How ‘Leak 04–13 (Bait Ones)’ Accidentally Became One of The Best Albums of All Time
11th January 2010.
On this day, BTSTU (Demo) was uploaded to Soundcloud by a user simply named “jaipaul”. With a compressed cover of a spaceman staring upward, the music that lay within the three and a half minutes of the track opened with a gradually clearing harmony of layered falsetto vocals before Paul sang:
“Don’t fuck with me, don’t fuck with me.”
A mission statement from the get go, the song punches kicks and snares between growling synths and bass as he continues:
“I know I’ve been a long time but — I’m back and I want what is mine.”
The song builds with slick guitar licks, deafening claps, and concludes with a horn section that complimented Paul’s soulful, Prince-esque vocals. As the wonky bass returns, the track fades to nothingness.
There really was nothing quite like it. And the enigma surrounding the artist, 21-year-old Jai (pronounced Jay) Paul, led to widespread coverage across the indie music scene as the decade kicked off due to it’s masterclass hybrid of alternative R&B and indietronica. The only place Paul was active was Myspace, and (as recreated a decade later) he would release snippets and extracts from material he was working on, which similarly sounded intensely futuristic. Not to forget, by his own admission, this was all coming from one bedroom in Rayners Lane, London.
whats goin on my names jai im a artist/producer jst startin out in the game
let me kno if u feel it… thanks 2every1 whos been backin me i rly appreciate it
peace
jai
— Jai Paul’s Myspace bio
The song was recorded 3 years prior to it’s release on Soundcloud, with the acronym standing for “Back to Save the Universe”. It was sketched out in under an hour.
“It felt like the first time all my ideas had come together into something really concise so I was really proud of it — I didn’t think anyone would like it though. Music to me was just a hobby and, in a way, I didn’t care about showing it to anyone.” — Dazed, 2013
On the strength of this demo alone, the BBC nominated him for the Sound of 2011 prize, although he didn’t break the top five. Almost instantly, a bidding war commenced to sign him to a record label, Polydor and Warp taking immediate interest. By the end of the year, Paul had been signed to XL Recordings, making him, with only one song to his name, in the same leagues as Radiohead, Adele, The xx, and Tyler, the Creator. Rumours spread about the release of either an EP or record the next year. They were later amplified through a commercial release of the song entitled BTSTU (Edit), the song slightly cut, and importantly, mastered by his brother Anup Paul. On release, the song received the ‘Best New Music’ tag by Pitchfork, a significant achievement in the defining era of the website’s influence on the music industry. The opening moments of the track would later be sampled on Drake’s ‘Dreams Money Can Buy’, leading to more attention. Less impressively, rapper G-Eazy would use an almost identical sample for his song ‘Kings’.
30th March 2012.
A new track is uploaded onto Jai’s Soundcloud. From the moment you click play on Jasmine (Demo), a loud rumbling that pans between both channels transitions into pounding kicks and pulsing bass, before carefully played guitar tabs are played, which echo perfectly in the darker R&B world the track creates. Isolated for a single moment, Jai softly says:
Are you with me, Jasmine?
Can you let me in?
Would you knock me over — like a bottle of gin?
The song progresses smoothly and keeps a head-bopping pace, as more elements like claps are incorporated into the mix. As the song reaches it’s climax, synth pads rise up in volume, and Paul demonstrates his lyricism as he sings:
When you see me, Jasmine
I know what you think
You look down on me
Don’t you think I’m weak?
If critics didn’t know of Jai Paul before, they did now. Released with little to no public statements from Jai, he remained an elusive figure that only accelerated his media hype. ’Jasmine’ enjoyed critical acclaim across the board and put Paul at the top of many lists of artists to watch. He didn’t want to move too fast though, as shown by the gaps of time between songs, and it’s clear that despite the lack of any real mixing or mastering, care and precision was put into every moment of his evolving discography. It was only up from here.
“Surprise!”
— Imran Ahmed, head of A&R at XL Recordings
13th April 2013.
A Bandcamp page, under Jai’s name, had placed a self-titled album on sale for £7. Beside it, an album cover containing a messy collage of a deep space background, random Google images, and the artist himself.
…not to mention, 16 new tracks.
The press and the public couldn’t quite believe what they were seeing, but, to their credit, it’s sudden release and odd numbered track listing fit Jai’s mysterious image. However, the tags didn’t. “#ANON CD-R”? Unknowing to what was going on at the other end, fans immediately went to buy the album, and publications rushed to alert the general music community about it’s release. For what it seemed, the wait was officially over.
