THE JUPITER CHRONICLE - May
The fruit is in the pudding.
EDITOR’S NOTE
Welcome back to the Jupiter Chronicle dear readers - after a flurry, a frenzy, a furious March and April, we come to the end of May with rather little new to say.
Being back on social media has taken a lot out of me, and there are times where I feel squeezed dry as a lemon. Despite how it may come across to strangers (and even some friends) who encounter me online, self-promotion is not something I find particularly comfortable, and promoting Mar-a-Lago has been no different. This roll-out has taken far more energy than writing, recording or performing the song ever did, and playing a game of tennis with algorithms is hardly how I’d like to have spent May. Thank goodness I was able to get away for a week, to be loved and sunkissed.
Still, it has all proven somewhat fruitful - numbers have ticked up (10k streams on Spotify, number of followers doubled on TikTok), and the feedback has been extremely positive toward both the song and the visuals. I can only thank you for all your support, and hope you will forgive an admittedly brief newspaper today. We’ll just run lots of advertisements to fill up the space.
NEWS
A short news bulletin this time around - indeed, I can sum up our activities with this neat haiku:
“We’ve mastered one song
Finishing another one
Starting an EP”
The next song we’re releasing this year, Apple Eye, is another stalwart of our live set - and we really felt we couldn’t write and release new music without it getting its moment in the sun. It’s a crowdpleaser, full of bounce and joy, and it’s almost ready. More details of the release will come at the end of June.
SPORT
There’s nothing quite like a sporting achievement to bring people out from their homes to celebrate. Arsenal have finally done it, and North London was painted red for the month of May. KJ are heavily populated with dedicated followers of the Gunners, and have therefore gone through the cycle of jaw-clenched nerves, followed by jubilant relief, then hope, heartbreak, and ultimately reflective pride.
There’s something to be said for leaving yourself something to aim for next time, something to achieve. I’ve done a lot of looking after young cats recently, and I’m sure they would have liked to eat their breakfast, lunch and dinner all at once, at breakneck speed. However, these kittens would have then likely felt a sense of emptiness in the middle of the afternoon (emotionally, not in terms of appetite), when they realised there was nothing left to eat. Arsenal have crowned a wonderful season with a trophy - the trophy. Had they won everything on offer this season, who’s to say whether the hunger would’ve lived on? As it is, Arteta’s men will return next season, knives sharpened, for dessert.
FRUIT AND LOVE
by Luke Deacon
There is no better time to eat fruits than the Summertime - a crisp slice of
watermelon, a bowl of plump cherries leisurely enjoyed, a bite into a deep red strawberry in the park. The abundance (with any luck) of sunshine at this time of year results in fruits that are riper, sweeter and juicier than at any other time in the world’s yearly turn. Usually colourful, seed-bearing and bright of flavour, fruits have naturally been ripe for symbolism across time and cultures.
“Everything somehow feels simple and true when I am biting into a fruit.”
From Adam and Eve’s forbidden fruit, to Persephone’s pomegranate, to the cheeky peach emoji of today - fruit is a gift that will no doubt continue to give. In a way that is its whole raison d’être. The fruit needs to be eaten and enjoyed in order for the plant to spread its seed. It is in its best interest for the fruit to be as tantalising and as tasty as possible, and we’re certainly not complaining - what an excellent, mutually beneficial deal that is for us animals.
In a troubled world fruit holds an innocence, a sense of purity and hope. Everything somehow feels simple and true when I am biting into a fruit. There is a connection with something both childlike and ancient happening there.
It’s fair to say that we here at Kid Jupiter are fans of the fruitier things in life. I asked the members of the band to name their favourite fruit as well as the fruit that they think they are. Here’s what they had to say:
Amelia Lawn
“My favourite fruit would have to be blueberry because she’s so versatile and I eat blueberries pretty much every day and also blueberry muffins are the most elite muffins with no other muffin following even close behind (but cherries are a close second to blueberries on fav fruit).”
“I believe in terms of looks and also spiritually I am a kiwi and I think this is self explanatory if you meet me.”
Laurence Morgan
“I love grapes, especially the explosion of biting into one. The feeling of a grape having a firm exterior, followed by the release of juice once you pierce its surface, is my favourite combination of flavour and texture in fruit.”
“I think I probably resonate most with being a raspberry. Hopefully sweet, hopefully sharp.”
Nick Upton
“I eat a metric tonne of satsumas a week. My old flatmate is a teacher and was collecting the nets for a school art project about ocean waste and several teachers at his school commented on why one year when I moved in he started bringing in like 4 or 5 a week.”
“Hhmm spiritually is tough. Maybe a nectarine, a bit sensitive and got to time it right but when you do they’re great.”
What a fruity bunch hey? What colourful descriptions. For me, I’d say my favourite fruit is the nectarine, specifically the white nectarine. Although not one of my most frequently eaten fruits, a good white nectarine sits somewhere perfectly between softness and firmness. They have an elegance to them, and I find the red to yellowish-white colour contrast very pleasing.
What am I? A banana.
It feels good to share fruits. Sometimes they are segmented, sometimes small and numerous, or otherwise easily sliceable.
Often when I was doing homework or studying my mum would bring me a plate of chopped up fruit. Apparently this is quite a widely recognised form of communicating care, an act of service for those of you hot on your love languages.
Last weekend I took a large watermelon to a recording session at my friend’s house on the hottest day of the year. It felt great to help sustain a group of friends and singers with its sweet bounty. The weekend before that my girlfriend’s not-very-demonstrative dad handed her two alphonso mangoes that he’d acquired from someone he called ‘the Mango king of Tooting’. Love moves in mysterious (and juicy) ways.
We’re looking forward to having a fruit of our labour to share with you very soon. For now here’s a bit of it chopped up for you. Hope you enjoy. x
FINAL WORD
It may feel like a month where less has happened (at least in Kid Jupiter land), but in reality our world has been ticking over quite nicely. I looked back through my photos from the past month and - among a lot of promotional material for Mar-a-Lago - I saw a lot of life, love and friendship. Normal service will resume next month - go and enjoy the rest of the sun.
KJ