The music industry is fast-paced, unpredictable, and extremely competitive. Musical tastes change, new technologies supersede the old, and songs grow stale, but Young Jonn knows how to make hit songs.
Some songs produced by the beat maker are Davido’s Biggest Backside, Olamide’s Story for the Gods, Kizz Daniels’ Mama, and Flavour’s Loose Guard. But according to him, there is no guaranteed algorithm for making a widely played song.
“There is no particular formula for making a hit song,” he said.
“One just has to let it flow. One should understand the working conditions suitable for one and let it flow. No pressure.”
Let it flow. Let it flow. But we can discern what Young Jonn is thinking beyond what he’s saying. We are no clairvoyants or mediums, so don’t rechristen us mind readers.
Before you approach Young Jonn, aim to write lyrics that touch people’s emotions. Lines that resonate with their hopes, dreams, and deepest feelings? And what is the most popular theme? No, it’s not election rigging. You guessed it – love!
You should try to create melodies with a hook, a catchy musical phrase that grabs the listener’s attention and lingers in the mind. We are sure you’re itching to bring in INEC. You can use it as a hook to your themed song on a personified love for Nigeria!
Then, make a demo of the song and approach Young Jonn.
If he approves the song and style, his job begins. He supervises the recording studio, music arrangers, copyists, you, your backup vocalists, recording engineers, and equipment needed to produce a professional and salable product.
Most recordings are assembled step-by-step, often beginning with drums, guitars, bass, and keyboard. Later, lead vocals, harmonies, instrumental solos, and any special sound effects are added and mixed to produce a master digital recording.
To promote your song, music videos are made to provide some of the excitement of a live show and give you media exposure.
But who determines if your song will be a hit? Ultimately, it’s the listener. But working with Young Jonn might be the first step!
We present Young Jonn’s biography.
Young Jonn’s Real name
Young Jonn’s real name is Udomboso John Saviours. He’s from Akwa Ibom State but was born in Ibadan, Oyo State, on February 16th, 1995. The second name of his stage name is spelt Jonn and not the conventional John, as it’s in his real name. If you don’t want to be entangled in John and Jonn’s web, you can call him The Wicked Producer.
“The name came from God because I never sat down to form the name or write it down. And that’s why I give all credit to the Almighty,” he said.
Wicked coming from God? He must have realized the absurdity and told another story behind the name.
“Shout-out to Esther, an old-time friend. She’s the one that voiced it. My friend had come up with the tag jokingly, and we just attempted to record it, and then it stuck.”
We better stick with Young Jonn despite MS Word wielding its big stick as a red line under Jonn.
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Young Jonn: Education
He attended Ideal Foundation Primary School, Ibadan, and GOF College, Osogbo, Osun State. While in secondary school, he started showing interest in sports, particularly basketball and football. But music relegated every other extracurricular activity to the backseat.
“I grew up in the church. My dad is a pastor. He had a church when I was young. I used to play the keyboard and the drums at a very tender age. I started playing the drums when I was about three or four years old and the keyboard.
“Even sometimes when there is no service, I just go to church to play instruments. My dad also bought a keyboard for me that had in my room. I had a drum set in my room too. Music was just all over me. My mum used to play the guitar, she played the keyboard, and she also played the violin. For me, it was just music everywhere,” he said.
“When I was eight, I knew no matter what I do in life. There would be an attachment to music in it. Although I didn’t know how it would happen, God knows how he plans his things. I just produced, and I am enjoying it.”
While still enjoying his chosen profession, he bagged a bachelor’s degree in communication and language arts at the University of Ibadan. He faced music professionally, with no further distractions. But we feel there must have been something gnawing on his mind.
Considering his church background, wouldn’t his parents see it as a 360-degree turnaround for producing secular music?
“I would like to say God gave me the most wonderful parents in the world,” he said.
“They are very understanding, supportive and loving because when I made my decision to go into music, that wasn’t in the line of what most people believe was wrong, per se. I remember some of my dad’s friends told him we used to see your son somewhere, and he just told them, ‘Look, just leave him’. He is so understanding.”
What an understanding old ‘John’!
Young Jonn’s Career
With a background in playing several instruments, he started a group called AVG along with his brothers. In 2012, he got snapped up by Hit Studio, a recording company in Ajao Estate, Lagos, as a producer. He was relatively unknown, as he was new to Lagos, the centre of entertainment in Nigeria.
