Jordan Lutes has spent the past year watching a decade of quiet persistence turn into something he now calls a fever dream. On stage, Lutes performs as Jutes—a name he lifted from a mispronunciation of his nickname “J Lutes”—and has taken the alternative scene by storm. Hailing from a small town outside Ottawa, Canada, Jutes wasn’t born into the music scene or even thought he’d ever make a name for himself within the music sphere. He studied film and played basketball in college, before eventually dropping out of school and following his instincts away from Canada and to Los Angeles.
Along the path to where Jutes is now, he has also crossed paths with some of today’s most recognizable names. His songwriting credits include work with Illenium, Charlotte Sands, and Demi Lovato, who he married early last year. Now, with nearly two million monthly listeners on Spotify, his breakout single “Sleepyhead” debuting at number 33 on Billboard’s Alternative Airplay, and three legs of his very own headline tour under his belt, Jutes continues to build a musicial world that is fueled by vulnerability and authenticity.
During the final month of 2025, Jutes wrapped the third and final leg of his Sleepyhead tour, released his latest album Dilworth, and made his television debut on Jimmy Fallon. Reflecting on 2025, he says, “It’s been a fever dream. It has been the busiest that I’ve ever been, which is awesome.” Despite dropping out of school to move to his friend’s couch in L.A. more than a decade ago, Jutes doesn’t take any of the recognition for granted. “It’s just been insane to watch something grow in real time at the rate that it’s growing without a viral song or a hit song or anything like that.”
But Jutes’ journey didn’t happen overnight and he’s quick to push back against the idea of instant success. “I learned so many lessons along the way about who I am,” he says. “Now that success is coming to me, I feel equipped to deal with it in a healthy way, and I also feel like I know who I am.”
“I just kind of had that blind faith of like, ‘This just feels right in my heart, so I’m going to give up everything else for it.’”
Growing up in Kars, just outside Ottawa, life was quiet and small, far from a world of music and fame. Looking back at the start of his musical career, he recalls feeling like music was something more than he could put into words. “I made the decision [that] I was dropping out [of college]. I left my exams five minutes after showing up and didn’t even fill anything out,” he says. “I just kind of had that blind faith of like, ‘This just feels right in my heart, so I’m going to give up everything else for it.’”
His move to Los Angeles marked the next chapter of his journey, working odd jobs to make ends meet all while crashing on his friend’s couch. “I was performing before I went to L.A., [but] the performing kind of stopped when I got to L.A. I was just writing songs nonstop,” he says. Going from being the local opener in Canada, playing any gig he could get his hands on in Toronto, to the new guy on the block in L.A. had its challenges, but not without reward. “In that first year of being in L.A., I signed a little distribution deal, which got me off the couch and into an apartment of my own,” Jutes says. “Then, at the tail end of the year, I ended up signing to Capitol Records and had a major label record deal, but I still wasn’t writing for other people at that point.”
Jutes continued to sharpen his songwriting by himself, hoping to eventually begin writing with other artists. He learned how to write with intention, a skill that eventually paid off not only for his own career, but for the artists he began writing for as well. “I was very dead set on being an artist,” he explains…
Keep up with Jutes: Instagram // TikTok // YouTube // X // Spotify
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