Jordan Coleman, son of New York City Mayor Eric Adams, returned to the city after competing in an overseas talent competition and released a new EP.
The 29-year-old, who performs as Jayoo, spoke to the New York Post following his return to the U.S. after participating in Kënga Magjike, an Albanian music competition akin to American Idol, in 2022 and releasing a five-track EP, Jet Lag Dreams, in April.
“I think that this right now is about to be the biggest chapter of my life, because I’m a young man and I have a lot of responsibilities, and I have something to say,” Coleman told the Post.
Coleman works as a substitute teacher and sports coach at Palisades Park High School in New Jersey by day. However, his time in Albania made him feel like “a different person.”
“I felt like who I really wanted to be, like that last portal step where you step into the big-boy career — and so I realized I need to make music that people could relate to when I’m out there,” he said.
He continued, “I have a purpose that keeps me up at night and wakes me up in the morning. I have to prove it to myself I’m not just crazy with my ideas, and I have to prove it to the world that I have something beneficial for them, too.”
Some of the new tracks from his EP, including “Girls in the City” and “Up 2 Sum” were debuted at a birthday party he hosted at Gracie Mansion last August.
He told the Post that several tracks from the EP were written at the mayoral residence but not recorded there.
One of those songs includes an unreleased track called “1212 in Gracie.”
“It’s one of those songs where I’m just like, ‘Dad, I’m recognizing who you are … and I appreciate you two for making me, and it’s just like, ‘Here we are in this Gracie Mansion just living our life,’” Coleman explained.
Although he admits that his father “enjoys” his music, Coleman says Mayor Adams is still at odds with the drill genre.
“I think my dad looked at it from the police approach and not from a human approach … I think the specific subgenre in which he didn’t like was the genre that was violent and a criminal act and then flaunting that on the song,” he said.
“With my dad being who he is … [and] giving me the foundation of what I have, it has come to the point in time where every time I step up, I need to present myself in a positive light,” Coleman said elsewhere in the interview. “When you’re the mayor of one of the biggest cities in the world, their son’s gonna face pressure. You take it as a balance and you stride with it.”
Coleman also says the father-and-son duo will crack the mic together for an upcoming podcast series, where the two will discuss personal conversations, including jokes about Adams’ “shorty” in Far Rockaway.
In the meantime, the artist sees 2025 as a turning point for himself and his father, who is up for re-election.
“I call it ‘portals,’ I was entering a new portal when my dad was getting into the office, and I feel like this [current] portal … is the end, when he was first coming to office,” he said “Now we’re going to have a new portal to step into with him going for his re-election.”
