Artist Highlight: Jahson Paynter

Jahson Paynter is an artist who carries his story throughout his music, whether he’s trying to or not. Born in Scarborough but raised in Mississauga, the city he credits most with shaping him and his sound. It’s where he found his closest friends, the people he calls family, and the support system that’s helped him stay grounded. Growing up wasn’t the easiest ride, as there was a lot of moving around, ever-changing environments, but his mom worked hard to provide, nonetheless. That balance between chaos and stability boasts itself uniquely in his sound. His songs feel like lived experiences, not performances, and that’s what makes him stand out to us most.

Music has been stitched into Jahson’s life from the start. Both his mom and dad were into singing around the house and writing, so he grew up around studio sessions and notebooks full of lyrics. By the time he hit middle school, he was writing songs of his own. It wasn’t about chasing a career at that point, it was just about having somewhere to put the feelings he didn’t know how to say out loud. For Paynter, music became a way to unload his thoughts, to process emotions, and to turn something heavy into something beautiful. That instinct is still at the center of his work today.

His latest single, “Maple Brown,” shows just how far he’s come in experimenting with his sound. At the time he made it, Jahson was struggling with the idea of writing something more uptempo. Slow, emotional tracks came naturally to him, but upbeat songs always felt like they belonged to someone else. He even joked about ditching uptempo altogether and leaning fully into sad ballads until a jam session with his friends changed everything. What started as freestyling in the studio turned into “Maple Brown,” a song that carries his soulful roots but lifts them into something brighter and more energetic. It’s the sound of an artist pushing himself into new territory without losing what makes him unique.

Before that, Jahson gave listeners “403westbound,” a track that sits in a completely different emotional lane. That song is about the painful shift from being everything to someone to suddenly being nothing to them. It wasn’t a concept he sat down to plan, it came straight from a feeling he couldn’t ignore. The original version didn’t quite land, and his manager pushed him to rework the opening verse. It wasn’t until he returned home, crashing on his mom’s couch that inspiration hit him. Seeing an old picture of him and his ex on the wall sparked the lines “how you under my skin like you live there… you got a picture on the wall like you been here,” and from there the rest of the song fell into place. It’s a reminder of how personal and unfiltered his process can be; he doesn’t write the stories, he lives them.

Beyond the music itself, Jahson’s sound is tied deeply to visuals. Having once studied film and photography, he approaches songs like scenes from a movie. He writes descriptively so listeners can picture what he’s saying, and he uses that same imagery when creating covers and visuals to match his tracks. It’s not just about sound, it’s about building a world around each song. That creative lens, paired with his musical influences like Daniel Caesar, Coldplay, Bon Iver, and Frank Ocean, gives his work a blend of honesty and cinematic scope.

At the heart of it all, Jahson Paynter is still just an artist finding his lane but fully embracing the process. Whether he’s skating, cooking, or just sitting by the water at night, he’s constantly pulling from the little moments of life to fuel his sound. And if there’s one thing he’s learned along the way, it’s not to chase validation, and just to be himself while making the kind of music he believes in. With “Maple Brown” and “403westbound” showing two very different sides of his sound, it’s clear Jahson isn’t afraid to explore every part of himself through his music.