Cliff Joannou interviews the incredible Jessie J.
You should have heard of Jessie J by now. If not, then I hope you’re enjoying the rock you’ve been living under. In any case, come January 2011 when her debut single is released, be prepared to have the cosy little pebble you’ve been inhabiting over the past several weeks royally – nay rudely – disturbed… there’s a new girl on the block and she hails from the UK.
Born Jessica Cornish, this 22 year-old veritable hurricane force wunderkind of a singer-songwriter is about to take over the world, piece-by-piece, and on her own terms. In a time when album and singles sales are plummeting and even the most sure-fire artists can’t guarantee the high charting positions they used to, Jessie J has become something of a record label dream ticket. Before she’s even released her first single she’s generated an online fan base via her frequent YouTube video updates that saw the video to her first track, ‘Do It Like A Dude’, rack up over half a million hits in a matter of days. Much to the chagrin of her predictably over cautious U.S. record label, she regularly uploads YouTube videos of her singing acapella to her own tracks or those of her musical icons: “Beyonce, Pink, Eminem, 80s funk music, old school harmonies, Whitney’s old stuff like ‘Queen of the Night’… music with energy.”
My first experience of her is at a gig at XOYO in Old Street. She takes to stage, slinky, sassy and exuding funk, so much of it in fact that you can’t help but get enveloped in her aura the minute her voluminous vocals unfurl across the room. Belying her slight frame, she carries a sonic punch that could level an army. Her voice is flexible and light, then suddenly solid and vociferous. Her jet-black bob haircut swishes and sticks across her face as she grinds to the beat. One person in the crowd whispers to me the last time they were ever this impressed with such a fresh, new voice was when Amy Winehouse made her statement with her second album, Back To Black. Then she stops the band, to start the track again. She’s not happy with the venue’s sound as she can’t hear her voice on stage. Unknowingly to her, she’s pitch perfect. When she sings we’re transported to other decades, classic yet thoroughly modern. Then she speaks, and we’re brought right back into the heart of her home county, Essex.
What’s remarkable about this girl – scratch that, woman – at the age of 22, is how much she has accomplished in such short a time. Already on her second record deal (she was signed to Gut Records before they went bust), she is a former BRIT School student sharing the same year as Adele and Katy B and has already had a No.1 Billboard chart hit having written Miley Cyrus’ massive, ‘Party in the USA’. The next stop for Jessie J is sharing her own music with the world. Although all of this nearly never happened, when at the age of 18 she suffered a major stroke that today affects her way of life in many ways. Something all the more remarkable when, like me, you have experienced firsthand the tour de force that is at the edge of every movement and every word she exudes. But I should really let her tell you all this in her own words. After all, she wouldn’t have it any other way…
QX: The Jessie J Interview.
CJ: You’ve been on a massive rollercoaster of promotion recently. I can’t remember the last time I saw a new artist with such a following before they even release a single. How does that feel?
Jessie J: I can’t explain how it feels, because I know I’ve been a fan of someone like that and I’ve always wished for a fan base that’s really loyal. My fans are making me feel like my music can stand the test of time. It’s not just kinda like so-and-so got signed to a label and wrote a song, people know I’m coming from an artistic place and I’m not bullshitting anyone, basically.
CJ: Especially in this X Factor day and age…
Jessie J: Oh, gosh yeah. To literally be in the top 25, I am the only one in there that has had no promotion, or performed on X Factor. It makes me proud that I stuck to my guns, that I said I am going to write my own music, I’m going do this the old school way, the organic way, I’m going to do gigs for five years, and I’m gonna build up a fan base the honest way; and I’m so glad it worked.
CJ: You have had a huge online presence. Is that something you created yourself or worked with the record label to create?
Jessie J: I kinda did it by accident, y’know. I hadn’t actually been signed to my UK label when I did my first YouTube video, I’d just signed to my American label. They’re very strict, they’re like, ‘don’t talk to anyone, don’t breathe’. They didn’t want me to put anything up, but because I’d been signed in the UK before, I wanted to put something online. I remember sitting in the hotel room and thinking I just want to sing. I did not expect the reaction it had, never in a million years. I know a lot of people said it’s all part of a plan of the label, and [the label] were like ’take it down’ but I was like, ‘no, I’m not taking it down’.
