Inspired by the black velveteen voice of Marvin Gaye and the Motown sound of Stevie Wonder, and Michael Jackson, the young members of Ju-Taun, (Pronounced zha âtawn),which include a set of brothers Jake and James (J-Nyce) Evans, their friends Peter (NVS) Garcia and Samoeun Cheng, are bringing a new breeze of fresh air a la Ju-Taun style.
With their smooth vocals and ability to take things slow when needed, Ju-Taun will certainly bring you back to the heart of real music. Not afraid of being stereotyped in a particular genre of music, these four friends are embarking on a journey that will leave you breathless and wondering if the best is yet to come.
With a new album titled “Love Changes Things” released on June 30, composed with a fusion of vintage soul and rhythm and blues, Ju-Taun will demonstrate throughout their music an authentic style of sensuality that cannot be duplicated. As well as definitely put to rest any doubt that fans might have on the state of music.
With a repertoire that includes classic songs like “Let Me In,” “Beautiful,” (their remake of Enchantment’s “Sunshine” and “Go Slow”), Ju-Taun could be deemed R&B royalty.
Singersroom: What is the purpose of Ju-Taun in the music industry?
Jamie: I think that the purpose of Ju-Taun in this industry honestly, is to show people that it doesn’t have to be a certain way. You don’t have to fit into the box that they are trying to make you fit into in the industry. That’s one of the things that we see. Countless times when we meet with record executives and A&R; they want you to fit in a certain way; they want you to be a certain way; they want you to answer a certain way and we just wanna be us and do our thing. That’s one of the main reasons why we’ve be independent for so long.
Jake: If you really believe in something and hold on to it and work towards it and you see it happening [great] but it’s a fight. You know it’s a struggle but we don’t give up and that’s the main key. The album is about our struggle, it’s about our fight and it’s about showing people where we are right now.
Singersroom: Your new album “Love Changes Things,” came out on June 30, can you please tell us about the inspiration behind it?
Pete: The inspiration behind the album is really our life experiences; everything that we’ve been through. Everywhere that we’ve traveled whether on tour or selling our CD’s or promoting in malls or events. We found that if you treat the other people with respect and compassion and all together love, it changes a situation. Even if they were treating you the wrong way, [but] you treating them in that respect and choke the mat, they change the way they look at you and slowly but surely everyone knowsâ¦So that was the basis of what we’re writing now and hopefully everybody can hear [our] music and take that away from it.
Samoeun: ‘Love Changes Things’ actually took years and years of writing and producing. We never stop learning through our own journey, so it has been basically our life.
Singersroom: Do you think that there’s a difference between the sounds that exist today and Ju-Taun’s music?
Jake: We’re really about what we feel; it’s about showing people our experience. We’re trying to give people hope in their own lives. We’re regular people, you know. We work hard at this and it happened.
Jamie: Basically, it has never been about a competition, we don’t fell like we have to compete with this artist or that artist. We just do what we feel, the music that we feel; we just do it. We just write it and just put it out there for people that love it. We leave it up to the people to decide what they gonna listen to. 
Singersroom: Do you get your inspiration from different genres of music?
Jake: That’s kind of like the (whole) thing with our name. When you hear Ju-Taun; you don’t know what it is. It makes people wonder, ok what is that and that’s kind of what we want people to think about our music. We don’t want to put a label on it, we want people to wonder and we want people to just say ok, this is music. It’s not R&B, it’s not this, and it’s not that. It might have R&B in it but every song is different, every song has a different feel, has a different vibe.
Singersroom: Aren’t you afraid that some people might say that Ju-Taun is just like the other groups, lets see how long they stay together?
Pete: I think what sets us apart is the fact that for one, we’ve known each other for so long, we know each other longer than we’ve been in the group, in through our journey like we said before, ‘Love Changes Things’. Someone can tell me what’s wrong with me and I don’t get an attitude. I go back and I reflectâ¦these guys have love for me, it’s a genuine love and I know that what they are telling me is the truth. So when you’re in another group that maybe has not been together as long or just don’t have that brotherhood they might misinterpret those things, like “Ahh man this [is] not the place where I belong.” But when you’re in this group everyone here believes that this is where they belong.
Jamie: Yeah, I think that one of the main things about this group is that we wanted to be a group. There was no other agenda. Everything that we did was always about the group. We used to be five members for eight years and two years ago one of our members left the group because, you know, he became too much of a struggle. Being independent has not been an easy thing as we said earlier and you know sometimes the right situation can come up and he just decided that he needed to go, do other things, so we still keep in touch with him. The thing is, people would ask us are you gonna replace him? Are you gonna add another member? But it’s not even about that. Ju-Taun is what it is. It can never be replaced; it can never be switched around.
Singersroom: Last year, you finished second in MTV’s Pop Group, how was that experience?
Jamie: It was an experience. It was basically a challenge to actually put ourselves out there on live television and do things we never done before. We never worked with a choreographer, we never done a television show. People were actually voting, whether or not we should stay. The fact that we got voted in the top two was amazing. We [were] happy that we made the challenge. We took away a lot of good experiences from that show, we started incorporating a little more of choreography into our show because of that. When we were on that show we said that [if] we can conquer doing the choreography, [then] we know we can conquer anything because we have never been challenge that way. We actually surprised ourselves.
Singersroom: On the ultra-romantic and gentle “Go Slow,” you sing, “Can we go slow baby/Cause I love you so much/and I don’t want to rush⦠a good thing.” What is the meaning of that song?
Pete: The inspiration of that song and behind a lot of other songs is the way you approach a relationship with a girl. I know so many girls nowadays telling us how they have been hurt in relationships with boys [and] how it’s hard to find a good man. With “Go Slow,” you need to get to know that person to really find out [who they are] and base your relationship on a friendshipâ¦I think that’s really what the message of the song is.
Singersroom: How important is family support in your career?
Jamie: Having your family definitely helps you out. Me and Jake are brothers so our dad has been our vocal coach and musical mentor since we started as a group. So having that definitely was a huge plus for us. It gave us the discipline to rehearse the way [we do] now. It gave us a good foundationâ¦It really helps to have your family.
Singersroom: What’s next for Ju-Taun?
Pete: I really believe that ‘Love Changes Things’ is the beginning of us taping into who we really are and what we have to say and how we gonna be able to touch people in this world. So we’re looking forward to see the reaction that our fans give us cuz they always giving us love. We’re always in touch with them over the [inter]net so just for y’all know we keep in touch every day. There’s a lot to comeâ¦and you definitely have to see us live.
Samoeun: Buy the album [now]â¦anywhere on line. —— By: Interview By Valerie Varasse
Since 2005, Singersroom has been the voice of R&B around the world. Connect with us via social media below.
