Jean Dawson

“I had this noble feat that I wanted to accomplish, I want to be the representation of Black kids that like The Smiths and also like Nirvana and like the Descendents and stuff like that. And it became my north star to do that,” singer-songwriter Jean Dawson tells Apple Music. Born in California and raised in Mexico—and traveling regularly between the two to attend school in the United States—Dawson finds inspiration from a wide variety of styles, from hip-hop to grunge, New Wave, and more. He recorded his debut album—2019’s Bad Sports—in his dorm room at California State University, Los Angeles, before leaving college in pursuit of his musical career. 2020’s Pixel Bath features a collaboration with A$AP Rocky, and Dawson also counts SZA, Earl Sweatshirt, Lil Yachty, and BONES among his many collaborators—the latter two on his 2024 full-length, the boundary-pushing Glimmer of God. Spreading his artistry further into country music, his arrangements for Beyonce’s COWBOY CARTER earned him his first Grammy in 2025. With a genre-defying reputation, Dawson embraces a musicality that refuses to be defined.