Jordyn Woods independently released her debut single “Be With You” on all digital streaming platforms Thursday (Oct. 31).
She first teased the R&B love song in May when she used it to soundtrack her heartwarming Instagram Reel for her boyfriend and New York Knicks player Karl-Anthony Towns to commemorate their four-year anniversary. “I’ll be everything you need/ You know that I’m on your team/ Glad heaven sent you to me/ ‘Cause all I wanna do is/ Be with you/ Be with you/ Be with you/ ‘Cause all I wanna do is/ Be with you/ Be with you/ Be with you, baby,” she sings in the chorus.
Vince Staples commented “Drop the album” under the video, which has currently amassed nearly four million views on Instagram – and Woods exclusively tells Billboard that’s the ultimate “goal. Maybe an EP, an album, who knows? The possibilities are endless, and I think with the positive response, why not keep putting out music? I already have a bunch of songs recorded.”
There’s a bunch of rap songs that reference Woods, from Rick Ross’ “NumbNumb Juice (Freestyle)” (“Got the shooters with me when I be in foreign hoods/ Got a new two seater just for Jordyn Woods”) to Buddy’s “Shameless” (“Jon & Vinny’s on a lunch date/ I need Jordyn Woods on my dinner plate”). But she revealed her singing voice for the first time when she competed on season three of Fox’sThe Masked Singer in 2020. “Someone I knew worked at The Masked Singer. And he’s like, ‘You need to be on the show. They need to hear your voice.’ And I’m like, ‘No, I’ll never do it,’” she recalls. “One day, they reached out. And I was just like, ‘You know what, should I just take this chance?’ This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance, let me just take it and try it.’”
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During her 11-week tenure on the singing competition series, Woods performed “No Air” by Jordin Sparks after the judges previously guessed she was actually that Jordin and delivered stirring performances of Robyn’s “Dancing On My Own” and Rihanna’s “Diamonds” – all while under disguised as “Kangaroo.” She previously told Billboard following her elimination that Robin Thicke even compared her to India.Arie, whom she grew up listening to along with Sade, Luther Vandross and Anita Baker.
“I really broke out of my shell when I did The Masked Singer. You’re really performing, and not only that, you’re wearing a huge, heavy, hot costume!” she reflects. “In a way, it made it easier that it wasn’t me center stage, but then it also showed me that if I can do this in this huge costume, I can do this without the costume. It definitely helped boost my confidence, but it still took years for me to even put anything out.”
Four years later, she’s mustered up the courage to put out her first official single, and it’s not surprising that her boyfriend Towns was the inspiration behind it. “He’s one of the biggest people to motivate me to get in the studio to make music because he knows that I can and that I’m just scared. He himself has actually recorded some songs, too,” she adds. “The first song I actually recorded, we went to the studio together. And we’re both very competitive. I was getting really scared to get in the booth, and he was like, ‘Oh, well, I bet I can go in the other studio and record a song.’ And I’m like, ‘OK, bet! It’s a competition: Let’s see who finishes their song first.’ I ended up finishing my song and that was my motivation to just say ‘f—k it’ and get in the booth.”
Woods kept going back to the studio and recording more songs like “Be With You,” which was produced by Grammy-nominated producer MyGuyMars, who’s worked with Chris Brown, Nipsey Hussle, Kehlani, Mýa and more, and written by him and Woods. She says a mutual friend who knew she was interested in pursuing music connected the two, and they got to work at his recording studio in Van Nuys, California.
“I forced myself to put out ‘Be With You’ because if I didn’t, then it might just sit in the vault,” she explains, adding that her biggest priority was “finding what my sound is as an artist. What makes sense for me? Just being experimental, trying some pop, trying some R&B.”
One person commented underneath her Reel suggesting Ty Dolla $ign as a featured artist on “Be With You.” “Oh my gosh, I would love that! Ty Dolla $ign is amazing,” says Woods. “There’s so many times I’ve been in the studio with friends, I’m like a mini A&R. I have an ear for music and a way where I can hear so many different people on different songs. I guess we’ll have to wait and see.” Woods’ artist friends are equally supportive of her. “One of my biggest motivators is Jaden [Smith]. He’s like, ‘Jordyn, I don’t know what the hell you’re waiting for. I’ve been waiting for you to do this for years,’” she adds.
Even though she released “Be With You” six months after she first posted a snippet of the song on Instagram, Woods could be dropping more new music before 2024 is over. “You might get an album this year, or you might get five singles,” she teases. While she’s long considered music to be “therapy,” she realized things were getting serious when labels started reaching out following the “Be With You” teaser. “I’m friends with a lot of people at labels, so it feels pretty organic, it doesn’t feel forceful. But I’m definitely more of an independent artist type of person where I don’t want anyone to force me or ruin it for me. I want to have full leverage and creativity on exactly what I want to do,” she says. “As of right now, I’m just doing me.”
Watch the Roger McKenna-directed music video for “Be With You” below.