Inside The Credits 015: Jack Rochon
The Finesse of Jack Rochon Started Well Before Beyoncé
The Cowboy Carter credits have been quite illuminating. Beyoncé seems to have really puzzled collaborators together to complete the vision. There are many older voices like Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, and Linda Martel juxtaposed against songwriting from youthful savants like Leven Kali, Mamii, and Ryan Beatty (he made my favorite album last year, Calico). This further bleeds into the production, with old faithfuls like The Dream and Raphael Saadiq holding major roles next to younger producers crafting some of the album’s most essential moments.
The contemporary producer that jumped out at me from the credits immediately was Jack Rochon, and for a reason I thought was interesting. The first song I looked up where a Rochon credit appeared was for (now Grammy nominated songwriter) Nija Charles’ solo 2021 R&B Drill single “Ease My Mind (Come Over).” It was the first track I ever heard that was able to organically take the Chicago then London then Brooklyn bred genre and maneuver it into the R&B space. Rochon is the only producer credited on the track, which is a finessed masterclass in balancing the smooth with the pulsating.
2021 marked the transition out of street bred Brooklyn Drill into what we are now calling “Sexy Drill,” of which the main figureheads are artists like Ice Spice (with her producer Riot) and Cash Cobain. It emerged from The Bronx via sample based Drill that eventually expanded into a style we hear in 2024 based more around a glitzy sensual feeling rather than nostalgia. That sound has been much more resounding than the R&B Drill that started to come out around the same time, but the adjacent styles seem to be derived from the same impetus: making Drill sultry. The problem is that many R&B Drill tracks of that time just didn’t feel right. They dampened the sound rather than recentering the possibilities of its rhythmic elements. Rochon did the latter. “Ease My Mind (Come Over)” maintained the urgency inherent to the subgenre and centered Nija’s yearning. This allowed her melodies, and Rochon’s floating synthy atmosphere, to be the only additions to the slightly more open version of the UK Drill cadence via the song’s drums.
This deft simplicity is something I hear vividly within Rochon’s three credited songs on Cowboy Carter (“PROTECTOR,” “JOLENE,” and “II HANDS II HEAVEN”). A completely different genre proficiency seems directly linked to his ability to let the vocalist breathe and maneuver. Restraint is an often less valorized quality for producers, so I dove into the credits to be able to highlight how Rochon developed this essential skill.
Rochon is from Canada and his first set of credits are for Toronto Rapper and sometimes Alt R&B crooner Sean Leon. A barrage of them come on his 2017 album I Think You’ve Gone Mad (Or The Sins of the Father). The standout from this set of 10 tracks is Rochon’s co-production on Leon’s collaboration with Daniel Caesar “Matthew In The Middle.” The song itself is more of a rumination than a single and is almost six minutes long. The orchestration stays as simple as it can until the song naturally becomes more extravagant. For the first minute or so, the only sounds besides the layering of Leon’s voice are subtle repeated guitar plucks, sparse slightly sharp background ascending guitar strums, and a few minute bass flourishes. All these sounds solely support Leon’s vocal bursts and never compete with them. This is the most popular song on the album, not just due to the Caesar feature, but the epicness of its build that is riddled in what would become a signature Rochon exercise in restraint.
Funny enough, Rochon’s first significant shift away from Leon would come in the form of a distinct Electric Guitar credit for songstress H.E.R on her over seven minute track “Good To Me” from her 2018 Alternative album I Used To Know Her. This may still be my favorite body of work by H.E.R to this day. Rochon is a multifaceted producer, but it’s clear from the songs in his catalog that he centers most of his production on his guitar proficiency. For around the first four minutes of “Good To Me,” the only instrumental elements are mellow drums, acoustic guitar, and a distant church organ. Then, as this first section fades out and we hear a transition happen into what is a sort of “freestyle spoken section,” Rochon’s controlled electric guitar twang helps with the shift. His held string plucks feel like they represent the movement into H.E.R’s more raw expression. Again, Rochon acts in assistance rather than assertion.
