In conversation with singer-songwriter Jai Blue
Photographer credit: Samia Almoujtahed
Jai Blue is a singer-songwriter from West London. She speaks about her journey into creativity, how she turned her emotions into poetry and song, and how her mother’s love continues to influence her.
C: How did your love for writing and music come about?
J: I’ve always been a creative child. I was always creating things and writing stories. When I was nine years old, I joined a poetry group called WAPPY which stands for Writing, Acting, & Publishing Projects for Youngsters. It was a very small organisation but it helped me grow my confidence. I was very shy, but through WAPPY I started turning my stories into poems and then performing them around the community. When I was 11, I discovered the guitar and I loved singers like Taylor Swift so my mum would say to me, why don’t you write your own songs instead of covering other songs? So, I turned my poems into songs.
C: You seem to have a great relationship with your mother. Do you want to tell us a little bit more about her?
J: My mother studied art school and did lots of paintings. She always supported me with anything creative. As a child I would tell her about my day everyday. I was a very sensitive child. My mother said to me, ‘you need to channel your feelings into your art.’ One day when I was 12 years old, I came home and I was crying. I remembered what she said so I grabbed my guitar and a song came out in ten minutes. I’ve never been able to do that before. It was like a piece of musical magic arrived.
Photographer credit: Samia Almoujtahed
C: That’s a wonderful discovery. What was the song you wrote at 12 years old?
J: It’s a song called ‘No Quitter’. It’s about me processing the 12 years of my life. In the song I spoke about the experiences I had, and particularly when I was in karate class and wanted to quit after two weeks. My mum said, ‘No, I didn’t raise a quitter.’ So in the song I spoke about how I stayed in that class, I became the best in that class, I went through all the stages and got my belts. It was a lesson to not quit when things got tough for me and by not letting people affect me with what they say.
C: You’re right, life can be really tough sometimes and we learn that good things just don’t come to us. Sometimes we have to go through the hard things to get to the good things. You released your debut single called ‘18’ which you wrote after you met your dad. Do you want to tell us a bit more about the song?
J: I wrote the song ‘18’ after my 18th birthday. I met my dad for the first time around then so there was a lot to process. ‘18’ went through the affections towards my father, the loss of not having a father in my life, being able to forgive yet also moving on. The main message of the song was ‘it’s too late to be significant now.’ I’m really proud of that song because it was quite a brave song. I enjoyed releasing that song.
Photographer credit: Samia Almoujtahed
C: There’s a big theme going through your life and your songs about overcoming adversity despite how we feel. What are you working on at the moment and what can we expect to hear from you?
J: At the moment I’m working on my next project and I’ve been in the studio a lot recently. I’m really enjoying honing my sound, and collaborating with different artists and pieces. In the near future I hope to have completed this project and for the project to be reflective of where I am at now. My song writing has evolved so much, and my voice is a lot stronger. I think this evolution happened quite naturally, especially with my songs as they are almost like diary entries as I’ve gotten older. I’m really excited to share it. I hope to release the project towards the end of the year or early next year.
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Follow Jai Blue on
Instagram: @itsjaiblue
Youtube: www.youtube.com/jaiblue
