Heavily tipped when she broke in 2017, UK-born, LA-based singer Jade Bird has ploughed her own furrow ever since. Here, she holds court on hype, why studios can be “brutal” and her third LP, Who Wants To Talk About Love?...
INTERVIEW: Lisa Wright
Having hit the Top 10 with your debut album, how do you reflect on your breakthrough now?
“There’s a freedom now where the industry feels like anarchy. Everyone gets caught up in monthly listeners, but nothing’s adding up. People that have a bunch of monthly listeners can’t sell out shows and vice versa, so the measurement of success is changing and, honestly, all I care about is being able to play shows for the rest of my life. There’s something freeing about the fact that ‘week one’ no longer matters and a record can have a life whenever, so it’s never over. That’s such a positive about where we are now, especially being a woman, where you’re made to think that at a certain point you’re meant to pack up.”
You’ve spoken before about not wanting to be sonically pigeon-holed – how does the new album open up new ground?
“I’m really proud that the songwriting is quintessentially me and it’s a style [people] can’t replicate because, when you’ve worked on something for 10 years, you get a tone. The production has been really interesting too, because on this record I got to work on it the most in-depth. I was so involved, so even the sonics of it sound so much like me because I was there making every decision.”
Did it take a while to feel like you could have your voice heard as a woman in those studio spaces?
“Oh my God, yes! I’ve been in some rooms recently where, if I hadn’t had a 10-year career and I was 19 again, I’d be in tears. They made me feel like, even though I’ve written the song, that those ideas weren’t good, that I should be grateful to be there. Now, being a bit older and working with a lot of younger female artists, I just want to give any strength I have because these rooms can be brutal.”
How much progress has there been since you started?
“It’s hard to tell because Luka [Kloser] and Elvira [Anderfjärd] just did the new Addison Rae record and that’s the coolest thing ever. You see artists like Charli XCX, or Sabrina Carpenter and [songwriter] Amy Allen – who are a powerhouse duo – and women are fronting pop music in an undeniable way. But then we’re still struggling with stats for producers and still maybe not addressing the root cause.”
What are the biggest hurdles facing artists right now?
“Touring is where artists have always made money. With record sales, you’ve got a history of artists being screwed over even before things went digital, but touring is becoming more expensive and harder to make a profit on. So if you take that out, and you’re taking digital out, where else is it supposed to come from? Label advances? And do you want the kind of music where labels are just putting a bunch of money in all the time? It’s a dangerous game where we’re all supposed to eventually go on Patreon. We’re edging towards artists being a subscription service, which is pretty dark…”
So, what would be the one change you’d make to the industry?
“That you can’t play a show if you’re gonna make a loss. If you’re selling out a show, there has to be some stipulation that’s like, ‘OK, you will make this amount.’ It just seems so obscene that you can play shows and the costs wipe you out, even though you’ve sold it out. There needs to be some way – whether it’s through the big companies or through unions – that artists can turn a profit like they used to.”
