Photo Credit: Kevin Jackson Jr. (undertheshutter.blogspot.com)
"The album is about my life from when I was sixteen to twenty-two years old. It's something that really grew up with me. It was me as a teenager. It was me studying art. It was me quitting art to focus on music. It's a very different part of me. When you move from one country to another you have to find some stability and goals. Music was my goal so I wouldn't get lost," JAIN told me as she politely nodded her head. Her album Zanaka became a gigantic hit in France. As I sat down with the international superstar, I couldn't help but think of how down to earth she was for being someone who was immensely well-traveled.
JAIN went into great detail about all the places she has seen in her lifetime. In an exclusive interview with the Huffington Post, she said, "I was born in the southwest of France in a town called Toulouse. I have two big sisters--I am the little one," she laughed. She continued, "When I was seven years old, we moved. I learned how to play the drums for two years. Then my father moved to Dubai so we followed him. We stayed over there for three years. Back there I learned how to play the darbuka--it is an Arabic percussion drum. For me, it really started with learning the rhythm first before I got into singing or composing. Then we moved to the Congo when I was thirteen years old. We stayed over there for four years and that's where I composed my first song. "Come" was my second or third song that I wrote ever. We recorded that with Mr. Flash. There was a lot of rap music over there so as a kid he was making a sound geared for that. With me he tried to make other things. I put the songs that we did together on MySpace. That's where I met my manager and my producer. They are still with me to this day. We have worked together for eight years now. After that, I moved again for my graduation. Then I moved back to France to go to an art school for two years." At just twenty-four years old, JAIN has developed a worldly and mature sensibility about our planet. When I asked her what she thought about art school, JAIN quickly told me, "It was really good. I loved it but that was the moment where I realized I wanted to make music. It was a big choice for me." Her gigantic decision paid off because the song "Come" has become a worldwide phenomenon.
Her collaboration with producer Mr. Flash was the right choice. When I asked her about working together with Mr. Flash, JAIN told me, "I wrote the song 'Come.' I came with my guitar and the song was already made. I had the verses, the key and melody. I just wanted to add a little something extra to make it more punchy. It was natural for us to come together and combine our universes. We had a lot of fun. It was not that serious. My manager was interested in the music. My producer also thought something interesting was going on so we put it all together." After putting the final touches on the song, JAIN created an amazing music video for "Come" that got people talking. She told me, "Well I really wanted to show that as people, we are not binary. We have a lot of different sights. So that's what I wanted to show. When I'm on stage, I play the guitar. When I sing, I use my voice. That is life. I really wanted to show the multitasking side of it. Also to show that I love different kinds of music. I love hip hop and pop music. I love reggae and electronic music. I have different sides to me." When asked about her influences, JAIN told me, "You get inspired always by others and by how you live and what you seek. I had a lot of different phases. When I was sixteen, I used to listen to a lot of Otis Redding. I also used to listen to a lot of hip hop. Then I used to listen to a lot of electronic music. In every style of music you have something good to take. That's what I'm trying to do--not to restrain myself." People got to see a whole different side of JAIN as she "Come" to the big stage to capture the hearts of music enthusiasts everywhere.
Many music fans caught wind of JAIN's performance at this year's French Grammys. The performance helped solidify JAIN as pop's most compelling new star. Performing her song "Come" at the televised spectacle, surrounded by a crew of dancing doppelgangers and backed by blaring brass, JAIN stole the show as the crowd gave her a long standing ovation. The following day, "Come" was at No.1, helping to propel Zanaka to platinum sales in France after a couple of months of its release. When speaking about her breakout performance at the French Grammys, JAIN told me, "It was amazing because we had a budget so we could actually do things. We could add people. The timing of the song--we could have played for ten minutes if we wanted to. We felt so free. We really wanted to propose something interesting for people who were watching the TV. That's why it was so creative and interesting for us." She followed up by saying, "It's very funny because when the French Grammys happen, it is tradition that whoever the winner winds up being isn't really the winner in the long run. Whoever wins is not the one that the people remember. The song that wasn't the winner usually winds up being #1 the next day. I was so happy about it. I was happy to perform that song that I wrote with Mr. Flash." JAIN is now focused on getting the rest of her music out there for the world to enjoy.
JAIN doesn't shy away from taking a political stance either. One of her tracks on Zanaka that talks about politics is "Makeba." The song is a love letter to the South African singer and civil rights activist Miriam Makeba. JAIN's song caught the attention of the world when Jaden Smith played "Makeba" on his Beats radio show. When I asked her why she wrote the moving tribute, she told me, "I really grew up with Miriam Makeba's voice. Then I realized a lot of my friends didn't know who she was and her fight against apartheid. I found that really sad because she was a figure of freedom and I wanted to make a song about her." It was refreshing to see a young person feel so passionate about standing up for what is right.
With a clear head and her eyes on the prize, JAIN is going to be in the music industry for years to come. When I asked about her experience in the business so far, JAIN concluded, "People are very nice to me. The thing that I like the most is that I have fans from ages seven to seventy-seven years old. It's a very large and diverse audience that comes together to support me which I appreciate. It's amazing for me to be here in the United States. I'm here in New York and I'm lucky enough to do some shows. I'm working on making great things and then afterwords seeing what happens. I don't put too much pressure on myself."
You can keep up with JAIN's adventures on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. You can purchase Zanaka on iTunes by clicking here.