbabe
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