The guitar comes back with restrained force on Rochon’s next significant single he made with 6lack. The best song from the Atlanta singer’s 2020 6 Piece Hot Ep is the Rochon co-produced and composed “Float.” Those same guitar twangs he found with H.E.R. seem to naturally carry over here to form a more full composition. The reverberated electric guitar creeps into the initial soundscape like a tinted windowed lowrider down a street in East Atlanta. Then 6lack emerges amongst some added crafty Trap R&B percussion. These elements, plus some skillfully placed 808s, make up the entirety of the song on which Rochon is one of four producers. He must be responsible for the guitar weaving. This impeccably repeatable track feels like it distinctly begins momentum towards “Ease My Mind (Come Over).” Its visceral yet contained arrangement seems to mark a moment of Rochon’s cognizance of his most useful lane.
The first song Rochon produced for Toronto singer Charlotte Day Wilson, “Take Care of You” feat. Syd, marks the beginning of more than fruitful rapport (the duo have ten songs together at this point). It is also the first significant song in Rochon’s catalog where he is the main producer on the track. Of course, the only sounds at the beginning of the track are Wilson’s pitched down vocal melodies and Rochon’s guitar licks. This is also where the yearning element of Nija’s eventual smash single first appears. “Take Care of You” is such a stank face inducing R&B song that, for the first time, also solidifies how much Rochon has the ability to arrange something grabbing on his own.
All Rochon would need to add to his arsenal, before the Nija R&Drill track that would completely floor me, was an element of sheer fun. Shelley fka DRAM’s 2021 Funk/Soul single “Cooking With Grease” was produced entirely by Rochon. What else accompanies DRAM’s first croons, but a guitar and pulsing bass drum. The production is deceptively simple for a song that contains so much joyful and passionate energy. There is a pivotal glide to the feeling here that fully launches Rochon into his Drill palette.
Next came Nija, and not just “Ease My Mind (Come Over),” but an entire body of work. The singer’s debut album Don’t Say I Didn’t Warn You has Jack Rochon production on eight of its ten songs. The most compelling of the other tracks is “Finesse,” which not only is co-produced by Bregma and Rochon, but has a title that represents Rochon’s superpower at its core. He only finesses production, never forces it. Thus, when Rochon maneuvers from style to style, he’s adept at picking his pockets and fitting succinctly into the sonic equation. The song “Finesse” starts with distinctly similar guitar trills to “Float,” and that signature Rochon embellishment lifts Nija’s contemplation on deception to a level of veritable musical satisfaction.
There is then a must mention three-song build up to Beyoncé, and each of the next three Rochon produced tracks features at least one Toronto adjacent vocalist. The first, “Caution” by Savannah Ré, is the best of the two he has produced for the Canadian R&B upstart. The song has an intoxicating rolling guitar, but also really leans into pure R&B the most significantly thus far for Rochon. He needed a proving ground, working with a deeply gifted Soulful voice. Next came “Regardless” for Naomi Sharon, which furthered this trajectory. The Dutch singer is signed to Toronto superstar Drake’s OVO label and this 2023 single is my favorite from her debut album. Its guitar reminds me of my favorite Sade song “Like A Tattoo,” which is about the highest compliment I could give. Lastly, Rochon produced a heater for his original collaborator Sean Leon and Toronto power vocalist Jessie Reyez in “DISHONORED.” This song feels full circle as Rochon proved his essential restraint on a two minute condensed track, that he now has mastered, versus an over five minute free flow. He holds both singers in the palm of his guitar centered instrumentation like precious stones.
All of the Beyoncé songs Rochon produced would be nothing without the guitar-laden orchestration that holds them together. Each song masterfully balances Country and Alt R&B textures presenting the greatest Pop star post Michael Jackson at her most bare. The reason Beyoncé has so much sonic triumph in this new space from “Daddy Lessons” to now Cowboy Carter is how she finesses pulling the genre into her orbit. Jack Rochon is one of her essential vessels to help her do just that.
Inside The Credits 015: Jack Rochon- The Playlists