“Is this the line for Jungle?” I immediately hear someone ask as the crowds cross the gates of Mornington Crescent station on an early February evening. On the other side of the street, hundreds took over Koko Camden’s front patio with an excitement that felt winter-proof. And indeed, it was. That night, one of London’s most revered production duos of our generation took the stage for one of three live DJ sets to a packed house, with tickets selling out in mere minutes. For over three hours, the sticky, bustling dance floor of Camden’s iconic venue was transformed into a scene of summertime euphoria, as partygoers danced and jumped to Jungle’s Volcano hits that haven’t left our playlist since their release last August.

“I’m not leaving until they play ‘Back in 74’,” declares a booze-infused Australian accent to my left, as I inadvertently eavesdrop on a conversation between friends debating whether it’s time to call it a night as the clock strikes 3 am. The late hour doesn’t seem to faze any of the attendees; in fact, the gathering feels untouched at that stage, which leads me to believe that his sentiment is shared by many. Volcano marked Jungle’s fourth studio album, a ’70s-infused disco flair, warm, upbeat, and fore-fronted by an A-list of cult-crowd favourite collaborators. But, unsurprisingly, what the Shepherd’s Bush born-and-raised duo delivered resonates far beyond niche appeal.

One of 2023’s strongest releases, Volcano became a massive hit, propelling Jungle back to the top of the charts and drawing masses to festivals all around Europe and the UK. But 2024 doesn’t seem to be any less busy for them. They’re already confirmed as one of 2024 Coachella’s main attractions, and speaking with J Lloyd (one half of Jungle with childhood friend and co-producer T) feels like navigating through a conversation filled with blank spaces, hinting at unannounced — big — surprises. “I wish I were in New York, but I’m in LA,” he tells me as we connect over a Zoom call, his eyes shielded behind a pair of sunglasses that seem more like a personality matter than an attempt to reconcile his London roots with the sunny Californian coast.

Months before our chat, Lloyd had been working in exploring a new direction to Jungle’s so strong flair for collaborations. BRIT-Awards nominee “Back on 74” became a social media sensation in the last year, intoxicating listeners with its sharp beats and trance-inducing choreography. It serves as the background sound for one in every five Instagram reels, a guaranteed inclusion in every summer-y playlist—and now, it’s the soundtrack for GAP’s new campaign.

Starring South-African star Tyla, GAP’s new visuals were directed by J Lloyd and Charlie Di Placido, with original choreography by Shay Latukolan, inspired by the track’s official video which became a global phenomenon on TikTok and inspired a dance craze with over a billion views. “GAP have had sort of a long lineage of collaborations with iconic artists, and we are very excited and humbled to be asked to collaborate in that way, you know, like Missy Elliott and Daft Punk have, exploring this concept of fusing music and fashion,” he says.

The campaign pays homage to GAP’s iconic musical ads of the past, embracing the diverse voices and talents that are shaping today’s music scene. ​​”Working with talent who embody the spirit of originality is not just a choice, but a commitment to our brand’s heritage,” said Mark Breitbard, Gap’s Global President and CEO. “We continue to draw inspiration from artists who authentically express themselves, using our clothing to reflect their unique personalities. In doing so, we aim to break boundaries and redefine what it truly means to embody the essence of Gap.”

Keep scrolling to read our full interview with Jungle’s J Lloyd…

Tell me about the collaboration and how this idea came about.
GAP have had a long lineage of collaborations with iconic artists, and we are very excited and humbled to be asked to collaborate in that way, like Missy Elliott and Daft Punk have, exploring this concept of fusing music and fashion. I think GAP’s having an upturn at the moment, and we’d obviously put out “Back on 74”, and a whole record that came out last year in August, and as we do make all these one-shot videos, we’ve sort of tied together, and we’ve made one for the whole record of these characters who are basically performing on this TV show, but they’re not sure whether they’re on the TV show or not, and “Back on 74” came out of that, and a little moment of that went a little bit viral, it seems, which is always handy. And it kind of exploded a little bit on TikTok, which I think pushed it out into the wider world, and I think the creative director at GAP sort of jumped into our production company’s team, and was like, ‘oh, look, can we make this stuff? We’d love to do something’. So the ball got rolling on that side of things, and you know, it was exciting for us, because we were like, ‘okay, great, we get a chance to kind of do it all guns blazing’, and for us, when we’re doing it independently, and making a music video on a very tight budget, obviously having a huge collaborator such as GAP allows us to execute those wilder dreams and kind of make it more of a moment. And I suppose for Jungle, for us, it’s exposure again, it’s a way of putting it out to loads of people, and to be able to just do our vision on an advert, you know. The music industry’s full of moments where you put your music to adverts, but you don’t really control the creative, or get to direct the creative. So, you know, being asked to direct it, me and Charlie had done that, which we’d always sort of done, so for us, it was kind of a no-brainer, and yeah, an exciting collaboration.