Jai Paul awoke disoriented in the early hours of the 13th to his phone ringing. His management instantly alerted him about his music being illegally uploaded online by an anonymous user. No-one viewed the oncoming situation as seriously as him, as he almost immediately contacted the City of London police. The problem was, what were they going to do about it? Having copied and backed up his files through burned CDs, it would have been impossible to track who had gotten their hands on it, and if there was a chain before and after. Email addresses were tracked and bank accounts were frozen. Two suspects were later released after being held in custody, and every user who bought the album was later refunded their £7. Jai kept quiet under his label’s advice.
Jai was devastated. He felt almost 6 years worth of work had the curtains drawn open prematurely. He felt embarrassed to have his work shown this way, and interpreted as a marketing stunt. He felt as if he was alone. Despite heaps of critical praise and placements on best-of lists as 2013 drew to a close, he developed significant trust issues and faced unintentional torment as almost anybody who he would talk to would ask about the leak. “What happened?” “Who did it?” “Are you going to finish it?” It didn’t matter anymore. His dreams of following his influences, like J Dilla, D’Angelo and Michael Jackson got ripped apart by someone he had never, and will never, meet. Everything he worked for felt like it was for nothing.
“To confirm: demos on bandcamp were not uploaded by me, this is not my debut album. Please don’t buy. Statement to follow later. Thanks, Jai”
— Statement from Jai on Twitter, 15th April
What followed was a six year silence.
Occasionally, Jai was spotted out and about, most often than not alongside his brother Anup (now under the name A.K. Paul) managing a sub-label of XL, the Paul Institute.
But on the demos, and the most destined career of 2010s electronica? Nothing.
He faded away into obscurity over time, his Wikipedia page gathering dust, and YouTube rips of his work gaining small amounts of views as time passed.
But then, unexpectedly -
A fairly anti-climatic statement to kick things off, 2019 marked the beginning of a new chapter for Jai’s career. He released two new (and actually finished, not demo) songs, launched a merchandise store for the first time, and, after receiving various sorts of therapies, decided to reissue his leaked album.
Instead of mending what was broken, and possibly causing more pain in the process, Jai decided, simply, to let his old material go. The next day of his tweet, ‘Leak 04–13 (Bait Ones)’ was distributed to streaming services — revealing, for the first time, the project’s true name. A distinct theme of Jai’s early releases on Myspace were samples from pop culture, most notably the Harry Potter film franchise, a clip being a formative part of ‘rons beat’. This, alongside samples from Cat Stevens, Gossip Girl and Tomb Raider were unable to be cleared for the final release. Essentially, this means the songs, in their current state, are even more unfinished than they were in 2013.
The rest of the album lay untouched, however, mixed and mastered with the original mp3 files. Almost every track is marked with a “- Demo” or “- Unfinished” tag beside it, and the track listing is unaltered from the original Bandcamp leak.
So, what actually is the content of Bait Ones?
Some of the best indietronica you’ll ever hear.
P.S. – I personally advise to listen to the album on whatever streaming service you have whilst reading. My descriptions don’t do the sounds justice. Forgive any incorrect music terms. I don’t know theory. I’m not an expert. I just like it!
1: one of the bredrins
This tune, magic
Paul — John Paul? What’s the name?
[indistinct] Jai Paul!
Jai Paul! One of the bredrins!
Big in the game, big in the game, one of the bredrins…
2: Str8 Outta Mumbai
The album snaps into a roll of tribal drums, a sample from the soundtrack of a 1979 Hindi movie, before guitar licks can be heard predominantly through the mix. After a brief cut-out (these will happen every so often throughout this LP), pounding 808s and Paul’s harmonisation opens the track properly. More samples messily break up the track, uttering the words “very” and “special”.
This song is extremely important to the album, as it is the only track unmarked with a “- Unfinished” or “- Demo” tag, implying that this track specifically was a completed product. However, the vocals still sound like scratch vocals, with borderline nonsensical lyrics.
It’s on again
To the radio, I’ve seen you
So, let me try it now
I wanna help you, I know I can
The track moves fast, pushes forward, and brightly introduces us to Jai’s new world. Despite the track being mastered from a low quality compressed mp3 file, every detail can be heard, including the brief inclusion of a saxophone following the melody. As the track minimises to just electronic pulses of noise, Jai sings:
It seems something’s happening here [?], woah
But you know I’ll do anything for you
A female singing voice (in Hindi), as part of the original sample, enters us into the climax of the track, transforming the song into a party banger. If released, and fully mixed/mastered, this would have transformed dance floors. The track abruptly ends with a high-octave click.
3: Zion Wolf Theme
Pulses of a classic Jai Paul-sounding synth slowly rise in volume. This, along with more booming 808s, a wolf howling sound, and rhythmic claps, form the basis of ‘Zion Wolf Theme’. The song, lyrically, is a mixture of romance and fantasy, taking the perspective of some type of Teen Wolf protagonist. Judging by the original samples on his Myspace, he was probably a fan.
