Producer, vocalist and DJ Janette King is back with "Mars." This lusty pop-RnB track produced by Jonny Tobin marks the launch of the record label Hot Tramp.

Founder/owner of Hot Tramp Sarah Armiento has been managing Janette since she launched her company in 2019. "Janette King is one of the most talented, creative and positive people I've ever met who matches that with an equally impressive work ethic, ambition and entrepreneurial spirit". This track is a taste of Janette King's forthcoming debut LP to be put out by Hot Tramp in May 2021. 

Imagined through sex, longing, and lust, "Mars" is a song about overcoming your fears to explore a deeper connection with someone who seems to be from a different planet than your own. This dreamy soundscape with catchy melodies and powerful vocals will definitely take you around the galaxy. 

We caught up with Janette over the phone to talk about the out of this world track, Hot Tramp's launch as a label, and her thoughts on the contemporary creative process. 

Dan MacDiarmid for Also Cool: This will be the first single on Hot Tramp as a label. Hot Tramp started out just last year, but I quickly heard it come up as a big name for show management and promotion, and now it's becoming a label.

Janette King: Yeah! I think it is really cool about Hot Tramp because you don't see a lot of women-led anything in the music industry. Hot Tramp is entirely run by Sarah. She tries really hard to be intersectional, inclusive, and diverse in the work that she does. I think that it's demonstrated in the shows that she puts on and promotes, even within her artists.

Also Cool: Let's talk about the song itself. "Mars" is Hot Tramp's debut single, and it's a celebration of Black queer sexuality. What does the song mean for you? 

Janette King: I had an intimate experience where we played with the idea of being on a different planet. I thought it was really cool because,  sometimes, as a Black artist in general, you kind of just feel like you're from a different world. I don't know, I also just feel like Black artists... they're kind of hypersexualized in certain aspects. It's nice to say "fuck it" to all of that (laughs) and explore sexuality and sensuality regardless. 

AC: Yeah, in your own voice. 

Janette King: Exactly, and as an artist, I haven't really written a lot about my sexuality, so that was kind of a new avenue for me. Exploring it within my own art. It was kind of a challenge, I wanted to expand a bit in terms of what I write about.

AC: What do you usually write about?

Janette King: I would say that I usually write about love. People breaking up, getting together. 

AC: Can you tell me anything more about the upcoming album? What's the vibe going to be, and what's in store for you?

Janette King: I always write about love, and it's a compilation of love songs, to various degrees. But more so, I was focusing on loss in terms of relationships. It expands into loss of oneself and loss of life, and mental health. 

It's an album about love and loss, just like all my other ones (laughs), but it kind of dives more deeply into the loss aspect and different ways you can lose.

AC: Did you write the song this summer?

Janette King: My friend who is the producer of the song, Jonny Tobin, created the beat and the soundscape. I wrote the lyrics, the melodies and the harmonies, and then my friend Alex mixed the vocals together. We did it in our own respective bedrooms.

AC: It's really cool that with technology and different ways to connect, you can do all that stuff even if you can't get into a recording studio.

Janette King: In this day and age, with the pandemic, it has to happen that way.

AC: Well, that's getting to the obligatory question, "How are you doing in quarantine?" Has it had influence over this song and your upcoming debut full-length album? Do you have any thoughts about its impact on Hot Tramp and artists and the disadvantages and potential new avenues?

Janette King: Personally, I've been creating a lot more than I usually would. It's given me a lot of space and time to just be an artist. However, I would say on the business side, it was devastating. We had a whole East Coast tour lined up, and a bunch of shows we wanted to do in promotion of the album. We had meetings with various industry folks... there were a lot of things that fell through because of COVID, small heartbreaks.

AC: Summer is when all these independent festivals and shows happen. All of a sudden, artists can't tour, and DIY local venues are shuttered. It's a weird transition phase because everyone has time to make new work, but there are limitations on how they can share that with other people. 

Janette King: Totally. People who didn't think certain things were possible, like producing an album with somebody over the internet, are now realizing, hey things are actually easier than I thought that they'd be. You're going to see a lot more producers pop out of the woodwork, you're going to see a lot more video editors too. When people have a lot of creativity and have a lot of time, magic happens, you know?

You can listen to "Mars" on Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes, Tidal, Soundcloud and Youtube. Keep an eye out for the official music video to be released in September, highlighting Black queerness and celebrating Black people's sexual freedom and expression, and make sure to stay tuned for what's coming up in the future from Janette and Hot Tramp. 

Hot Tramp

Instagram / Facebook

For Inquiries: Sarah@hottrampmanagement.com

Janette King

Instagram / Website

Dan MacDiarmid is a 24 year old writer and reality television scholar originally from the suburbs of Southern Ontario, now living in Ottawa. You can follow their cat on Instagram at @archieisfromriverdale.

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