The Nashville Meets
London festival in London is a great breeding ground for up and coming artists
from the UK and across the pond to show off their skills to country fans and
music lovers (you can read my review of Day 1 here). I was lucky enough to catch up with first act of the weekend,
Yorkshire-born Jade Helliwell. Read on to find out how she ended up in the
music industry, being infatuated, and moving to Nashville (maybe!)
Ciara’s Country (CC):
Hi Jade! I just saw your set on the stage – what a fantastic kick-off for this
year’s festival!
Jade Helliwell (JH): Thank you!
CC: I have to say, we’ve
only just started the festival and I think I’ve already got one of my weekend
highlights in the form of your cover of Hallelujah.
What a difficult song to cover – what made you decide to tackle that song?
JH: Well, last year when I was on
a night out, I teamed up with a street busker in Leeds and sang that song – the
video went viral, and off the back of the attention that the video got, I quit
my day job to do music full time. While at the time it was a song that I didn’t
actually know that well, I think it’s quite a personal thing for me because
that was the start of me going full time in music. This being such a big crowd
and a big gig to do, I just wanted to put in a sentimental touch I suppose!
CC: I’m not at all surprised it went viral! Given that that was your
introduction into music full time, what has your journey been like since then?
JH: So I started with the video
and then went on to do more gigs, travelling around a bit further than where I’m
based in Leeds. Off the back of that, I booked a few gigs down here in London,
obviously today at Nashville Meets London. Going full time and leaving the
security of a full time job was a bit scary at first but days like today make
it clear that that was a good decision!
CC: Absolutely! Have you been quite busy with all the gigging since
then?
JH: Yeah, definitely. As I say,
it was a bit of a scary decision and I wasn’t sure – I was like ‘what if I
never get a gig again?’ but luckily that hasn’t happened.
CC: The crowd seemed to take to you very well today. How did you feel
about performing at this kind of festival?
JH: It’s really good. I’ve been
really looking forward to it since I found out I had a slot in it, so it’s
definitely been a highlight of the year so far. The crowd were really nice, and
I was surprised there were so many people here it only being two o’clock in the
afternoon, but it was packed out!
CC: It’s always nice to see the crowds singing along to your songs and
I could see when you were on stage that you really enjoy performing. Is there a
particular song you’d say is your favourite to perform live:
JH: It changes depending on what
the gig is like if it’s a festival or outdoor, I really like to do Repeat because it’s really easy for
people to sing along. Even if people haven’t heard it before, it’s easy to pick
up and you find people singing along by the final chorus which is really nice
to see.
CC: I read as well that you write your own music – can you tell me a
bit about your creative process when it comes to songwriting?
JH: It’s different with every
song. Sometimes I have a hook in my head and I’ll base an entire song around
it, sometimes I’ll just get a melody or an idea, so with every song, it
changes. I’ve started doing quite a bit of co-writing, and on my new EP there
are a couple of tracks on there which were co-writes. It depends on who you
write with as well – you could end up with somebody who’s already got an idea
of a hook or a melody and then you’ll come up with other stuff to go on with
it.
CC: Tell me about your EP.
JH: The EP is called Infatuation, and it’s got 5 tracks which
are all about infatuation in some way or another. You’re with somebody and you’re
infatuated by then, or you’re infatuated by someone and they don’t know you exist,
or you’ve been infatuated and then you’re heartbroken when it’s ended. The
songs fit well together as different stage of love.
CC: That’s quite an intense topic to focus your music around.
JH: Yeah, I think I’m quite an
intense person!
CC: It does make for good songwriting though! Country artists as well
tend to draw on themes like that or parts of their background – is there
anything from your background that you’ve used to help write?
JH: Definitely. Most of the songs
on the EP come in some way from something I’ve been through or a past or
current relationship. I think it needs a bit of a personal touch.
CC: In that respect, has there ever been any particularly hard songs to
write because they might dwell on issues that you find difficult to talk about?
JH: Yeah, I have a song called Numb about when I went through a
break-up with an ex-boyfriend, and I was very dramatic going ‘I’m never going
to leave the house again!’ But once I got over it and started writing again,
that’s what came out. So that’s probably the most personal song I’ve written
but it’s good to get it out and go out and sing it. It’s like a healing
process.
CC: Catharsis.
JH: Yes, definitely!
CC: I noticed today that you’re a great example of new country in the
way your style of music crosses the boundary between traditional country and
pop. Do you find it helps that that’s the direction the genre is tending to
move towards?
JH: Yeah, I’m really into modern
country like Maddie & Tae, Kelsea Ballerini, and those who are really
pop-influenced, so I take influence from that with my music, but I also think
it has a bit of a British twist to it.
CC: Speaking of British country, you’ve been on the same bill before as
another of today’s artists, Frankie Davies.
JH: We’ve done a few gigs
together. She’s really good! We’ve been messaging each other because we have to
miss each other’s sets today!
CC: I think festivals like this are a great way to introduce new
country artists to a UK audience and there are so many out there – are there
any underrated artists you’d say people need to listen to?
JH: Ooh, so many! There’s a girl
I love from Nashville who used to go by the name Ella May Bowen but she’s gone
back to her normal name Kate Bowen now – she’s really good on the songwriting
side of things. The new Catherine McGrath album came out recently so that’s
what I’ve been listening to for the past few days too.
CC: What great taste! And a good
mix of Nashville and London, which is of course why we’re here today.
JH: It’s great to have people
from Nashville coming over here to perform for us, but I think it also
encourages people from here to go over there whether on holiday or musicians
going out to work.
CC: Would you want to go?
JH: Definitely – looking on my
phone for flights right now!
CC: I’ll meet you there! So final question, what’s a question you’ve
never been asked in an interview but wish you were?
JH: I don’t know! I think you
touched on it by asking if I was supportive of the way country is going more
towards modern pop – most people tend to ask if I think it’s not changed too
much from the traditional style it used to be.
CC: I think that’s integral to country though, the evolution of the genre
and having people like you to drive the way here in the UK! Thank you so much
for answering all my question!
JH: Thank you!
I hope you enjoyed today’s interview – plenty more from other Nashville
Meets London artists coming soon! Make sure you stay tuned on the blog and
follow me on Twitter @CiarasCountry and @ThinkCountry. Drop me a note in the
comments below with any questions you have for Jade and I’ll be sure to ask her
next time!
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