In the company of wolves
Will I make it through the night?
…
‘Cause when the land becomes the sea
That’s where I’ll be
Can I make you fall in love
With me
The song slowly progresses, dropping and improving certain features as the track goes on. At one point, the sounds of horns can be faintly heard in the background, virtually identical to sounds heard in contemporary over-blown pop song production of the era. Here, they only make the track that much more atmospheric.
It’s a perfect deep-cut song. Just reaching the three-minute mark, the track fades out.
4: garden of paradise – Instrumental
Originally based around a vocal sample of Cat Stevens’ ‘A is for Allah’ which was later removed for this rerelease, this track is a brief interlude where the same 808 kicks sidechain a rapidly ascending and descending chain of notes. It fades out after about a minute.
5: Genevieve
Opening with hard hitting bass and clapping percussion, ‘Genevieve’, lyrically, follows Jai pleading for a fictional girl to return back to him, after becoming estranged and/or broken up. His vocals on this version of the track feel slightly off on this song only, displaying a sort of lack a sort of confidence compared to the high notes he was pulling off only three tracks earlier on ‘Str8 Outta Mumbai’. Whether this was recorded relatively early in his production is unknown, but they sound much more youthful and higher pitched.
That fucking number cruncher
Stole my thunder again
They say I ain’t half a man
I like I am, but they’re wrong
The word ‘fucking’ is lightly censored in the final streaming release of the song. As the drums become louder, a dramatic synth bass (and cowbells!) complete the first verse, the same kick pattern repeats despite the various synths dropping in and out, some higher octave, some lower. Over time Jai’s voice becomes way more prominent and equalized to sound like it was recorded in an open bedroom. This might have been the case, considering every track Jai produced was in his home studio where he grew up, Rayners Lane. During the bridge, Jai sings:
Why don’t you give me a chance?
You never know, it might last if you do
You can’t just play on my mind
For all of this time, that ain’t right
You know your love-related lyrics are generic when even I have felt them.
When the track fades out, the song bursts back into a reprise that prioritises melody over rhythm, a sound effect of female breath lightly being heard in the background. This was not present in the original leak, yet it fits in cosily among the rest of the almost four minute song.
An alternate fan-made mix, published in the years between the leak and the official release combine a teaser Myspace clip and the leak’s ‘Track 5’. Take a listen here, the beats at 0:40 are unlike anything you’ve heard before in indietronica.
6: raw beat
The skin was always my favourite part, anyway
Quite chewy, but very tearable
Could almost melt in the mouth if cooked properly
But I like it raw
I don’t know.
7: Crush
What surprised most listeners of the leak on it’s initial launch on that fateful 2013 day was how track 7’s lyrics were not original. They were in fact a cover of the 2002 Jennifer Paige hit, ‘Crush’.
Jai’s version reinterprets the song as less of a teenage-girl-anthem and more of an alt-R&B splash of colour. It ties in to the second of two major unintentional themes of the album, the first being Jai’s South Asian heritage (as seen through the cover art and the sample/name of ‘Str8 Outta Mumbai’) and femininity (the many songs about love, and just this cover alone).
It’s just a little crush
Not like I faint every time we touch
8: good time
Another short interlude shorter than 30 seconds. Alongside Jai professing he’s having the name-sake good time, this snippet contains brief elements of disco.
9: Jasmine
I discussed ‘Jasmine’ earlier when analysing the early stages of Jai’s career, and the album version is identical to the earlier Soundcloud upload. Being placed slap bang at the centre-point of the album provides an almost killing sense of whiplash. Everything in this one track sounds so slick and effortless, like the product of someone a decade into the industry and music-making. It sounds like night, yet fits into the day. It’s texture and atmosphere, especially at it’s climax, is unlike any other alt-pop made then or since.
When I see you, Jasmine
What’s a boy to do?
Please come back to me and
Make my dream come true
10: 100,000
Oh!
A direct antithesis to the preceding track, ‘100,000' is a head-bop-worthy banger marked with loud and iconic Juno-60 notes and distinctive kicks and snares with tamborine-like hats. The song’s title originally eminated from Jai reaching over 100,000 views on his Myspace page, this song extending and developing the concept into a full song. Lyrically, the song almost plays a character, egotistically boasting his success, claiming to be a hundred thousand light years away from the opposition who refused to “come with [him]”.
Tell me where you got this from - Why?
Because it’s mine and my, I’ve missed it so long
Oh, I know you don’t really know what it is
I’ve spent a hundred thousand light years on this
Does he know? Years? Light years? Who cares, he knows what he’s doing.
