By: Sam Gruetter
Opinion Editor
Jake Shane, a comedian and influencer recently released his debut album, Puss and Poems, a collection of short skits and songs featuring popular artists such as Tate McRae and Joe Jonas. The album is representative of Shane’s eclectic, light-hearted, and even chaotic personality.
Shane opens the album with a recording of a phone call with pop star McRae, in which he declares his desire for pop stardom. One key part of Shane’s comedic style is the seemingly serious tone with which he approaches satirical situations, and the introduction of this album is a key example of that. Shane follows with Sugarfish, an ode-style song dedicated to the popular sushi chain, Sugarfish. In typical LA elitist fashion, Shane complains about the restaurant’s menu organization and his love-hate relationship with their sushi with an undoubtedly humorous tone. Shane continues his tone of satire and pessimism with his next song, Things I Hate. Compared to the creative cacophony that is the rest of his album, this song seems unremarkable due to its similarity to precious tracks as it lists things Shane hates, as the title suggests.
The album then segways into its first skit, Denim on Denim, featuring singer Jack Harlow. The skit depicts a conversation between Shane and Harlow where Shane describes a disastrous date he had while wearing a fashionably daring denim on denim outfit. However, Shane shares how poorly the date went, saying he does not know how to cope with the trials and tribulations of the LA dating pool, leaving him feeling hopeless. In response, Harlow suggests that with his new pop career, Shane should write a song about his denim disaster date. Cue Denim on Denim, the song. The next two sets of songs and skits, Pharmacist and The Hangover Song, detail ailments in Shane’s life that he construes in a witty yet relatable way. His comedy is extremely relatable for his audience, a contributing factor to his recent rise to social media fame.
Concluding Puss and Poems, Shane includes a standalone melancholy song, Postmates. The song details Shane’s agony when his Postmates driver takes his food for themself, causing Shane to suffer from hunger. Despite the sardonic nature of the song, the bridge supersedes all of the expectations I had for this particular wounds. Shane follows Postmates with JetBlue and the Therapuss theme song.
In Puss and Poems, Shane shows that society does not have to take music so seriously and that artists can combine two popular entertainment fields, music and comedy. The unprecedented format of Shane’s album is a testament to his creativity as a comedian and his flourishing career as a pop star.