Grandson, often stylized as grandson, is the moniker for Canadian-American singer, songwriter and musician Jordan Edward Benjamin.
Born in New Jersey in 1993, Jordan moved to Toronto, Canada at age 3. He attended school there and was enrolled in various primary and secondary schools before he decided that school wasn't for him and dropped out. After doing so, he moved to Los Angeles to pursue a music career.
In 2016, he released "Bills" and "Bury Me Face Down" which went on to garner millions of streams online. Jordan signed to his first record label, RCA Records, in 2017, releasing more singles such as "Best Friends" and "Kiss Bang".
Jordan exploded in popularity in 2018, with the release of "Blood//Water". The single went on to be featured in numerous commercials, TV shows and even the Billboard Charts. In the same year, he signed with Fueled by Ramen and continued to release singles and eventually his first EP, a modern tragedy vol. 1, in June 2018.
Two more EP's followed, a modern tragedy vol. 2 in February of 2019 and a modern tragedy vol. 3 in September of 2019.
In late 2020, he released his debut album, "Death of an Optimist" and released his second studio album, "I Love You, I'm Trying" on May 5, 2023.
Discography
- a modern tragedy vol. 1 (2018)
- Broken Down Vol. 1 (2018)
- a modern tragedy vol. 2 (2019)
- no apologies live (2019)
- a modern tragedy vol. 3 (2019)
- Death of an Optimist (2020)
- I Love You, I'm Trying (2023)
This artist provides examples of the following tropes:
- all lowercase letters: Jordan's stage name, grandson, as well as the titles of all his EP's and handful of singles, including "thoughts & prayers".
- Album Title Drop: The intro song off of Death of an Optimist is named the same as the album.
- "I Love You, I'm Trying" also has a song of the same name on its album.
- Animated Music Video: His song "Happy Pill", which featured Moby Rich.
- Arc Words: A Modern Tragedy, which is the title of three of his EP's.
- Audience Participation: It's not uncommon for Jordan to throw water out into the crowd before he performs "Blood//Water" so fans can throw it around before he sings the last chorus of the song.
- Badass Boast: In "Murderer":
- ''I'm the best of a generation/Guess I gotta die to get my celebration/I'm sick of this pretend alternative/Don't care if I offend conservatives/It's the rock album of the year, I'm sure of it/So why the fuck hasn't anybody heard of it?"
- Ballad of X: "The Ballad of G and X // Interlude" from "Death of an Optimist".
- Cluster F-Bomb: It would be easier to name what songs Jordan doesn't say the F word in, honestly.
- Chronological Album Title: The title of all his EP's have vol. 1, 2 and 3 respectively, which matches up with the order the EP's were released.
- Cover Version: Jordan has covered both "War", originally sung by Bob Marley, and "Maria", originally sung by Rage Against the Machine.
- Drowning My Sorrows: Mentioned in "Is This What You Wanted", along with taking pills and getting high.
- Drugs Are Bad: The premise of "Best Friends", which is about somebody who knows that getting high and doing drugs is bad, but still continues to do them anyway, because they can't see any other reason to do anything else.
- I Am the Band: Jordan, naturally. He does nearly all his writing and typically the only one that gives interviews and meets fans in meet and greets.
- Important Haircut: Jordan shaved his head completely for the "Oh No!!!" music video, which is a song that's about both self destructive behavior and moments when an individuals mental health can get in the way of living their normal life.
- Large Ham: How Jordan's portrayal of X is in music videos from the "Death of an Optimist" era and how he would act as X while performing during his Death of a Tour tour.
- Live Album: "no apologizes live EP", released in 2019, which features songs from a modern tragedy vol. 1 and a modern tragedy vol. 2.
- Longest Song Goes Last: Happens in a modern tragedy vol. 2 and a modern tragedy vol. 3 with "Die Young" and "Darkside" respectively.
- Lucky Charms Title: "Blood//Water"
- One-Woman Song: His cover of "Maria".
- One-Word Title: Besides Jordan's stage name (grandson) itself, there's:
- "Despicable", "6:00", and "Overdose" from a modern tragedy vol. 1
- "Apologize", "Stigmata" and "Darkside" from a modern tragedy vol. 2
- His "Maria" and "War" covers, along with "Bills".
- "Identity", "Dirty", "WWIII" and "Riptide" from "Death of an Optimist".
- "Heather", "Eulogy", "Drones", "Enough" and "Murderer" from "I Love You, I'm Trying".
- Police Brutality: "6:00" is about this, with references to the Eric Garner incident that occurred in July 2014.
- Protest Song: Nearly every song in Jordan's discography.
- Ripped from the Headlines: "thoughts & prayers" was written and recorded shortly after the Parkland shooting in February 2018. The song revolves around gun control and criticizes how politicians and other leaders just say the titular phrase and do not do anything else legally to help prevent the incidents.
- Sanity Slippage Song: "Stick Up", which is about a man that is driven to rob a bank after losing his job, his pension and number of other things in his life.
- Soapbox Sadie: Jordan is this, and how. He's participated in March for Our Lives rallies, founded XX Resistance (an organization aimed at getting young people to become activists in their own communities), actively partners with Head Count.org, an organization that tries to get people registered to vote and show up to the polls and much more.
- Stage Names: Jordan's is grandson, or gran for short.
- Surprisingly Gentle Song: "Destroy Me" from a modern tragedy vol 3, which is followed by "Die Young", which is incredibly loud and highly political.
- "The Ballad of G and X // Interlude" from "Death of an Optimist" is after "Dirty" and before "We Did It!!!" both very loud songs.
- Take That!: Many of his songs are these, especially towards corrupt officials - for example, "Oh No!!!" features the line "My president's a felon, and I can't cope". "Die Young" even has the line "My president's a Neo-Nazi".
- Title-Only Chorus: "Death of an Optimist // Intro" from "Death of an Optimist".
- "We Did It!!!" from "Death of an Optimist" takes shots at celebrities and wealthy people thinking that they've saved the world just by sending off a tweet or message from their lavish homes or penthouses. "Murderer" from "I Love You, I'm Trying", on the other hand, alludes to his internet trolls and even takes shots at Travis Barker for never acknowledging a collab they did together along with Kesha.