“I grew up in a lot of places because my parents were missionaries, and they were all over the place. I got used to meeting new people, and the experience was wonderful. But I grew up in Ibadan and then Osogbo and back to Ibadan, and from there, I came to Lagos.”
He came to Lagos, and his career practically grew wings. He met Olamide while at the Hit Factory, and they forged a professional partnership.
“We kept linking up, and he calls me sometimes to come over. Let’s work,” he said.
“I had some works that couldn’t make it to the previous albums, so over time we kept working, then Story for the Gods came and did the magic.”
In 2014, Young Jonn had production credits for five songs of Olamide’s Street OT album. And from there, his career took an upward spiral. This collaboration saw him ranked in the top three of the NET’’ list of Nigeria’s Top 7 Biggest Music Producers.
And for his work on Bobo, a song by Olamide which rose to critical acclaim, he was nominated in the Producer of The Year categories at the 2015 Headies and the Nigeria Entertainment Awards.
Young Jonn has worked with musicians like Davido, Kizz Daniel, Wizkid, Lil Kesh, Flavour, Phyno, etc. But what has given him the inspiration to excel is not his love for learning from the industry bigwigs, his talent, or meeting with Olamide.
“The only thing I can say is God,” he said.
“Because I have been able to make different music in different circumstances, different situations and conditions, so I can’t point out something that serves as an inspiration other can God. I can’t say this is the mood I have to be in to create this kind of music, so it’s all God.”
So, it’s the God factor. What about being inspired by the most high?
“Well, I don’t believe you have to be under any influence before you can achieve a certain level of productivity,” he said.
“But some people believe in it. I’m not against anybody taking what they believe in. I think you should stick to whatever works for you. That is just my philosophy.”
Having a great philosophy is good, but it doesn’t prevent challenges from knocking at the door. But Young Jonn takes occupational hazards on the chin.
“Like my friend, Buckwyler will say: ‘for every next level there is a devil to level,” he said.
“Basically, for every stage in life, there have to be some circumstances and they are usually inevitable, and by the grace of God, I don cross one unto the next one. I can’t say for sure that these are the circumstances, but one way or the other, if you are aiming for something bigger, the challenges will also become bigger.”
On March 18th 2022, Young Jonn aimed for something bigger. He transitioned from a producer to a musician after signing a recording agreement with Nigeria’s foremost record label, Chocolate City. The event coincided with the release of Dada from his first extended play, Love Is Not Enough (Vol. 1), which was released on April 1st 2022.
“It felt good,” he said after the unveiling.
“Because I’ve been recording and making music for a while, and finally letting the cat out of the bag was a superb feeling, and the acceptance of the song made me realize I should probably have done this earlier cause it was pretty good.
“I got to where I felt like I needed to take my music more seriously and step it up a notch, and many people heard my music and were like ‘This is good stuff; you need to take it seriously and put it out.’ And one thing has led to another to bring us to this point.”
Producers hardly get recognition for their work like musicians. In football, they are called water carriers – players regarded as hardworking and competent but not star players. The urge to be a Zinedine Zidane and not a Didier Deschamps may have been the inspiration behind ‘wearing his music recording boots’.
“It’s very true. I feel like producers still don’t receive the recognition and credit they deserve, but that narrative has changed to an extent because I can see producers doing big things and putting out number one records,” he said.
“Back then, it was difficult for producers to make waves, but these days it’s easier for us to step up. And I always said to other producers that the revolution we want will not be handed to us.
“We need to step up ourselves, put out our own music, and run collaborations, and everything should correlate with the interest invested. We see all those artists are doing, selling out shows, so we all need to step up to the big picture. Once that happens, everyone will definitely follow suit.”
He did just that. On October 21st, 2022, a day after the second anniversary of the Lekki Shooting, Young Jonn released Love is Not Enough (Vol. 2). The album contained already-released Dada Remix, Normally, Next to You, Xtra Cool, Sokoto, and If You Leave.
Will he now leave music producing for good? Or be like Nigerian politicians who go to the Senate, and once they leave, they are still called senators till death do them part?
“Of course,” he said.
“I’m a music maker. I love to create things and make stuff out of nothing. It’s not just about music. Creating stuff is a core part of who I am, and I’m going to keep doing that.”
Young Jonn’s Song
As we said earlier, Young Jonn worked, as a producer, on Kizz Daniel’s Mama (2016), Olamide’s Story for The Gods (2014) and his albums Street OT (2014) and 2 Kings (2015), Biggest Backside by Davido, featuring B-Red on his album, The Baddest (2016), Loose Guard by Flavour featuring Phyno, and Rora by Lil Kesh.
