If Jalen Ngonda were a streaming algorithm, he'd be stuck in the 1960s – and honestly, thank the galaxies for that.
"I don't exaggerate when I say this," he says, half-laughing, half-confessing, "I'm just a fiend for '60s-sounding music."
It's not nostalgia for nostalgia's sake. It's devotion. Since he was 11 years old, Ngonda has been listening – really listening – to the sounds of the '50s and '60s. Motown. Burt Bacharach. The Beach Boys. Love songs stacked on love songs.
Even now, he estimates that 90 per cent of the records he owns come from that era. "That's just what I listen to," he shrugs, "and what they wrote about. . . is kind of what I write about."
Ahead of his upcoming tour of Australia, which commences in Brisbane next Monday before travelling to Perth, Melbourne, Adelaide and Sydney as well as Golden Plains Festival, Jalen sounds both excited and grounded – aware that life on the road is equal parts gift and grind.
Preparation, he says, is simple: warm up the voice, rehearse with the band, don't overthink it. The songs live in his body already. If the gig were tomorrow, he'd be ready. "If the gig was tomorrow, I'd be ready," he says. "I know the songs."
Life on the road, though – that's a different rhythm. Touring, he admits, doesn't magically get easier with success. You just learn how to carry the tiredness better.
Still, the trade-off is worth it, especially when the room is tuned in. That sense of romance – with music, with feeling – runs straight through his songwriting too.
Jalen isn't writing confessionals or diarising his love life. There's no singular muse lurking behind the curtain (I asked!). Alas, most of the time, he's just following the sound and you know it, chasing that rhyme.
"I don't really think about any romance in my life," he laughs. "I'll just be like, 'okay, baby, kiss me. . . what rhymes with kiss me?'"
Admittedly he agrees there's always something deeper at play. You can't write without drawing from your own experiences – even if you're not naming names.
The music you consume shapes the stories you tell; and Jalen Ngondo is a storyteller. "There's no one song that's about one person," he explains. "It's just a bunch of romantic rhymes."
Those rhymes, though, land with real feeling. Lines like 'if you don't want my love, I don't know what I'll do' don't sound borrowed – they sound lived-in.
Like something you've been humming for a few seasons of heartaches and yearns – belting out from the top of your lungs along to these songs is a given.
He's working on a new album (the follow-up to his 2023 debut LP 'Come Around And Love Me', with singles due later this year, and continues to write regularly – not chasing inspiration, just staying ready for it.
If you're ready to receive some truly timeless music, Jalen Ngonda is the artist for you. "I don't want to write something just because I feel like I should," he says. "It has to come from a genuine place."
Ngonda isn't trying to reinvent the wheel. He's keeping it spinning – needle gently riding the groove – reminding us that romance, sincerity and soul never went out of style. They were just waiting for someone patient enough to listen.
Maybe that's the quiet magic of Jalen Ngonda's world. In an age obsessed with the new, the next, the now, he stays. With the sound. With the feeling. With the soul.
Catch him at the following venues across Australia this March 2026.
Jalen Ngonda 2026 Tour Dates
Mon 2 Mar - The Tivoli (Brisbane)
Wed 4 Mar - Astor Theatre (Perth)
Fri 6 Mar - Forum Melbourne
Sat 7 Mar - WOMADelaide (Adelaide)
Sun 8 Mar - Golden Plains Festival (Meredith)
Tue 10 Mar - Enmore Theatre (Sydney)
