I first heard Jai’Len Josey’s music about four or five years ago. I stumbled across her name and decided to press play on a few tracks before dozing off for the night. One of the first songs I heard by her was “Can You Do It For Me?” — a standout from her impressive debut EP Illustrations. Vocals like Josey has are hard to come by nowadays in music, so when you do, it’s only right that you celebrate them.
In the years following Illustrations, Josey has worked hard toward reaching a simple but meaningful goal: “My one goal is having a large amount of people listen to my music,” she tells Uproxx over a Zoom call. “My goal is to find the next stepping stone that pushes me to where I’m supposed to be or where my dreams and my goals are. That’s bigger stages, bigger audiences, [and] more people listening to my music.”
I could go all day telling you how talented Jai’Len Josey is, but it’s time we let the music speak for itself. Her latest single “New Girl” officially kickstarts the campaign toward her upcoming debut album Serial Romantic, executive produced by the legendary Tricky Stewart. Guided by an infectious groove and a sultry sway, Josey sings about giving into “feeling like a girl” with lines that drip with confidence and excitement toward a new potential love interest.
With “New Girl” out now and Serial Romantic on the way, we placed Jai’Len Josey under the Uproxx Music 20 spotlight to learn more about her influences, inspirations, and aspirations. Scroll down to discover the best of Jai’Len Josey.
- SAILORR’s ‘Sincerity’ Finds The Silver Lining In Struggle Ahead Of ‘From Florida’s Finest’
- Nino Paid Isn’t Afraid Of The Truth On The Chilling ‘Love Me As I Am’
- Jazlyn Martin’s Goodbye To An ‘Easy’ Love Is A Cinematic Masterpiece That Tugs At The Heart
- Simone Joy Jones Charms Through Love And Lust On The Exquisite ‘Magnet’
- Noah Guy Bares His Heart, Soul, And Everything In Between On ‘It Must Be Love’
What is your earliest memory of music?
My earliest memory of music is my mother cleaning. She would be cleaning the house to so many different things. She’s from Detroit and their radios were weren’t segregated at all. So she would be cleaning the house to, Earth, Wind and Fire, but then the next would be Fleetwood Mac. One would be Aretha Franklin, and then the next one would be Elton John. She was cleaning the house to a lot of things, and that’s my earliest memory of music.
Who or what inspired you to take music seriously?
I was really loud, so it wasn’t more so what inspired me, [but] what was going to get all of this energy out of me. I was just very obnoxious, very loud. My mom saw it and decided to put me in different classes growing up. I was in the youth ensemble of Atlanta. My high school, Tri Cities High School, had so many music programs for music theater, so that’s how it was. I was always inspired by what my mom did back in the day. She worked at So So Def and LaFace Records for a minute. I was always inspired by that I’ll say, but I was really just loud. I didn’t really know I could hold a tune until somebody told me that I could hold a tune.
Do you know how to play an instrument? If so, which one? If not, which instrument do you want to learn how to play?
I can get around on the piano. I create my own beats, so I can do a little some something. I would more so want to dive into actually learning the piano. I had piano lessons when I was a kid, but it never really stuck. I could do an arpeggio, or whatever, but I more than that? Probably not. I think what I would want to really, really learn is piano
What was your first job?
My first job was on Broadway. I left college to go work on Broadway, that was my first job. But a legitimate nine to five I’ve never had, I’ve been blessed to not have to have that. SpongeBob on Broadway [was the play].
What is your most prized possession?
My dignity. Oh no, my mental health! That’s my most prized possession. If I ain’t saying that, then I would say my dog. If I’m not saying that, then I would just say my family.
What is your biggest fear?
Spiders.
Who is on your music Mt. Rushmore?
In no particular order, Stevie Nicks, Brandy, Beyoncé, and Aretha Franklin.
You get 24 hours to yourself to do anything you want, with unlimited resources: What are you doing? And spare no details!
I am buying a whole new wardrobe, booking a first class flight to Japan, buying souvenirs… Dang, the flight to Japan will take up all my time. Yes, a long flight. Let’s go back: Wardrobe, a new hairstyle, I’m gonna just get my whole thing together. I’ll get my lashes, my hair, a facial. I’m gonna pay my bills. I’ll buy a town house or a condo or a house. I could buy a house and pay it off that day. 24 hours? I will make the time to do all of that. I don’t need to do a house viewing, I don’t need none of that. I would make it happen in that day. Basically, I would do all the things that I need to do because an unlimited amount of money right now will be heavenly.
What is the best song you’ve ever made?
There’s an unreleased song that I have called “Stupid Man Of Mine” and it’s been floating around because I gave it to someone. It always finds its way back to me, and they’re like, “Oh my gosh, this is, this is you?” or “I heard the song being played in the studio.” I was truly in love with the person that I was talking about, but I didn’t realize that the relationship was fueling some of the best lyrics I’ve ever put down on paper. I was told that they’re keeping my voice on the record, so it’ll be out. It just won’t be published by me. It’ll be out by somebody else, a producer who wants to put it on their compilation album.
