This song has a fantastic chorus. Let me just say that first. We’ll get back to this.
“CUT ME OPEN” by Jane N’ The Jungle is a hard rock song, which – to be honest – I wasn’t thrilled about when I first hit play. Guitar-based rock is thoroughly played out at this point unless you’re doing interesting arrangement and songwriting stuff like, for example, Phoebe Bridgers/Boy Genius-type music.
That being said, Jane N’ The Jungle has shown that, with good songwriting and an even better performance, hard rock can still rock. It’s the writing that really sells this song – it’s catchy, and that’s important when you’re playing this style of music – but the performance, particularly vocalist Jordan White’s adept singing, isn’t lacking either. It’s all there in this song, and that’s great.
The band is from Phoenix, Arizona – can’t say I know much about what goes on there, but if this is what’s coming out of that city, it must be an interesting scene. They describe their influences as alternative rock, metal, and punk, and all of that is evident in “CUT ME OPEN.” I’m reminded particularly of Breaking Benjamin and Flyleaf in Jane N’ The Jungle’s sonic choices in this song. Heavy guitars, driving drums, well-executed song structure, and powerful vocals all make it a prime example of the genre.
Okay, now let me talk about the chorus. The center of the song is White singing “cut me open / feel brand new / I wanna be good/good for you / ‘cause I can be special in your eyes” which, both lyrically and melodically, is an excellent chorus for a song of this style. The second half of the section, “Say that I’m weird / something unique / feel like an angel / just like a freak” is just as strong on both points. I can’t really do it justice in writing – just go listen to the song already.
There are also some really great production choices on “CUT ME OPEN.” While the drums sound a little flat and maybe could have been mixed better, White’s vocal is front and center and sounds great. There are cool distortion and delay effects on her voice at well-placed moments throughout the song, and a half-acoustic bridge section adds a moment of additional interest to an already attention-grabbing song.
So, yeah. “CUT ME OPEN” is good. I hope I get to hear more from Jane N’ The Jungle in the future because they’re clearly a very talented band keeping a very stale genre alive.
Listen to "CUT ME OPEN" on Spotify here -
You can check out Jane N' And The Jungle’s website here:
A brilliant addition to the repertoire -