As a musician, he has released:
EPs
Love Is Not Enough (Vol 1)
Love Is Not Enough (Vol 2)
Singles
Dada
Dada Remix feat Davido
Normally
Xtra Cool
Young Jonn’s Xtra Cool
In the less than three-minute video, Young Jonn spends quality time with his lover in a nice, serene environment. He’s serenading her with romantic words.
“Uloma, I dey on my ten toe. And I don beg you tire. Make we de like Xtra cool,” he sings in Pidgin.
“Oh, can we go back to the time? When this love e che che pere. You know I love you. But I’m always on the road. I don carry shoulder down, don’t keep me waiting. I have never seen a girl so fine like you, I must confess.”
You can sing along with the full Xtra Cool lyrics after its Mp3 download. But make sure the person is Xtra Cool!
Young Jonn’s Dada, Normally, and Love Is Not Enough
These three tracks seem to have something in common, Sad Love Song a euphemism for Served Breakfast. They say breakfast is the most important meal, but not so with being served breakfast.
“If you just chop breakfast, you’re definitely going to see it from that perspective,” he said about Love Is Not Enough.
“It could be a family dysfunction because there are other relationships in life that are important apart from romantic love. And love is supposed to be the answer to these problems, but in modern society, we see that love is not enough for any of these.”
Dada is a love story. And like Toni Braxton’s hit song, it’s a sad love story. The song is about two people who are in love yet are in denial.
“It’s also about two people who can’t really get what they want because they are far away lovers,” he said.
Interestingly, it’s the same story behind Normally.
“Yes, it’s the same story as Dada, but a sadder love story,” he said.
“It’s a love story where a guy is in love with a girl, but he is used to the pattern of people coming and going. This makes him not ready to commit to anything.”
Like one Young Jonn?
Young Jonn’s Awards and Recognition
He won the Headies (2016) in the Producer of the Year category and Sound City MVP awards festival (2017) in the variety of African Producer of the Year.
But he wasn’t there to pick up the awards.
“I never used to go out. I’m not really a social person,” he said.
“I won the African producer of the year; was never there. I won Headies producer of the year as well. Was never there either. Was not really a social person. Everyone that knew me would say I’m shy, but not that I was shy. I couldn’t just meet people. But right now, it’s getting better. So right now, I’m outside.”
He was still ‘inside’ when he got nominated as Producer of the Year at the 2015 Nigeria Entertainment Awards and The Headies. If he had won, he wouldn’t have been there!
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Young Jonn’s Net worth
His estimated net worth is $5 million. He earns money from record producing, singing, endorsements, and other unknown business interests.
Young Jonn’s Houses and Cars
It’s easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than to get information regarding Young Jonn’s cars and houses. Evidently, he’s into showbiz and not showoff business.
Well, maybe all that will change as he has crossed from working behind the scene as a producer to the razzmatazz of a recording musician.
Young Jonn’s Marital status
We reckon he’s single. But then, not much is known about his personal life or relationship, as he doesn’t share any of them with the public.
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Young Jonn’s Girlfriend
Since he’s single, then he must have a girlfriend. We are sorry to tell you we don’t know about that either. For someone in the limelight and of age, there’s a possibility he has someone Xtra Cool. Maybe someone he’s crushing on in the same industry?
“Niniola is hot,” he said.
“I like Niniola die and I love her music too. Like Seyi Shay, and Cynthia Morgan. I just like Niniola exceptionally but the crush part I don’t really know because even I don’t know my type yet but I love them and I hope they love me too.”
Young Jonn’s Social Media Handles
The producer-turned-musician is available on different social media platforms. His Instagram handle is @youngjonn, Twitter is @Young Jonn, and Facebook is @Youngjonn, the wicked producer.
Young Jonn’s Phone number
If you type the number 08168922387, True Caller will bring out the name Young John (Producer). If you dial the number, you might hear his voice!
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Conclusion
Besides knowing how to make hit songs, Young Jonn knows how to remain relevant in the industry.
“I believe what has kept me relevant is never being satisfied,” he said.
“I always want to do more. God has been good to me because it is not just one’s effort that counts. I feel blessed.”
We reckon there is more transitioning still on the card for Young Jonn. Though he might be old by then, Pastor Young Jonn sounds just right.