When the song drops again to pure instrumental, a synthesised computer voice says “one hundred thousand”, just barely audible. Following another instance of the chorus, the ending of the song suddenly powers down to pure acapella, highlighting just how important Jai’s vocals are to the power these demos hold. The instrumentals are strong on their own, finished or not, but Jai’s voice puts the icing on the cake in terms of the direction the song takes and how it affects the audience. In this case, it’s the aggressive yet passionately sung hard-hitter of the track list.
From this point onward, bar the final track, the songs begin to evidently show their unfinished state.
11: Vibin’
Marked by two sets of guitar, one lead, one acting as a backing rhythm, Vibin’ is evidently not past the scratch vocal phase, the lyrics completely nonsensical and barely transcribeable.
Stop, only girl, wait
I can be there, oh, any day
Despite these very obvious flaws, the sound almost sounds ethereal because of it. Something reminiscent of early Grimes music, where not much bar the basic instrumental was able to be processed sober. In an imaginary finished state, I can imagine Vibin’ to be a low-key moment on the album, something for late-night playlists or a moment of introspection. Once again, this track is contrasted with the interlude following it.
12: baby beat
Imagine a “GTA V Funny Moments Let’s Play” intro sequence from around 2013 backing this interlude. Not such a far-fetched idea, right?
13: Desert River
Similarly to Vibin’, the track is evidently on it’s first draft, with it’s lead off beat and the bass (similar to Jasmine’s) overpowering the mix. The drums are repetitive and later include claps. In description, this may sound bad, but the “final” product genuinely sounds good with the right mindset. Jai’s vocals almost chant:
I am the eagle of things to come
I am the heart of the burning sun
At 1:09, the track suddenly stops to play this sound effect:
I can’t lie, it caught me off guard the first time I heard it and I burst out laughing.
Another break in the song is caused by a “shh” from Jai.
You wouldn’t expect this to be one of the heaviest hitters from the record, but here we are. Welcome to the future!
14: chix
Everything suddenly calms down as a sample from Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings rises. Being my favourite ever orchestral piece, Jai reinterprets it superbly, kicks cleanly sidechaining the backing audio, and he adds harmonising vocals that mix perfectly. Electronic sound effects appear sporadically and make the music sound almost alien. It’s criminal this interlude is under a minute, as when it begins to loop again, the track fades out again.
Another album I absolutely love that has relatively short interludes is SebastiAn’s Total, splitting up the track list every two or three tracks: here’s an example.
15: All Night
Jai very obviously wears his influences on his sleeve for the final original track on this album, replicating a classic slow jam, with a classic four-chord structure to back it up.
If it’s got to be one night
Then, girl, it’s got to be all night
Let’s meet up in the moonlight
’Cause, girl, it’s got to be all night
All night, baby, yeah
All night and day
All night
It’s cute.
It’s a cringey term, but the track really is heartfelt both vocally and musically. Jai’s processed guitar sounds beautiful and perfect for accompanying a midnight stroll with a (potential) partner.
The structure and composition of the song isn’t that technologically complex, and this kind of acts as the ‘Something About Us’ of Bait Ones. This is one of my most-streamed tracks from Jai just because it just never gets old on loop.
16: BTSTU
The original ‘Jai Paul’ leak album wasn’t organised track by track by Jai himself. The leakers never considered a concept or any sort of thematic element. They just uploaded whatever they could, applied a price tag, and moved on. It was just a mixture of Myspace previews, practice mp3s, and early versions of his label debut tracks smashed together to create… something. Despite this, it’s kind of poetic how the track that launched Jai into the music-blog-sphere closes this album, BTSTU. That isn’t even consider the lyrics, which now, post-his reactivity, hit harder.
He came back, he wanted what was his.
Despite the mental anguish caused through a few selfish individuals looking to make a quick buck, Jai eventually managed to overcome his creative roadblock and reclaim the material he was placing his heart into. It was his dream to make a record. Whether this was destined, a butterfly effect, is up to fate.
In 2023, four years following the re-release of Bait Ones, Jai performed his first ever live show at Coachella to critical and fan acclaim. This led to further shows across the world, and most recently at All Points East in summer 2024, where he previewed two unreleased new tracks to the audience. Only a few months prior, he executive-produced Fabiana Palladino’s self-titled debut album, which was a critical success. He even featured on a track!
Now only time will tell what Jai does now. Many contemporaries, Kenny Beats, Lorde, Donald Glover, Charli xcx, Caribou, among others have all equally proclaimed the effect Jai Paul’s music had on their output. Hell, even fucking Ed Sheeran liked it. Whether it was the revolutionary synths, compressed 808s or once-in-a-lifetime falsetto vocals, Jai was a vision for the future.
Now we’re in that future, is it time?
