By Frankey
With her latest single, Pretty Cool, Jade Alice has emerged as an extremely talented vocalist and producer, carving out a loyal fan-base for her lush, nostalgic sound.
Published exclusively for The Urban Scrapbook
Photography: Trudi Treble
Makeup: Zoe Jane Crawford Makeup.
…we need to embrace and share the best things about ourselves!
Jade Alice is the ilk of musical artist with such a refined awareness of her musical identity that it plays out naturally in the stories she tells through her music. With her latest single, Pretty Cool, she’s speaking directly to a generation of fans, empowering them to embrace and share the best about themselves. In essence, to realise that they’re pretty cool. It’s also got a catchy hook, so give it a listen. I highly recommend it.
Things are on an upward trajectory for Jade Alice, and with so many gems on the horizon, I managed to delve into her background in music, what makes her tick, and her passion for the stage and a live audience.
Here’s what she had to say (the following has been slightly edited for readability):
How would you describe your sound?
I would describe it as dreamy electro-pop with rose-tinted melodies. I love incorporating huge drum sounds, fuzzy synths, and stacked vocal layers that create this nostalgic, lush blanket of sound.
A lush blanket of sound is such a cosy and fresh concept. The first band who comes to mind for vocal layering for me is The Beatles. What kind of music did you listen to growing up?
I love The Beatles, too, definitely listened to a lot of them in my childhood. I grew up with musical parents, they met when they started up the ABBA tribute band called BABBA. So I listened to a lot of ABBA growing up! I think they write such cleverly constructed pop, and they create these huge vocal sounds like a wall of their stacked vocals.
Oh, yes, everyone knows BABBA! That’s beautiful. Your parents are like a tribute to Agnetha and Björn! At what point did you transition from listening to music to making it?
Haha yes life imitating art! Now my brother and I perform in the band too. So much fun!
When I was little I always loved when dad would play the piano and I would make up these gibberish songs! But when I was 11 years old that’s when I wrote my first song that I was really proud of. It was called ‘Beautiful Earth’. I was inspired by my grandmother who is an environmental activist, and by my auntie who was showing me how she wrote songs on guitar at the time!
What an amazing family environment (no pun intended)! So from the very beginning, the story and messaging of music really resonated with you. Where do you draw inspiration for your songs these days?
I write a lot about love – first love, self love, painful love. I feel like the world seems very heavy lately, which inspires me to promote confidence and happiness in people! I love the instant energising feeling that dance music gives you, so I love working with dance beats. I want to create a sense of escapism through dreamy pop where every day events are romanticised. I feel like everyone can relate to fantasising and embellishing every day life in their imaginations!
Such a positive vibe! What’s your creative routine like?
It’s a bit different every time, but usually involves lots of cups of tea! I usually have a lot of melody ideas recorded in voice memos on my phone that I sort through. I hear songs in my dreams sometimes, too. Most of the time, though, I can only write when inspiration hits me and this wave comes over me. Otherwise, I find it hard to sit down and force something to come out. I’ll usually improvise over chords on the piano or guitar as well, or work on a beat on the computer. I love messing with vocals, sometimes I’ll sing in random words and melodies, and chop them up or reverse them to get new melody ideas.
…while I love to joke around and take the Mickey out of myself, I am someone who has had to work hard on my own self esteem and confidence.
So with your latest single Pretty Cool, what’s the story behind that song and what does it mean to you?
I have grown up in a culture that encourages you to be self deprecating, and while I love to joke around and take the Mickey out of myself, I am someone who has had to work hard on my own self esteem and confidence. I am overly critical towards myself as I think most people are! But I’m so happy that more and more often, I wake up and look at myself and think damn! What a cool kid! I think it shouldn’t be frowned upon to speak highly of yourself, and we need to embrace and share the best things about ourselves! I want this song to make people unashamedly proud of how cool they are.
Empowerment all around – I like it. If it’s at all possible to distill your favourite musical idols into a small list, what would that look like?
Would have to be Joni Mitchell, Lana Del Rey, Susanne Sundfor, Aurora, Tove Lo, Max Martin, Freddie Mercury, Kimbra to name a few!
Amazing artists! I was fortunate enough to see you perform live at the OFF/BEAT showcase organised by a group of talented RMIT Graduate Fashion students. How important is performance for you and when can audiences look forward to seeing you again?
I love feeling the energy of the room and being face to face with people when performing live. There’s nothing that beats that in person connection an artist can have with their audience. For me hearing a song live makes me hear it in a different way and gives me a deeper understanding when the artist tells their story. I love performing so much, it’s a completely different atmosphere to recording. It’s so humbling to meet people who have been touched by your music, that’s the most rewarding thing we can hope for is that they saw themselves in our music. Being on stage is euphoric for me, and performing with my band just makes me feel so complete. It’s so natural to me and makes me feel like the best version of myself!
I’ve just about finished up all my full band shows for the year! I have some solo shows coming up, one is at The Renaissance Fest on Dec 28th. But some shows may be popping up last minute so you can stay updated on those through my socials!
That honestly sounds like just an amazing buzz. So what’s next in the rising career of Jade Alice and where would you like to take things creatively from here?
I have a few collaborations in the works! I’m really excited about another single I have coming out with Price Park, we wrote the song together at a songwriting camp. Another project of mine is a collab EP with a producer in LA. It’s going to be completely different from what you’ve heard from me before. I have written some a capella songs in the style of old 40s Disney-esque songs with really nostalgic, melancholy harmonies. He is creating the production and soundscape behind them. I have my own album of songs waiting to be released, and when the time is right I’ll put out my album!
Very exciting! So many gems on the horizon. Can’t wait.
Feature image: Jade Alice
Photography: Trudi Treble
Makeup: Zoe Jane Crawford Makeup.
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