Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: A Conversation with Project.JDM Picture multi-colored dots bouncing across a handheld screen, tracing neon arcs of varying sizes.Or RGB squares colliding with uneven surfaces in sync with the rhythms of pop melodies.Or pastel grids and lattices swirling and intersecting and folding on each other, building impressions of four-dimensional objects in three-dimensional spaces on a two-dimensional plane.Picture video clips ranging from seconds to hours long, infused with meme-istry and bedazzled by math, soothing tired eyes with topographical sorcery and seducing bedraggled minds through spellbinding motion.If you, like me, like many, have actually seen such magic-likely late at night via algorithmic nudging amid doom scrolling ad infinitum-you've probably watched Project.JDM.Created by musician and mathematician Jairo Mora, the project became a viral sensation during the peak years of the pandemic and has only increased in popularity since.With over two million followers on TikTok, nearly one million on YouTube, and nearly half a million on Instagram, today, Project.JDM stands out in a niche-rich yet increasingly oversaturated content creation industry, bringing brainy, mesmerizing videos that blend polyrhythmic intensity with geometric process and easy shareability.The videos are a balm for the anxious, the stoned, the overworked, the curious.On its surface, Project.JDM's viral success might be said to have as much to do with platform savvy and pandemic-era digital funneling as oracular fascination and aural tricksiness.But beneath that surface, what's fueled the project's reach has been the seemingly unceasing force giving form to the machine: the perpetual motion of Jairo Mora's imagination.I spoke with Mora recently about the history and focus of his digital project.During our conversation, we touched on his surprise at achieving Gen Z digital stardom, on the challenges of notating musical ideas, on the difficulties of the platform economy, and on his hopes for the future of this kind of creative work.(Full disclosure: I've also known Mora for years; we met through the same percussion circles in the late 2010s.)At the heart of our conversation lived some implicit questions: how did complex, machinetechnical polyrhythms become a staple of pandemic-era popular culture?What accounts for this project's sticking power?Why? 1 1.For more on music and virality, particularly TikTok, see Jay Jolles, "'Caught a Vibe': TikTok and The Sonic Germ of Viral Success," Sounding Out! Blog, April 10, 2023.https://soundstudiesblog.com/2023/04/10/caught-a- vibe-tiktok-and-the-sonic-germ-of-viral-success/
Source: Journal of Popular Music Studies
Author: Jonathan Leal
Language: English
Topic: Art, Technology, and Culture
Subfield: Visual Arts and Performing Arts
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W4402569646