Image Credit: Paige Sara
In 1997, Jack White kickstarted his career when he joined his partner at the time, Meg White, and formed a duo garage rock band, The White Stripes. They had a handful of hit songs in the early 2000s but the band eventually started to lose popularity and relevance later in the decade. After The White Stripes officially ended in 2011, Jack White started producing his own music as a solo artist in 2012 and has continued producing his own music to this day.
The reason behind The White Stripes splitting up was simply because they felt their band had run its course and they wanted to ‘preserve what is beautiful and special about the band’. While it wasn’t because of differences in artistic vision, Jack White’s music since parting ways has been noticeably different. While his older music was inspired by rock and punk, his hit solo music has had more of a blues and country influence.
White has always been known as a musician who is experimental. He has constructed and used custom made instruments and equipment, including a fretless base. In the opening clip to the 2008 documentary, It Might Get Loud, where he builds a guitar out of wood, nails, a glass bottle, and a string. It displayed just how creative he is and how he likes to challenge himself in finding new ways to produce sounds.
Image Credit: Eleanor Jane
Critics have said that Jack White’s newest album is very weird, but many have appreciated the weirdness. While some feel that the experimentations in his new music missed the mark, others credited White for thinking outside the box and combining the past with the future and appreciated the uniqueness.
Jack White’s new music sounds a lot more electronic and more technologically advanced. He’s added effects to his sounds and has synthesized sounds in ways he’s never done before. He was able to combine different riffs, tempos, and even genres together.
In April 2022, White released an album that combined the sounds of old rock n roll with modern styles. This album was titled Fear of the Dawn. It is his fourth solo album that he produced. One of the songs on the album, “Taking Me Back”, was featured in the video game, Call of Duty: Vanguard.
In addition to Fear of the Dawn, Jack White has another album coming out in July 2022 called “Entering Heaven Alive”. He has already released a single track called “If I Die Tomorrow”.
In preparation for this new album, he went as far as going five days without eating.
“I wanted to see what I would write under those conditions, under that idea, of being alone and fasting, to see what my brain and my body would come up with. Would I get frustrated? Would I get angry? Would I get upset? Would I be depressed? What kind of lyrics would come out?" he said in an interview with Q on CBC (Ultimate Guitar, 2022).
Jack White constantly figures out new ways to produce new sounds, regardless of how extreme or weird his tactics seem. While it can be seen as a risk as sometimes his music isn’t received as well, he continues to produce music that he is proud of and what his fans have come to expect.
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