Jean-Luc: The ‘NYC Clout Guy’ Adds ‘Musician’ to his Resumé
His newest single, “Make U Mad,” is out now.
Photography by Diego Urbinav
Jean-Luc has made a name for himself as the TikTok “NYC Clout Guy,” a character who terrorizes his friends, love interests, and the Lower East Side in pursuit of social influence and fame. The Clout Guy is overly concerned about his next Instagram post and can’t wait to tell you about his last trip to Ibiza or Mykonos, which no one really knows how he afforded. The Clout Guy is exhausting to be around, and though Jean-Luc is playing a character, I’ve found that in the New York media industry, the character is very real.
Having met many a clout-chaser as an entertainment journalist in New York, I am familiar with the average Clout Guy and was relieved to learn that Jean-Luc is “not like the others.” While he does maintain the charming, curious, and extroverted traits of his TikTok persona, the honest Jean-Luc is also perceptive and curious, traits that are more apparent in his music.
Photography by Diego Urbinav
In his latest single, “Make U Mad,” Jean-Luc addresses old friends, haters, and a version of himself plagued by self-doubt.
“Content and the algorithm that comes in waves,” Jean-Luc explains. “There are moments when you're doing really well and everybody's watching your videos, and there are moments when your videos are not doing well…and you just feel completely terrible about yourself. I think the day I was in the studio, I had just recorded a really good video, and I was writing about making a version of myself mad. Maybe the version of myself that has self-doubt, or thinks that I won't amount to something.”
Jean-Luc first began releasing music in 2018, exploring different genres of hip-hop, indie pop, electronic pop, and beyond. With plans to release his second EP, “Make U Mad” offers insight into the artist’s evolved sound, which is heavily influenced by 90’s house music and draws inspiration from distinctive hip-hop artists like Cardi B and Travis Scott.
Photography by Diego Urbinav
“With this EP, I really did want to make music kind of while trying to come at the writing from more of a hip-hop perspective,” Jean-Luc says of his upcoming EP, which is yet to be titled. “Rather than going about some of these melodies in a classic '90s-House way,’ I wanted to have more rap cadences. For me, it was trying to combine these two worlds and give a fresh outlook.”
Over the last few years, the TikTok-to-musical artist pipeline has proven successful for creators with large audiences who have ultimately shifted their content to better promote their musical aspirations. Surprisingly, Jean-Luc does not plan to leverage his internet “clout” to convert his viewers into listeners. He values versatility and says he hopes to appeal to different audiences in different ways.
Photography by Diego Urbinav
“There’s a decent distance between who I actually am and the character that I portray online,” he says. “I do like that space that exists between [my videos and my music]. For better or for worse, I kind of like being this character that's kind of me, but it's not really me that lives online. I think I just want people to really start listening to my music. There may be people who really listen to my music all the time and don't really fuck with my content, or there may be people who really like the skits, but don't necessarily listen to the music as much. And I think I'm kind of down for either.”
