Interview: July Jones is heading in a new musical direction

[vc_row el_class=”interview”][vc_column][vc_column_text el_class=”intro-text”]In the wake of her latest single release, July Jones is gearing up to unveil a raft of powerhouse melodies in 2018.

Her new track, ‘Solo’, flips electro-pop on its head, delivering a much darker and alluring sound than in her previous work. This, accompanied by the song’s raw visuals, signifies the beginning of July’s transformation into the “gangster girl of pop music.”

Since arriving in London two years ago, the 21-year-old songstress has performed at Pride (Trafalgar Square and Croydon), Essex Festival and The Great Escape. Jones has had a busy few months juggling gigs, stylising her work with visuals and helping other artists write new music. Last week, we managed to catch up with her to discuss her music, life and her eagerly awaited upcoming projects.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]

• Hey July, congrats on your new video for ‘Solo’! What was the inspiration behind it?
• My initial idea was to wear three different suits for the video – in red, black and white. We were planning to do the same choreography for all three of them in a white room, then Dua Lipa released a video the day before our shoot, doing the exact same thing. I was like, “I can’t do that now!” So we were trying to quickly figure out how to change it, and I thought it would be really cool if we used red paint, although we didn’t expect it to look as bloody as it ended up.
• When did you first get into music?
• I started getting into music when I was really young. I was into classical music and played piano for seven years. I was also in a choir at the same time and even though I loved it, my voice is quite soulful so I really wanted to try being in a gospel choir.

[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text el_class=”large-quote”]“The LGBTQ community has been my biggest supporter. Pride London really took me on first here in London. They are the ones who offered me bigger stages and exposed me to bigger audiences.”[/vc_column_text][vc_video link=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHkKzwEpikI”][vc_column_text]

• How did it develop from there?
• My sister was living in LA at the time and I would visit her there every summer. It’s a lot more multicultural than where I come from in Slovenia, which is plain boring. I was desperate to join a gospel choir, and in my mind as a child, I was like “I need to move to the States! There are no gospel choirs here and I want to be like Sister Act – not with my sister though, just by myself!“ When I was in high school I met this guy who was running a programme that meant I could go to the States. I actually was the first student that went from my country, and I spent the last two years of school living and studying just outside Chicago. It was a really multicultural school and I finally got to be in a gospel choir and it acted as such a big influence on my music.
• How did you get discovered?
• I was first discovered when I posted a video of myself singing Adele – ‘Someone Like You’ on YouTube. I think it got around half a million views at the time, but it’s been taken down since then. My label made me delete it. They were like “You cannot post on YouTube anymore, you’re an artist now and you don’t do covers!” My heart was a bit broken. But yeah, over it now.
• When did you first get signed to a label?
• I first got signed to a record label when I was 14 in Germany. They would fly me out every weekend and that’s when I also started writing for different artists, so I really go into writing at that point.
• I first saw you performing at London Pride in 2016. Are you often involved with pro-diversity events?
• Yes, I’m involved with loads. The LGBTQ community has been my biggest supporter. Pride London really took me on first when I moved here. They are the ones who offered me bigger stages and exposed me to bigger audiences. It was a really huge deal for me at the time because I was just coming out as bisexual. I was with my girlfriend for two years by that point but had not come out yet, so it was a big change for me performing and being involved in the community. Once I came out, I felt so proud and was so excited to be involved in their events. Performing on the main stage at Pride was the biggest thing I had ever done at that point. It felt powerful, although I didn’t feel ready for it at all at the time, it felt great giving something back to the community.
• Is there much of a music scene where you’re from in Slovenia?
• Slovenia is amazing in so many ways, but not so much when it comes to music. We just do Eurovision…that’s all there is! I wrote for them two years ago, but I don’t want to do any performances. I wrote for UK Eurovision as well which was so much fun. You know what, a lot of people don’t realise that writing is a separate and big part of what I do, so 50% of my time goes to writing for my own projects and the other 50% goes to other artists.
• Would you say there’s been much of an evolution from your 2017 track ‘Jump in the Water’ to ‘Solo’?
• Yes, oh my god! Just wait for what’s coming. ‘Solo’ is the first track where we’re pushing in the direction that I want to go in. All of the next tracks that we’re releasing right now are all in the same lane as ‘Solo’. It’s an introduction to what I’m trying to do. ‘Jump in the Water’ still means a lot to me – people love the song – but it is very different, it was me trying to figure myself out.
• How do they differ?
• We’re going for a very electronic pop kind of sound now. Everything is quite synthy, like The Weeknd, but the top lines are coming from quite a hip-hop background – they’re very rappy. So while I wouldn’t say it’s rap, the flow from rap definitely comes into the music. Think Kendrick Lamar meets The Weeknd. I want to be the gangster girl of pop music.
• Who are you listening to at the moment?
• I’m obsessed with Kendrick Lamar. He’s my favourite. I love The Weeknd and MNEK – his new track is amazing. Billie Eilish – I love her too. Everybody is quite cool and that’s the kind of sound that I try to go for.
• Tell me a secret! What can we look forward to in 2018?
• The next track we’re doing is a cover of Post Malone for Spotify. We’ve just got the rights from him and I’ve done a cover of his song in my style. I made a pop track out of his rapping and we also did a video for it which is really cool. We’re doing visuals for every single project we’re working on right now  – we’re currently shooting something in a Casino which you’ll find out more about soon!

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]To keep up to date with everything July Jones, including her performances, videos and new music, head over to her social channels below.

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