Jack Kays

Jack Kays, born John Michael Kays on December 15, 1998, is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer from Cincinnati, Ohio. Raised in a musical family, he began writing and posting songs online in 2017 while attending culinary school, treating music as a second passion alongside cooking. His sound blends hip-hop, alternative rock, and folk-tinged acoustic textures, often built around raw, confessional lyrics.

Kays became widely known after «MORBID MIND», a fast, acoustic-guitar-driven track, went viral on TikTok and racked up millions of streams. Following that breakout, he removed most of his earlier catalog to focus on a more defined artistic identity. His subsequent releases, including «BOTTOM OF THE BOTTLE», «BARELY ALIVE», and «SLEEP WHEN I'M DEAD», continued to explore themes of mental health struggles, addiction, and recovery with unflinching honesty.

What sets Kays apart within the pop, rock, country and R&B-adjacent spaces he touches is his willingness to turn personal crisis into direct, unpolished storytelling rather than polished pop abstraction. Songs like «F*CKED UP» and «OUTRUN MYSELF» exemplify this approach, pairing stripped-down instrumentation with emotionally exposed songwriting that resonated strongly with a young, online audience discovering him through short-form video platforms.