Singer, hip-hop artist and songwriter Johnathan Machen, aka Profit, is living and breathing proof that regardless of how many battle scars your trauma brandishes you with, success will always be in the sightline if you look for it.
Following his viral debut single, Daydreaming, which has amassed over 1 million streams on Spotify alone since it dropped in 2021, his sophomore single, Refuge, is a consoling reminder that everyone deserves sanctuary regardless of the hostility the world has shown you before.
The country hip-hop-meets-pop instrumentals against his compassion-soaked vocals that run through the lyrics and affirm everyone deserves another soul to fall into hits all the right evocative notes while unravelling as a hook-rife melodic earworm.
Johnathan Machen’s distinctive approach to music starts to contextualise around the understanding that his life experiences shaped his creativity more than any artist came before him. After suffering from extensive burns that covered 90% of his body, his self-confidence ebbing away at an early age through bullying and becoming a single father of three while dealing with the grief of losing his mother and everything he owned, music has always been his peace and motivation. Now at 35 years old, in a happy marriage, he is here to confirm that injustice never has to last forever.
Refuge was released on January 6th; check it out on Spotify.
Review by Amelia Vandergast