“Waves of Blue” by Majid Jordan

The pop music industry is such that – perhaps for reasons us laymen will never know – songs with genuinely-deep premises are often put within a specific, romantic context. For instance according to Majid Jordan’s explanation of the tune at hand, it is actually based on “staring at the ocean” and feeling as if “you’re… getting carried away by its currents”, even though “you’re not in the water”. 

That’s some pretty deep stuff right there, considering that peering at the ocean does in fact have that kind of effect. And yes, they do go on to further elaborate that the lyrics are centered on a person’s quest “to love and be lost in that love”. 

And that does imply that we’re possibly dealing with romance, though such is not explicitly stated. Rather, all explanations considered, it reads more like an universal definition of love they are referring to. But by contrast, it is made evident pretty much from the very-first line that what we’re rather dealing with appears to be your run-of-the-mill love song from a lyrical perspective.

And that’s not meant to be a diss against Majid Jordan for getting our hopes up like that. For at the end of the day what we’re dealing with here, as to be expected from a love song by this pair, is in fact by and large some tender, sweet wording.

Lyrics

The afore-alluded to first verse commences with the vocalist stating his desire to be with his lover, the addressee, “night and day”. And the reason for such is that her presence gives him relief from some type of depression he is experiencing. 

In fact throughout he sort of compares being with her to enjoying the beauty of nature itself, i.e. “light”, “air” and the “tide in the sky”. And the latter is seemingly related to the titular “waves of blue”. 

So this song isn’t so much about admiring the ocean as it is likening the captivating waterbody to the singer’s feelings for his significant other.

Verily, on top of the lyrics primarily focusing on why and how much he loves her, in the chorus the singer also expresses his willingness to be with his sweetheart for life. 

However, he somewhat unorthodoxly puts the onus on her to make that decision. Also it should be noted that the bridge and outro features the vocalist asserting that the addressee is ‘not good for him’. This is a statement which is completely out of place given the rest of the song. 

Indeed on the selfsame line he also tells her that she ‘go what he needs’. So perhaps, in trying to make logical sense out of said assertion, what he is actually saying is something like maybe he feels he’s too much in love with her.

All in all

At the end of the day, “Waves of Blue” does sound funky, which was obviously the intended goal more so than imbuing it with breathtaking lyricism or a deep meaning. Lyrically it is your standard love song which relies on a metaphor – in this case the ocean, or something like that – to get its point across.

Who is Majid Jordan?

Despite the name of this act sounding like a solo act, Majid Jordan actually consists of two musicians, Majid Al Maskati and Jordan Ullman. The former is a singer and the latter a producer. 

Their big break came circa 2013 when a mixtape they EP they uploaded onto SoundCloud, “Afterhours”, caught the attention of Noah “40” Shebib. Some readers would recognize 40 as being Drake’s homey and one of the cofounders of the OVO Sound record label alongside Drizzy. 

So he proceeded to sign Majid Jordan, who are likewise from Canada, onto OVO Sound.  And “Waves of Blue” was in fact released by OVO, alongside the Warner Music Group, on 9 April 2021.

“Waves of Blue”

This is the lead single from Majid Jordan’s third-studio album, which at the time of the song’s release is still unnamed. 

“Waves of Blue” was written produced by Jordan Ullman and Koz,. And both are also given songwriting credited alongside Maskati and Ebenezer.

More about Majid Jordan

The pair’s first two full-lengths were 2016’s Majid Jordan and 2017’s The Space Between. The former performed better than later, appearing on the Billboard 200 and UK Albums Chart, in addition breaking the top 20 of the Canadian Albums Chart. 

And their most-successful single to date would be 2017’s “One I Want” which features PartyNextDoor, another Canadian vocalist and has been certified gold up north.

The last track Majid Jordan released prior to this one was “Superstar” back in October of 2019.  And in releasing Waves of Blue, they did acknowledge that “it’s been awhile” since they dropped a song and also that they “miss” their fans.

Majid Al Maskati is originally from the Middle Eastern country of Bahrain. And Jordan Ullman is listed as being a native of Toronto.