CJ: Your voice is sensational. How did you train?
Jessie J: When I was signed to Gut Records back in the day, I got the opportunity to perform to loads of people. Like when I was on tour with Chris Brown I wasn’t signed, and I wasn’t managed, and I was performing to 10,000 people a night. I had the opportunity to try things out without the pressure on my shoulders. I don’t really practice at home. I can’t sign at home like I can on stage. It just doesn’t happen. The adrenaline kicks me into a different place. I get so comfortable on stage, that I don’t ever sing the same song the same. My band get really wound up by that.
CJ: I noticed how interactive you are with the band…
Jessie J: I don’t like rehearsals, they know that. My guitarist Ben is like ‘can I come round?’, and I’m like, ‘why?’ Otherwise it’s so bland… you know when you go to see a show and it’s all the same encore as the show last week, somewhere else. For me I like to ask the audience, ‘what do you want to hear next?’ Obviously I have to have some compromise with the label, like you need to sing this and this, but it’s about keeping things fresh and real. When I did XOYO last week, that gig was really bad, I couldn’t hear the sound, I was like ‘I can’t hear anything but here we go.‘
If I was straight, or if I was gay, or if I was bisexual, or if I was black, they’d have an issue with it. – Jessie J interview with QX.
CJ: You wrote for Alicia Keys and had a No.1 hit with Miley Cyrus. How did those deals come about when you hadn’t even released a track?
Jessie J: I think it was the fact that I had the opportunity to work with amazing producers and songwriters. I’d just been signed to my US label and had three months in Hollywood by myself. I had one day [in the studio] with Dr Luke and he played me a lyric, which was ‘Party in USA’, and I was like ‘let’s write a tongue-in-cheek song about my journey to America’. So when I wrote it, it was for me, I wasn’t writing intentionally for Miley Cyrus. When we finished it, the label were like ‘it’s cool, but too much of a risk’. We weren’t sure if it was my sound or not, it was too pop. I remember them pitching it to Miley and within three weeks it went to No.1.
CJ: Result! Have you had your cheque in from that?
Jessie J: It comes in slowly, but it’s paying my rent, put it that way! I thank her every day – she’s the one keeping food on my table, so it’s all good.
CJ: Justin Timberlake has raved about you. You’ve been on stage with Cindy Lauper, too…
Jessie J: The weird thing is now when I look back on it, it’s like ‘oh my God I’ve done so much’.
CJ: Does it make you nervous, all this build-up?
Jessie J: You know I love pressure. I love that feeling of ‘right I’ve got something to prove’. I’ve always loved performing and showing people what I can do. It’s what I’m good at. It’s that kind of energy that everyday I’m like, ‘this is what I’m good at, so I should be really good at it’.
CJ: How would you describe your sound?
Jessie J: I’ve never wanted to put it in a genre or box. I think a lot of people forget pop stands for ‘popular’ and it doesn’t have to be bubblegum. I will never limit myself and I will always work in different genres. I will write dubstep, I will write reggae, I love jazz music. I like music that makes me laugh, makes me cry or want to go out.
CJ: What was your upbringing like?
Jessie J: Pretty normal. My mum and dad are still married. My best mates and sisters are really good friends, they’re married with kids. I’m the outcast, with tattoos. I’m the tearaway. But we were all treated equal.
CJ: And you went to the BRIT School…
Jessie J: For me, I think the BRIT School is one of those places where you have to look for opportunities. A lot of people just went there because it was ‘round the corner and easy to get to, but for me I travelled six trains a day to get there from Essex for two years. For me I had to not fail, I needed to go there and make sure it was worthy of my time.
CJ: Did it contribute to getting you to where you are now?
