Jackson Watson “Feels Like Yesterday”

“Feels Like Yesterday” was written in May of 2021, just two days before the release of my debut album Kaleidoscope. A friend of mine, one of many years, had recently decided to take a step back from our relationship. It was such a confusing time for me and a moment in life where I began to question a lot about myself. This person and I had been close for years and had just reconnected in February of that year. Everything was going so well but something suddenly shifted. It took me by surprise and genuinely had me wondering what went wrong. I wrote “Feels Like Yesterday” as a letter to them and as a way to express how I was feeling. There’s a song that follows it on my new album Numb called “Running in the Dark” that serves as the other half of “Feels Like Yesterday.” It shows more of my agony and anger rather than my compassion and confusion on the entire situation.

When it came time to produce “Feels Like Yesterday,” I knew I wanted this campfire-y feel to it. I wanted the acoustic guitar to be the central instrument. This song was heavily inspired by Prince’s “Take Me With U” from his album Purple Rain. I had the idea of mixing this sound with something modern, like “She’s Gonna Leave You” by The Walters. Two other songs that played key roles in bringing “Feels Like Yesterday” to life were “Another Part of Me” by Michael Jackson and “Tomorrow’s Dust” by Tame Impala. I was keen on blending psychedelic soul with elements of funk. Ultimately, “Feels Like Yesterday” is about accepting the fact that you and someone else may not have a future together but the past will always be something to appreciate and remember. I say for anyone who has been through something similar, or if you are going through that now, that everything will be okay. It’ll take time but you have to remember that people can walk in and out of your life at any given moment. That’s something to keep in the back of your mind.

Jackson Watson is an indie pop artist who draws inspiration from nature and personal experience to write empirical themes directly from the heart. Heavily inspired by artists like Michael Jackson, Jackson fuses modern pop-style melodies with classic R&B and psych-rock tones, resulting in nostalgic hooks reminiscent of Tame Impala, Prince, and Queen. Born and raised in the historical city of Montgomery, Alabama — home of the legendary Jazz singer Nat King Cole — Jackson found a love for music at an early age. After the unfortunate death of Michael Jackson in 2009, Jackson began studying the works of the King of Pop. He practiced dancing like Michael in front of his home everyday for months
before being featured on the local news. In 2015, he’d go on to win an award for Best Video doing an impersonation of Michael Jackson.
In 2019, Jackson began producing his own music, including his debut single “Wolf” which was released in March 2020. After a conversation with his mother, Jackson realized that dark music, like “Wolf,” wasn’t what the world needed to hear at the time and he wrote “Summer Lover” as an attempt to write brighter music. “Summer Lover” was a successful change and served as the lead single from his debut EP “Heat” which
was released August 7, 2020. Not long after the release of the EP, Jackson began writing “Kaleidoscope,” his debut album. “Kaleidoscope” was released on his 18th birthday on May 14, 2021.

-Official bio