Jillian Jacqueline has got to be one of the most interesting country artists out there right now, so of course we had so much to talk about in our interview! Check out Part 1 here, and read on as we talk about her latest album Honestly, working with her husband, recording with T.J. Osborne and more - enjoy!
Ciara's Country (CC): You've given me some wonderfully honest answers today – apt responses from an artist whose latest album is indeed called Honestly. Such a fantastic project, but quite a bit different from some of the stuff you’ve put out in the past – how do you think Honestly differs from your past work?
Jillian Jacqueline (JJ): First of all, the songs honestly came from a really pure and innocent time in my life of choosing to spend the rest of my life with somebody - saying ‘I do’ and becoming a mom, and the journey to that, so I wrote a lot of songs during that period. The word is overused, but it was a very vulnerable time for me. I felt that throughout the pandemic, a lot of the ego and outward affirmation got taken away for a lot of us who couldn't really go out and do what we normally did, and so I got very introspective.
I got in touch with my softer side as a songwriter and I opened up about love in a way that I hadn't felt like I could do before. I don't know why - I just think, in the past I was afraid of sounding cliche. Then I just stopped being afraid of it, and I embraced it. There's songs like Sure and Honeymoon and Iconic that are painfully sweet and like, ‘I want to be with you forever’. And I felt those things! So deeply in my bones. Honestly is a much more innocent record, and it's much more hopeful, optimistic. I think there's a little bit of the child-like Jillian, the hopeful Jillian there. That's why it's called Honestly, I got more honest with myself.
CC: Wow! And you mentioned there that you chose this time to say ‘I do’ to somebody who’s not only your life partner but also somebody that you work with as well, making music with your husband and your brother-in-law too. Music is very much a family affair for you – what’s that like?
JJ: It's really hard! I wouldn’t recommend it, only because there aren't those boundaries of, you know, ‘I don't know this person that well’, or ‘we just have a working relationship’. We have everything. The studio that we worked so much out of is in my house, so there was no turning off the ‘artist self’ and going to make dinner, it all got brought to the kitchen table. It was very hard. But I will say we all feel so gratified with how it all turned out.
It felt like a lot of blood, sweat and tears went into the process, fighting about different parts and who wanted to do what. We didn't always agree on certain vibes for songs and things, but the beautiful thing about is that we all cared so much about every song to voice opinions like that. I don't think any other producers I worked with would be like that, they wouldn't care. Both my husband and my brother-in-law would put their stake in the ground and we would just go at it and fight about certain things, but ultimately, I think it made the music better.
It's such a gift to make music with my husband. We're about to do it again actually! We're just now getting back into writing and building up tracks and starting to kind of figure out what the next sonic landscape will be. I think we've learned so much from Honestly that we're going to avoid a lot of those mistakes now. So in short, it's hard but it's worth it.
CC: What a process! I imagine there was a lot of going back and forth, but was there one song that all three of you thought ‘this is the one’?
JJ: Better With A Broken Heart. We were all so excited about that song. It just felt big, and it felt like a great cornerstone for the record. It also helped shape a lot of where we went sonically. That song just felt so easy. It's one of those songs where you hear it and after the first listen, you're like, ‘okay, I could totally sing that chorus’ - I feel like that's the mark of a well-written song. A well -written song is one that you can remember after the first time you heard it. And then obviously, T.J. Osborne jumping on the track, that’s when we knew it was really special. I’m really proud of that one.
CC: Indeed, getting T.J. Osborne to record it with you! You have such a way of attracting the most incredible voices to feature on your tracks – T.J., Charlie Worsham, Keith Urban. How do you do that?
JJ: I'm not quite sure! (laughs) To be honest, I feel like I've lucked out every time like someone’s said yes. Charlie and I were friends. I meant to mention him today during the show, because I know that you guys love Charlie more every year and how could you not? He's one of those incredible, multi-talented, prolific people.
Getting Keith was crazy too. I don't know why he said yes but I'm so glad he did. He and T.J. were such pipe dreams. But we're friends, you know, we know each other. We run in the same circle in Nashville and I thought I had to shoot my shot. I had to, because I can only hear his voice on this song and what a dream it would be. He took his time to really sit with it, which really got me nervous! I thought ‘oh, God, he hates it’. But sure enough, he got back to me about a month later and was like, ‘I’ve been listening to this song non-stop and I totally can see myself singing it and I'm down’. Wow! And then the video happened and I’m just really, really thrilled. He's such a wonderful person. Even on top of being an incredible vocalist, TJ is one of the best people I've ever met, and he and his brother just salt of the earth. They deserve every bit of success they have.
CC: I love how close knit a community country music and Nashville are so I feel like you're a great person to ask this question - is there one underrated artist out there you think everyone should be listening to?
JJ: It's a great question. There are quite a few and I want to choose my words very carefully here because I have so many friends that I feel like people should be listening to. I have to throw Charlie's name in that hat because I feel like he’s still up-and-coming in in terms of Nashville. And Caitlin Smith - we haven't worked together yet but I'm a friend from afar. We talk a lot on social media and we’re going to write a song together. Meg McCree is one of my favourite new artists. She's got something so cool going on. I just love her sound so much so you should check her out.
CC: Will do! Alright, our final question for today, Jillian – what’s one question that you've never been asked in an interview, but would love to be?
JJ: I think I've never been asked ‘do you ever forget your song lyrics?’ Nobody ever asks that and I always want to say yes! Also wardrobe malfunctions - nobody ever asks about those, and they’re so real and happen all the time. I’ve tried to hide them through the years, but I haven't ever had anything like absolutely horrible happen, like nothing like fell off, no Madonna or Lenny Kravitz moments.
CC: How about getting things thrown on stage?
JJ: I feel like that happens more for men – they get thrown things like thongs and bras, but I haven’t had anything weird thrown on stage for me.
CC: Yet! I'll see what I can bring to your next show.
JJ: Yeah, keep it interesting.
CC: Jillian, this has been such a pleasure. Thank you so much!
JJ: Thanks for having me!
What a delight to interview! I'll definitely be catching Jillian on her next tour - have you seen her perform live yet? Stay tuned for even more interviews coming soon - follow me at @CiarasCountry to be the first to know when they're posted. Thanks for reading!
No comments:
Post a Comment