Jessie J: I think everything I’ve done in my life has contributed to it. If I didn’t go to the BRIT School, I wouldn’t have auditioned for a girl group; if I wasn’t in a girl group I wouldn’t have been spotted by Gut Records; if I wasn’t spotted by Gut Records, I wouldn’t have been bought out by my record label. I think the BRIT School made me really independent and that’s really helped who I am now.
CJ: You had a minor stroke three years ago. How on earth does that happen to a teenager, and how did you deal with it?
Jessie J: I’ve been in and out of hospital for heart problems since I was younger. It doesn’t affect me every single day, but I have to make sure I get enough sleep. I don’t drink, I don’t smoke, I have to really look after myself. I was at the BRIT School, I was in a girl band, I had three jobs, I was really tired and I think my body is unfortunately not as strong as anybody else. I was working in Hamleys at the time and I lost the feeling on my right side for a couple weeks. It kind of made me realise that however old you are, you can’t guarantee life. I think it made me go full on, I’m ready now, I’m doing this, there’s no stopping me.
CJ: Does it affect your confidence at all?
Jessie J: It does the opposite. It’s made me more confident because I can’t have a brandy, I can’t smoke a spliff before I go on stage. I have to go on pure and that’s actually the reason I am so confident and headstrong. I have to go into meetings and say, ‘Hi I’m Jessie, this is what I want and this is who I am.’ I can’t be dependent on something to make me that person.
CJ: You’ve experienced a lot in just 22 years!
Jessie J: I feel like I’ve had a twenty-year career this week! But yeah, it’s a blessing… my music’s being played in Singapore, Jamaica and it’s not even been released.
CJ: How do you deal with the attention on your private life?
Jessie J: You know what, it is what it is. But I’m not the only person. Every single person in the industry puts themselves out there. I’ve read the most awful things. You have to just go, ‘it is what it is’ if people want to say this and that about me. Half the stuff you read isn’t even true, but people presume it is. It’s sad because I’ve done it before, I’ve read magazines and gone, I don’t believe that! But now for me it’s totally different.
What the haters don’t realise is they actually promote you more than the people that like you! I re-Tweet things that are horrible. I had this Tweet the other day that said, “I like Jessie J’s music but I hate her face.” I re-Tweeted it and people are like, “you’re always paying attention to negativity”, and I’m like, no I live in the real world. I think its important for young people to see that they may think I’m living this life of glitz and glamour, when in actual fact I’ve had abuse shouted at me on the street, like, “Oi, you fucking bitch, who do you think you are? You’re crap!”
CJ: That must be tough to hear. You’ve also had your personal life raised into it with regards to people saying ‘she’s lesbian’, and this and that. When it comes to your private life, is it something you plan not to speak about?
Jessie J: At the end of the day, I am who I am. I would never put a label on my music, and I will never put a label on my sexuality. I fall in love with who I fall in love with. A lot of people are talking about it, but nobody’s actually asked me. I’m 22, do you know what I mean? I just think, it is what it is, I am who I am. It says a lot more about the people that have a problem with it than it does me. You should be who you are. And whether that means you’re gay, straight, transgender or whatever, it’s who you are and the life you choose to live, and who am I to judge? Unfortunately not everyone’s like that. You get that with everything. If I was straight, or if I was gay, or if I was bisexual, or if I was black, they’d have an issue with it.
CJ: Do you feel it’s hard for people to see this little white girl from Essex doing this amazingly urban sound?
Jessie J: People have to pigeonhole everyone. I had someone Tweet me the other day and say, “will someone please tell Jessie J she’s white.” And I was like, ‘cor bloody hell, thank God you got someone to tell me’. It’s quite sad.
CJ: Let’s finish on a positive note with a Christmas message for our readers…
Jessie J: Be true to who you are. Whether you want to wear socks and sandals, whether you want to date girls, boys, whatever. Don’t let anybody shadow your dreams, just go for who you want to be. You get one life, there’s no point letting insecure, ignorant people ruin it… and make sure you buy the album! [Laughs]
‘Do It Like A Dude’ is released 3rd January. Jessie J’s debut album is out in March.
