Question: Researching an Artist that inspires you, How does their music appeal to you and why?
The artist I have chosen to research for my written analysis is Jessie J. I will focus my essay on how she rose to fame, the meaning behind her music, and how it has allowed to her to gain so much popularity. I will be breaking down key components in which I analyse the growth of the artist, their music, and how they have inspired their audience including myself. I wanted to research Jessie J because I am a performer, and her amazing vocal talent inspires me to improve my own vocal ability and my performances. Additionally, I can relate to her story also her songs because she is able to convey emotional messages in her music. Researching Jessie J would help me to become more innovative with discovering different career paths, learning about production, and why she has been able to appeal to me and her audience on such a large scale. I will be using Documentaries, Articles, and studies in which I can utilise the information gained to give an in-depth analysis on how she became successful and how she has effectively utilised assets are used to appeal to her audience.
Before advancing into why Jessie J inspires me as an Artist, I wanted to research her identity and how she began her career as a Musician. Jessie J’s real name is Jessica Ellen Cornish and she was born in March the 27th 1988. She is known professionally as Jessie J, an English singer songwriter. Born and raised in London, she began her career on stage, when she was 11, with the role in the West End Musical “Whistle down the wind”. She studied at the BRIT school which is a British performing arts and technology school located in the London Borough of Croydon. Before signing with GUT Records, an English independent Record label formed in 1991, located in London And then finally striking a songwriting deal with Sony/ATV Music publishing, which is an American Music Publisher apart of the Sony Music group.
Wikipedia. 2022. Jessie J – Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. [online] Available at: <https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessie_J> [Accessed 13 January 2022].
Signing to these previously mentioned labels enabled Jessie J release her first Debut Album. I was able to find about how Jessie J first got discovered as an Artist. After releasing her first debut single “Do it like a Dude” her following single “Price Tag” topped the charts in 19 countries including the UK. This was shortly followed by “Who you are”, her second album released in 2011, which peaked at number two in the UK. Jessie J was a very ambitious person, who studied at one of the top performing schools in all of England, and was able to be recognised for her abilities. I am currently in a similar situation, hoping to achieve a degree in music and hoping to progress in my career in the same way she was able to. I feel inspired by the message of working to achieve your dreams, she was someone that studied and learnt about her craft and was scouted for her great talent, and that’s what I hope to achieve one day as well.
After researching about Jessie J’s identity I will be researching albums previously mentioned that were released back in 2011. “Who you are” was her debut album and it holds some of my most favorite songs released by the Singer. The two songs I want to focus on are “Who you are” and “Price Tag” both songs that inspire me for their meaning and creativity. Not only that, I can relate to the artist with my own experiences and it gives me and the audience something to reflect on, and something we can recognise in ourselves. Jessie J has spoken about experiencing a rough childhood, she has described to have been bullied in school for her appearance and interests. Those unfortunate events inspired the main focus of her first album, challenging discrimination, and the superficial views of society. These meanings that she expresses in her songs are the reasons why her music is able to appeal to her audience. The first songs I want to analyse is “Who you are” the debut single of her first album. Jessie J explained the song’s meaning during an intimate show at The Sofitel’s Stone Rose on November 2, 2010. She revealed, “I kind of lost myself. It’s very personal. It’s about being true to yourself. Don’t lose yourself in any situation you’re put in, and do the dew.”
This quote shows that Jessie J was able to put her emotions into words. Songs with raw emotional meaning are able to connect with thousands of people across the world, and I am no exception. Jessie J wrote this self-help ballad at the end of a lonely three months trip to Los Angeles when she was 20. Having been shunted from studio to studio with various producers she was ready to give up on her dreams. She told The Independent December 10, 2010: “I’m very much someone that lives to be happy. It’s not just about the parties and I know so-and-so – I’m not that girl. So I looked in the mirror and started to cry and said ‘who am I?’ Music is my therapy. This is struggle I can see many people still facing today – including myself. Even in my own college work there’s times where I simply want to give up. That’s why Jessie J is so inspiring, because she encourages everyone to carry on, and pursue their goals, and eventually, even jessie J succeeded.
The second song I wanted to mention was “Price Tag” released in 2011. This songs challenges society’s critical views and it reminds us that life isn’t all about the Glamour, money, fame and fortune. And over time the song addresses that everyone has seemed to have forgotten about the true meaning of why we live. This song reminds us that we should celebrate each other, and our differences. We as a society always go back to classifying each other with labels like rich and poor, black or white, but at the end of the day those labels shouldn’t matter. Jessie J is trying to convey that we put a price on everything, and we forget about what really matters, We worry to much about what other people think and we get carried away, so we don’t enjoy life anymore. we put ourselves through this misery and we can choose to stop right now forget about the past. This song is opens with a strong first set of lyrics: “Seems like everybody’s got a price,” As if everybody only cares about money. How can they live comfortably if they focus on getting profit and not prioritizing the truth? I feel like everyone can relate to this some in some type of way, The world is run by capitalism, and businesses who put a price on happiness, and that rubs off on other people. The fact that Jessie J is able to openly express serious topics like these in her music is one of the main reasons why people enjoy her music and why I chose to write about her for my essay.
Overall Jessie J is such a powerful artist, being able to research her background and research some of her most popular songs was honestly quite fascinating. She has always been an artist I’ve really looked up to and admired, but she is someone I have looked up to and grown up with since I was a child. She was an obvious pick because there’s just so much to write about her. In this essay I researched how the artist paved her way to fame, and studied her most popular first hit album, the meanings behind that album and how that inspired me and the audience. I think I have correctly answered my question in a way that people can understand. I went into depth about the artist, her songs, and the people that helped her get where she is and even learned her own views on hot topics by analysing her songs and through that, I explained how all of those factors inspired myself to be a better artist. The traits that I mentioned all link to why she is an artist I love to listen to, and her climb to fame is a challenge even I am facing to today, the characteristics and similarities we see in other people allow us to relate as humans.