There is welcomed plasticity to the synthetic melody we open “Count on Me” with that I would normally detest in any setting outside of pure pop music, but for whatever reason, it precludes the stirring rhythm of Seth Jacobsen’s lyrics like nothing else could have in this, his debut song. Instrumentally, there’s not a lot of depth to the foundations of “Count on Me,” but if Jacobsen’s primary objective here was to show off his skills as a singer more than anything else, this is precisely the kind of setup he needed to get the point across to the audience.
Too often is it true that talented young pop singers will overdo an entirely presentable debut single just for the sake of sounding like the virtuoso they want to eventually grow to be, but that is not the case with this player; actually, it’s quite the contrary. I get the impression from this young man that he wants to start off slow and pick up momentum with the artistry that he’s cultivating for himself, and from where I am sitting at this moment in time, he’s proving to be quite adept right out of the gate.
One of the other troubling trends I’ve been hearing from rookies in the past couple of years is this abject frame of surrealism that seems to lean on the framework of emo songcraft and hip-hop duality at the same time, but this isn’t an influence over the way the lyrical narrative is formed in “Count on Me” at all. There’s inarguably the same degree of emotional investment you would find from a melodic trap/emo hybrid, but it’s being appropriated in a manner that brings to mind the slow jam ballads of The Backstreet Boys more than it does Rod Wave.
Count on Me
Listen to Count on Me on Spotify. Seth Jacobsen · Song · 2022.
The swagger that my man is sporting from beginning to end in this single is something worth writing home about, and it never comes to the point of sounding like arrogance simply watered-down for the sake of the FM dial. Jacobsen’s lead vocal earns him the right to behave any way he wants here, and it’s merely fortunate that he’s being as humble with both his statements and the harmonies surrounding them in this track.
A smashing debut that begs for us to listen on and see what his next couple of licks are going to sound like, “Count on Me” is a lit introduction to Seth Jacobsen that needs to be getting even more attention than it already is this February.
This is a player who has a heart-melting voice and a provocative concept of what a beat should convey to the listener inside of even the simplest of pop songs, and provided he stays away from the ego-centric notions that too many of his gifted contemporaries have been left intoxicated by – typically before their first mainstream hit – he’s going to keep ascending through the ranks in 2022. He’s not trying to emulate anyone but his vision of what this sound might create in the future, and for this, Seth Jacobsen is my kind of pop musician.
Clay Burton