Just last month a very tall, shaggy young man named Tobias Jesso Jr. stepped onto the stage of “The Tonight Show” and ran through a show-stopping, Randy Newman-indebted piano ballad called “How Could You Babe,” with The Roots as his backing band. Who was this guy? At that point he’d only officially released four songs. Two of them were lo-fi demos he’d recorded himself and uploaded to YouTube, and two — including “How Could You Babe” — were singles off his then-unreleased debut album, Goon.
Since the two demos surfaced online in 2013 and 2014, respectively, the Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter has increasingly gained well-deserved hype. Those early recordings found their way to Chet “JR” White (Girls), who, after listening, became eager to work with Jesso as his producer. A full length album of straightforward songs about heartbreak was born through the collaboration, just out March 16th via True Panther Sounds.
Patrick Carney of The Black Keys, and Ariel Rechtshaid (Haim, Sky Ferreira) provide additional production.
Check out the official video for “How Could You Babe” below, directed by Grant Singer.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uu1Ko02P7vk&w=560&h=315]
Fun fact: Until March 5th, a link to the above video was the only thing Adele had tweeted in 2015!
