BOOTS

Boots is the working name of Florida-born singer, songwriter, rapper, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Jordan "Jordy" Asher. Known for his cross-genre approach at making sonically heavy, forward-thinking R&B, hip-hop, and rock, Boots first came to prominence after working on Beyoncé's acclaimed 2013 self-titled album. Hailing from the Miami area, Asher dropped out of high school and eventually gained prominence performing with a handful of South Florida bands including Stonefox, Blond Fuzz, and Young Circles. It was purportedly during this period that a bandmate nicknamed him Boots after his usual choice of footwear. In 2011, Boots formed the short-lived indie outfit Blonds, whose sole studio album, 2012's The Bad Ones, drew favorable attention online. However, by the time the group disbanded in 2013, Boots was homeless and living out of his car. Around this time, a demo of his song "Onto You" caught the ear of Beyoncé, who made inquiries about the artist collaborating with her on new material. Boots eventually signed a publishing deal with Jay-Z's Roc Nation and began working with Beyoncé. "Onto You" was reworked into Beyoncé's "Haunted," and several more of Boots' co-productions made it onto the album. In the end, he is credited on over half of the tracks on Beyoncé. After the release of Beyoncé's album, Boots began releasing his own solo tracks online, including "Dust," "Howl," and "Autumn (Lude I)," featuring vocals by Kelela. All of these tracks, as well as cuts rumored to feature Sia Furler, Beyoncé, and others, were eventually included on his 2014 mixtape Winter Spring Summer Fall. His connection with Beyoncé also spilled over into a reworked version of "Crazy in Love," which was included on the Fifty Shades of Grey soundtrack in 2015. That same year, Boots released his first official EP, the five-song Motorcycle Jesus, which included the moody, bass-heavy single "I Run Roulette." He went on to produce for Run the Jewels (RTJ2, Meow the Jewels, and RTJ3) as well as FKA twigs' third EP, M3LL155X. In late 2015 he released his solo debut full-length, AQUARIA. ~ Matt Collar