Jayda Guy grew up surrounded by mountains, forests, bodies of water, and fresh air in Grand Forks, British Columbia, Canada, several hours away from Vancouver. She was trained in classical piano and violin as a youth, and grew up listening to genres such as jazz, blues, and R&B. She began collecting records and learning how to mix during the early 2010s. Jayda got deeper into house music during a brief period of living in Los Angeles, and began to connect with local house DJs after moving to Vancouver. She also began producing her own tracks around 2014. After co-hosting several events with Norway's DJ Fett Burger, the two of them founded the Freakout Cult label. The pair co-produced the label's first release, 2015's "NYC Party Track," as well as "Velvet Vortex" with Sleep D, on Australian label Butter Sessions. Jayda's first two solo EPs, Sixth Spirit of the Bay (1080p) and Jaydaisms (Freakout Cult), both appeared in 2016.
After increasingly spending more time traveling abroad for gigs, Jayda relocated to Berlin in 2017. She remixed songs by HAIM and Perel, and continued releasing EPs like Swirl Shake Mix (Geography Records). Following the 2018 single "Diva Bitch," Jayda launched JMG Recordings with her Sacred Spaces EP. Both featured vocals by her close friend and frequent collaborator Alexa Dash. Jayda earned her master's degree and completed her debut full-length, titled Significant Changes after the most frequently used phrase in her final thesis. The album was released by Ninja Tune in March 2019, shortly after Jayda hosted a pair of JMG Talks sessions in London, allowing young scientists a platform to engage in a dialogue about their academic work. Double A-side Both of Us/Are U Down appeared in 2020, and the lead cut became Jayda's most heavily streamed track to date; it was also nominated for Best Dance Recording at the 63rd annual Grammy Awards. Jayda's volume of the long-running DJ-Kicks mix series appeared in 2021. ~ Paul Simpson, Rovi