Alt-Pop Singer Jesse Adams Grows and Matures Alongside “Gravity”
Life can be bittersweet. Jesse Adams‘ music captures that elusive state somewhere between defeat and resolve, misery and joy. After experiencing disparate moments of bliss and devastation, Jesse reached back into her childhood diary of songs, yanked them from their resting place, and revisited each from a more mature perspective.
Her fierce and dynamic new song, “Gravity,” has been 16 years in the making. She started writing this song when she was seven years old with her friend Sara Bandkohal and finished it later in adulthood after rewriting some lyrics and melodies.
Jesse explains her inspiration for the song:
“Life isn’t stagnant. Just when you think you’re winning, you lose, and vice versa. It’s unpredictable. It’s out of our control like gravity.”
Watch the video for “Gravity” below and learn more about Jesse Adams via our Five Questions With segment.
Care to introduce yourself to our readers?
Hey, I’m Jesse, a singer-songwriter from Hamilton, Ontario. I started writing songs for fun when I was seven, and I just never stopped. Now, I’m finally pursuing music as a career. I was initially drawn to songwriting as an outlet for storytelling. Getting lost in music as a child allowed me to enter my own world, almost like a book. That’s probably why my music tends to sound like a movie soundtrack. It’s my dream to mix my singer-songwriter side with my dance and acting background to tell my stories in an intriguing and unique way. If you enjoy the worlds that Taylor Swift and Lana Del Rey create, you might like my music! It’s pop alternative with rock, jazz, folk, and orchestral elements woven in. I draw from a range of inspirations, starting with singing for my high school jazz band, where I had the opportunity to use my voice as an instrument and witness how various parts in a musical arrangement can intertwine to make magic. I learned more advanced chord progressions, allowing me to elevate my own songwriting by pushing the boundaries of the soundscape. I continue to experiment with my sound every day, but I always go back to the storytelling. That’s why in my upcoming album Gravity, the songs sound quite different individually. Like if you were to play them on shuffle, you might wonder what is this intense rock song doing next to this folksy ballad? But when played in order, you’ll see that there is an overarching story and that the songs are tied thematically and sonically in a cohesive way.
Tell us a bit about your most recent release.
Gravity came out less than two weeks ago, and the music video already has 8,000 streams and counting! It’s about a girl with the world at her fingertips who almost risks it all for someone willing to drag her down with them. Will she sever the pull of their gravity, or will she succumb to it? Written by me and my childhood friend Sara Bandkohal when we were seven and nine, respectively, Gravity has changed a lot throughout the years, both musically and lyrically. While it is much more mature and musically advanced now, it maintains the original essence of the song: adventurous and wild. Gravity was produced and engineered by Will Crann and Emma Whale from Hamilton’s own Catherine North Studios, with piano by Emma, guitar, and bass by Will, drums by Marshall Lister, cello by Jill Sauerteig, and violin by Andrew Chung, with instrumentation arranged by me. My good friend and fellow artist Saad Sheikh directed the music video. I came up with the idea of being chased, and Saad came up with who would be chasing me. Huge thanks also go out to my friend Micha Jensen, our production assistant.
Where do you tend to pull inspiration from when writing?
My best writing occurs when I am feeling something deeply. I write the songs a lot faster, and it feels more natural when this is the case. When my emotions overcome me, it feels like the song pours out of me. For instance, I wrote my songs Then I Do and The Darkest Hour, both out now, in about ten to fifteen minutes each because I was feeling things so intensely that I just had to sit down and write. I’m still able to write songs when I’m chilling, but in that case, it can take me years to finish the song. Another way I love to write is by getting into the head of a character, whether already established in fiction or made up in my head. Getting another person’s intentions across in a song opens up so many doors I never would have thought possible if I was stuck in my own head. Ultimately, I want to tell intriguing stories, and there’s more than one way to do that.
Do you have any upcoming shows you’d like to tell us about?
Yes! I have a show on May 3 at The Moonshine Cafe in Oakville. My producer Emma Whale will also be on the bill. It’ll be a more intimate show, just me and the piano, with Emma doing some background harmonies to my original songs. It’s the same sort of setting for my August 2 show at the Casbah Lounge in Hamilton. However, my band and I (made up of me, Emma Whale on keys, guitar, and backup vocals, and Marshall Lister on drums) just formed, and we’re rehearsing for a chance at some larger venues that play full bands. I’m super excited for people to hear my music live with more than just me and my piano, but there’s also something to be said about hearing the bare bones of the song, with nothing but you and your instrument, taking you back to where you started and how you wrote the pieces initially.
What’s your goal for 2023?
My goal for 2023 is to release a single every month until my album Gravity comes out in November! Stay tuned for my next single, “Test The Water,” coming May 12. It’s about trusting yourself to be okay again after heartbreak, and I can’t wait for you to hear it. Besides releasing new music, I hope to continue gigging and meet other artists on the gigging scene. Saad and I are also hoping to film some more music videos. Gravity was so much fun to make, and I love adding aesthetically pleasing visuals to my songs. Additionally, I will continue to grow my YouTube channel. I started making album and song reaction videos in November, and now I have over 3,600 subscribers. I want to continue building my YouTube community which has been so supportive of my music career. Ultimately, I just want to share my love of music and songwriting with people this year, and I hope you join me for the ride!
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