JESSIKA

By taking control, we dictate our destiny.

As a singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer, JESSIKA inhabits a vision of her own design with full control in her hands. The UK-born and New York-based songstress balances dark and light, depression and elation, levity and lust, and vulnerability and vitality by grafting uncut storytelling upon layers of rich production. Piecing together a mosaic of vibes, she gleefully dips in and out of pop and alternative with eloquent song craft and show stopping performances.

Now, she formally introduces herself in 2023 with her debut for BMG and more to come.

“It’s very personal,” she affirms. “I wrote this record 100%. Half of it is fun. Half of it is dark. There’s a lot of grit and truth behind these songs. I wanted to capture everything—the darkness, the light, and the vulnerability.”

Growing up in Birmingham, UK, JESSIKA gravitated towards music via her parents. She discovered the likes of Fleetwood Mac, Bryan Ferry, and John Lee Hooker through her father. Embracing her voice, she cut her teeth by belting out covers in smoky jazz bars at barely 15-years-old. School gave her an ultimatum though, “Music or class.” (You can imagine what she chose) Mom and dad supported her decision, and she wound up in London a year later. Marathon performances in “cigar clubs” admittedly left her “burnt out.”

So, she gave herself an ultimatum…

JESSIKA booked a one-way flight to New York and promised to “get a deal.”Hustling and writing nonstop, she caught the attention of BMG and inked her publishing deal. After a short stint at home in the UK, she settled in New York and taught herself to produce by watching engineers in the studio. Changing up the scenery, she traded the Big Apple for Music City. Over the course of two weeks, she decamped to a studio at BMG’s Nashville office, writing into the middle of the night regularly and translating a myriad of unbelievable experiences into songs. Without an apartment or permanent lodging in Nashville, she even slept in the office on whatever couch she could find (unbeknownst to the staff), making coffee and acting like she just got there when the sun rose again. “They eventually found out and took away my key card,”she laughs.

With the songs written, she proceeded to record her debut between New York and the legendary Abbey Road Studios in London with co-producer Kyle Kelso [Kygo, Aloe Blacc, Galantis].

She begins her next era with the debut single “Her.” In the track, an off-kilter arpeggio underlines her hypnotic delivery as a laidback beat bounces towards a biting hook, “I bet you she don’t love you like the way I used to do.”

“I saw a picture of my ex-boyfriend with his new girlfriend,” she sighs. “I called him at 6am and asked, ‘Who’s this girl?’ Keep in mind, we hadn’t been together for a year. I said, ‘I hope you’re happy, because she won’t love you like I did.’ He was like, ‘Probably not’. I assured him she won’t. I got off the phone and got on my laptop. The song wrote itself from there.”

On its heels, “World Ain’t Ready” hinges on sparse piano as longing echoes through her robust delivery. “It’s probably my darkest song,” she goes on. “I met this guy, and he was with someone else at the time. I wrote him and said, ‘The world ain’t ready for us’. At the same time, you can also feel like the world ain’t ready for you as a person and you don’t fit in.”

She leans into a moment of anxiety and converts it into the manically catchy“Broken.” She adds, “It’s all about survival. When you’re chasing your dreams, it’s not easy for many reasons. You need to get through every fucking day.”

Elsewhere, she stomps forward on the guitar-laden flurry of “Nine Inch Heels.”

“It’s female empowerment,” she says. “I was trying to get a deal for a while, and I felt like I was always doing my deals in my nine inch heels. I was feeling strong and fierce.”

Speaking of empowerment, her sassy delivery takes center stage over the upbeat soundscape of “Fuck Our Fears.” She culled inspiration from an evening at a cottage on the beach with her mother and brother. In the throes of respective mental health crises, they opted to “make some hot chocolates, go outside, and watch the SpaceX rockets.”

“We sat under the stars, and it changed our whole mindset,” she recalls. “It discusses mental health, OCD, drinking, loneliness, and being human.”

Then, there’s “Therapy.” Whistles wrap around airy guitar as her vocals levitate inservice of an unfiltered confession.

“I had to stop my bloody therapy, because I believed I fell in love with the therapist,” she admits. “I don’t think it was true now. It was transference. It cost me a fortune and all I learned is you can’t buy love. I got a song from the experience, so that was good.”

In the end, JESSIKA holds nothing back, and it’s why she ultimately connects.

“When you listen to me, I hope you feel sad and happy all at once,” she leaves off.“I’m bringing light to these dark stories, but they’re still honest. You can hide behind a picture but you can’t hide behind a song. I hope you relate and know this is my truth.”

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