The wonderful Ivohé granted as some insights about the origins and story of her latest feature on ‘Jugates‘. Video of the song and links below.
‘Jugastes’ is a child of the Internet. I have actually never met Jay (‘El Yeidi/iswearimtryingfam’) in person before that. We met each other through a spotify playlist that included both of our previous songs and then connected on Instagram. We both wanted to do more music with other Latinx people as a means of empowering each other. Jay is Colombian and I am Venezuelan so not only are our motherlands neighbouring countries but we share a very similar culture, which made the collaboration very special and dear to me.
I immediately caught onto the vibe when Jay sent over his part of the song. What I love about Reggaeton is that no matter the story you tell, whether it’s happy, angry, sad – it always motivates you to dance. It pushes your confidence. And I think that’s a very healthy form of music therapy.
The music video was shot in London this summer. It was important for us to incorporate a lot of colour, whether that was through our clothing or the locations we chose. The song translates to ‘You played with my heart’ – a story almost every individual can identify themselves with at some point in their lives whether they got played or they were the ones that played with someone else.
You can see that at some point I am wearing both Jay’s yellow and pink hoodie and vice versa. This was not planned. I actually had several outfits with me but when I saw his yellow hoodie I was mad jealous. I loved it. So I asked him if I could wear it and he was like yeah why not? Later when progressing to the Arcade scenes, which leans into the whole theme of playing with someone’s heart and translating that in a metaphorical way, it got a bit chilly so I wore the pink jumper – while he is wearing the yellow. I think it’s funny that because people who watched the video are noticing us sharing the hoodies throughout different moments.
Jay filmed some additional scenes in Geneva, Switzerland to visualise the storyline about him and a girl that’s fooled him – wearing the yellow hoodie. In the song I am taking the position of the girl who thinks she’s done nothing wrong, that both parties knew what they were doing up until the point both feel played though. That’s when I go into the chorus saying how ‘you played me as well!’
And all this leads back to the hoodies being exchanged. Though this wasn’t planned I think we can hop onto that nicely and say that maybe subconsciously it was intentional, a metaphor about how at some point in your life you’ll be in each others‘ shoes. You’ll be the one who got played, but you’ll also be the one who plays with someone else.