What’s a feature you need to secure before you die?
A Doechii feature.
If you could appear in a future season of a current TV show, which one would it be and why?
I need to be in an episode of Sex In The City. I just need the streetlights. I need to be carelessly walking down Fifth Avenue or Manhattan. I just need to not have a care in the world, an iced coffee with more cream than coffee, a fresh hairstyle, fresh lashes, heels, some mules on, and a nice, cute little summer dress just walking to nowhere — maybe a date that might happen at the end of the night. I really need to be an episode like that. I really, I want that to be my life at some point. Just come to me for the script. Bring the film crew, that’s it.
Which celebrity do you admire or respect for their personality and why?
Prince’s personality. Just the embodiment of knowing who you are and knowing that you’re hot sh*t or a diva, as many would say. I think that that’s cool. I’ll be watching the YouTube videos of like Aretha Franklin giving shade, or Prince giving shade, like little looks that may happen. It brings them down to earth and it’s like, you know what? I be looking like that when some somebody say something crazy, you know? I just like Prince’s personality because it’s like, okay, he’s a human.
The idea of a celebrity is starting to morph as well. People are more so gravitating to people who they can see themselves in rather than somebody who’s out of reach. For the fact that, the sun is humongous, so it’s likethere’s enough sun to go around that they could find their way and be a celebrity in the same light as the person that they’re looking up to. I like seeing the real sides of celebrities.
Share your opinion on something no one could ever change your mind about.
Aliens, and this is my whole spiel: Nobody could ever change my mind about the stars and the ocean. Nobody could ever change my mind about Bigfoot. Nobody could ever change my mind about ghost, spirituality, and weird things like that. I believe that everything is possible. I think that we are sitting on this humongous rock and it’s floating for some odd reason, and I think that that is crazy in itself. If there is proof for that, then there has to be proof for the other crazy things: aliens, the Loch Ness Monster, if dinosaurs can be a thing, then you think that vampires can’t be? I mean, maybe vampires is a stretch, but I mean just supernatural things. Nobody can ever change my mind about the supernatural.
What is the best song you’ve ever heard in your life and what do you love about it?
Nina Simone’s “Little Girl Blue.” I love it because it paints such a beautiful picture. Her playing the piano at the beginning sounds very childlike, and then it goes into her legitimately showing her skills of being a pianist. The lyrics follow the same summary of it as well. I think it’s one of the pretty songs that I’ve ever heard, and I’ve been listening to it since I was a child. It’s such a gorgeous song. I love it. No notes, just all 10s.
What’s your favorite city in the world to perform, and what’s a city you’re excited to perform in for the first time?
New York was a great crowd. I think it’s because I performed there when I was a child, so coming to New York to perform again was like being home. I think a city that I’m really most excited to perform in again would be New Orleans.
You are throwing a music festival. Give us the dream lineup of 5 artists that will perform with you and the location where it would be held.
I gotta do it in my hometown, I’m having the festival in Atlanta. I’m bringing out Victoria Monét, SZA, and Brandy as the headliners. Durand Bernarr — and you know how they have different stages? I’ll have Samaria joy on the jazz stage. We’ll have a special guest of Mariah The Scientist, because I love her down, and Summer Walker. [They’ll] do a joint set because they’ll feed off of each other.
What would you be doing now if it weren’t for music?
I would be a marine biologist. I was really good at science and I loved water. I love water, I live by a lake. I won the science fair when I was in high school. If [singing] wasn’t my lane, it would be marine biologist. I love bioluminous. I like those type of things. I like jellyfish, things like that.
If you could see five years into the future or go five years into the past, which one would you pick and why?
I don’t want to go back five years into the past because I like Jai’Len with her frontal lobe fully developed, so I don’t want to do that. I will probably go five years into the future.
What’s one piece of advice you’d go back in time to give to your 18-year-old self?
Stop eating those freaking dumplings. I was living in New York, and I was living above a dumpling shop, and I was going H.A.M. I feel like now I work out so much just to avenge my younger self and I’m just like all of this could have been avoided if I just would have stopped eating those dang dumplings. If we’re playing yeah, but if we’re being serious, I probably would just tell her to have patience or be understanding and grateful of the stepping stone you are on right now because a plethora will come. More will come now.
It’s 2050. The world hasn’t ended, and people are still listening to your music. How would you like it to be remembered?
Therapy. I want it to be remembered in a therapeutic way. I would want people to immediately feel the frequencies that run through the songs when they listen to my music. It has helped me with therapy. Music has been my therapy, so I would hope and pray that in 2050 people are also feeling healed by my music.