How do you determine if a collaboration is a good fit, and what aspects of Jungle’s essence are most significant to you?
We get to work with incredible people, we’ve already sort of done a lot of the hard work ourselves, and finding, you know, an incredible choreographer, Shayla Tuchel, and incredible dancers that we’ve worked with over the years, so the essence was already always there. That’s been a big part of what we’ve done. And the collaboration aspect of it as well, understanding how can we make it work with their sort of vibe for their campaign. And the whole theme for them is linen mood, and bringing back that sort of spring feel. So, you know, it’s about kind of just changing up the set. Not too much, I think it kind of tied well into the original set, we always had a lot of, like, art and canvas in what we were doing. We had these huge backdrops in the original video, so I think it was just kind of creating a blank canvas for GAP to put their sort of vibe onto it and put their product into it, essentially.

You talked a bit about the song going viral and how you see the power of social media catapulting your last album into the public eye. Do you think in any way that would change the way you approach making music in the future?
Well, I feel like you can’t really predict these moments. That’s why we make every song and every video for every song, because we don’t know which moment on which part of which music is going to connect with people until after it’s been made, you know. So it’s kind of like, you make a visual for everything and it gives every single bit of music an opportunity to connect with the listener and they decide what is the most emotional, or what is the most catchy, I suppose. And I think with social media, everyone thinks you can create a viral moment. Like, there was no intention from us to create a viral moment. I think labels and the chief execs get involved and they try to put that pressure on, “let’s just make a viral moment”. Every time Jungle have had a viral moment, we were never trying to have a viral moment. It just happened because we made something that was good or interesting or engaging. And then the level of the work creates virality.

So I think that’s what happened with “Back On 74”. We haven’t seen anything like that sort of virality in Jungle since our first video, which was called “Platoon”, which had a breakdancing six-year-old girl called B-Girl Terra on. Back then, it was our first video and, you know, Justin Timberlake retweeted it back when Twitter was a thing and it had some shareability, especially [considering] that was our first video. It wrapped up 50 to 100 million plays across channels which was a great start, I suppose. But yeah, that’s my thoughts on social media.

Anyone that’s ever been to only one of your live performances will understand when I say that Jungle is an experience. How do you think partnering with a fashion brand adds to that sense?
I think, you know, Jungle is Jungle. And that just comes from us. And the experience thing, I understand that’s because we’ve never really championed individuals. It’s always been like multiple people, you know, like multiple dancers, multiple singers, you know, the logo and the way that we’ve branded the band has been very much, you know, akin to sort of Daft Punk but in a different way or Gorillaz in a different way. It becomes a sort of lifestyle brand more than it operates within music than, you know, Chic for example, Nile Rodgers, anything like that, Studio 54, where it’s like, it’s a moment, it’s a feeling rather than a sort of thrilling. It’s a feeling rather than you know, it’s not Bruno Mars, it’s not one singular artist, it’s multiple people combining under the umbrella of Jungle to create a feeling. Partnering with brands, I feel like the artist in me tends not to want to do that as much. But when the right brand comes along and the right story and the right, you know, creative control will come along, it makes sense. With GAP they gave us full creative control, they were saying, ‘we want you to do your thing’. Okay, cool, if you let us do our thing, then we can make you something really special and we can collaborate and make a really great video.

What are you most looking forward to in 2024 as Jungle?
We’ve got a busy year, now with the GAP campaign coming out. We’ve got loads of festivals, we’ve got a couple of award shows coming up, that can’t be announced yet. And we’ve got some performances at those award shows, which I think are going to be really, really special. And then we’ve got Coachella coming up, which is going to be a really great celebration. But yeah, loads of exciting things in the real world. But I think, every time these little moments happen, they kind of seed back into the bigger picture.

How do you feel about moving forward from such a big project like Volcano? What can we expect next from Jungle, and where do you want to take your music in the future?
I think we always just want to reinvent what it is. I think that’s why Jungle has had success over the years. You know, I think if a project can transcend a decade, and still be relevant, if not more relevant than when it started, then I think you can kind of do something right. And I think the reason for that is the adaptation within the market, and adaptation within what we’re doing. And fundamentally, that comes back to a kind of base-level artistic instinct of not wanting to do the same thing. And I think that’s what we’ve always strived for, this ability to find something that’s actually interesting and engaging for us as artists, rather than what we think other people want. You know, we don’t try not to repeat ourselves. So I’d imagine the next Jungle album would probably be different in some way. The reality is that it has to be good as well, and that’s where it kind of makes it a little bit tricky. It’s very easy to make something different, but to make it different and as good is always the challenge.