It’s 2013. A teenager with wild hair and a room full of instruments decides to record a cover in his London bedroom. He isn’t trying to be a star. He’s just bored, or maybe he’s just obsessed. He hits record on an iPad 2—the selfie camera, no less—and starts layering his voice over and over again.
That kid was Jacob Collier. The song was Stevie Wonder’s "Don’t You Worry 'Bout a Thing."
Most people think this video was just a lucky viral moment. It wasn't. It was a technical earthquake that fundamentally changed how the music industry looks at "bedroom producers." When Quincy Jones—the man who produced Thriller—saw it, he didn't just like it. He flew the kid to Switzerland.
The Myth of the "High-Tech" Masterpiece
There’s a huge misconception that Jacob Collier Don't You Worry 'Bout a Thing was made with some NASA-level studio equipment. It’s actually the opposite.
Honestly, the gear list is almost embarrassing for how good the final product sounds:
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- A single Shure SM58 microphone. That’s the $90 mic you see at every dive bar karaoke night.
- An iPad 2. Not even a Pro. Just a dusty old tablet.
- Logic Pro. He’d been using it since he was eleven, so by nineteen, he treated the software like a primary instrument.
He recorded it in his family’s music room. You can see the white cupboards in the background of the split-screen frames. This wasn't a professional set; it was his life. He spent years learning how to create "mosaics" of audio and video, and this specific track was his attempt to see if he could actually pull off a full-scale opus alone.
Why the Harmony Feels Like a "Brain Massage"
If you’ve listened to the track, you know there’s a moment where your brain feels like it’s being stretched. That isn't just "jazz." It’s math.
Collier is famous for using microtonality. In the Western world, we usually stick to 12 notes. Jacob thinks that’s boring. He often makes tiny adjustments—sometimes just a few cents—to make chords sound "pure." It’s called Just Intonation.
In "Don't You Worry 'Bout a Thing," he doesn't just stick to the script. He reharmonizes Stevie’s original Latin-infused soul into something that feels three-dimensional. While Stevie used a brilliant descending chromatic progression on the word "out," Jacob decided to jump around in thirds and add strange extensions.
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Some critics, like musicologist Ethan Hein, have argued that Jacob sometimes "over-eggs" the pudding. They say it’s too busy. But for the millions who watched it, that busyness was the point. It was a celebration of what one human brain can do when it refuses to follow the rules of a standard 4/4 pop song.
The Quincy Jones Connection
Imagine uploading a video and getting a call from the guy who worked with Frank Sinatra and Michael Jordan.
Quincy Jones saw the Jacob Collier Don't You Worry 'Bout a Thing video and immediately realized he was looking at a freak of nature. He famously said he hadn't seen anyone like Jacob in a generation. Within a year of that YouTube upload, Jacob was signed to Quincy's management.
This led to a partnership with Ben Bloomberg at the MIT Media Lab. They built a "Harmonizer" that allowed Jacob to take those bedroom vocal stacks and perform them live. If that YouTube cover hadn't gone viral, we might never have seen the "one-man-band" technology that defined his first world tour.
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What You Can Learn from the 2013 Viral Hit
Looking back from 2026, this video remains a blueprint for creators. It’s not about the gear. It’s about the "zest." Jacob often talks about remaining "childlike." To him, that means not worrying about the "next achievement" or the "top of the ladder."
He wasn't trying to win five Grammys when he recorded those six "Jacobs" on his screen. He was just playing.
Key Takeaways for Musicians:
- Constraints breed creativity. If he had a million-dollar studio, he might have overthought it. The SM58 forced him to focus on the arrangement.
- Harmony is a language, not a rulebook. Don't be afraid to change a classic. Stevie Wonder is the GOAT, but Jacob proved you can honor an idol by reimagining their work entirely.
- Visuals matter. The split-screen look wasn't just a gimmick; it helped the audience understand the complexity of the vocal layers.
The track was eventually released as a standalone single on October 13, 2013. It didn't make it onto his debut album, In My Room, which mostly featured newer originals and different covers like "The Flintstones" (which won him a Grammy). Yet, for the hardcore fans, this Stevie cover is still the "Genesis" moment.
If you're looking to dive deeper into how he pulls this off, you should check out his early breakdown videos where he explains the "four magical chords" concept. It explains why a simple transition can feel like a spiritual experience.
Stop obsessing over getting the best gear and start obsessing over your "primary canvas," whatever that happens to be.