Speaker 1: Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of Inside of
Speaker 1: the Studio on iHeart Radio. My name is Jordan Runt Tug,
Speaker 1: but enough about me. My guest today is an up
Speaker 1: and coming pop prodigy. She began playing piano at age
Speaker 1: five and made her on stage debut as a teen,
Speaker 1: singing a song by fellow Texan Don Henley. She's come
Speaker 1: a long way in the decades since then. Today she's
Speaker 1: making a name for herself by pusing her love of
Speaker 1: seventies singer songwriters, ad sinth rock and rhythms from her
Speaker 1: Cuban heritage into a fresh sound for the dance club charts.
Speaker 1: You can hear the influences on her single Forever Yours
Speaker 1: and her latest song Checkmate, partially inspired by everyone's favorite
Speaker 1: quarantine stream, The Queen's Gambit. It's an infectious and empowering
Speaker 1: anthem in which the Queen takes the King. I'm so
Speaker 1: happy to welcome my guest today, Jenna Rose. Well, I'm
Speaker 1: speaking to you a few days after The Queen's Gambit one.
Speaker 1: I think it was eleven Emmys, so it feels appropriate
Speaker 1: to start with your new single, Checkmate, which is wracked
Speaker 1: up I think five million views on YouTube and two
Speaker 1: point five million streams. Tell me about the background of
Speaker 1: that song. How did it first come together? Yeah, I
Speaker 1: mean you mentioned the Queen's gambit, which was a huge
Speaker 1: influence on the song obviously, So yeah, I just wanted
Speaker 1: to incorporate the strategy of chess into a song, and
Speaker 1: being a songwriter, that's what I try and do with
Speaker 1: every song is be creative and come up with new ideas.
Speaker 1: And so when I saw the Queen's gambit, I was like,
Speaker 1: oh my gosh, and seeing such a strong, powerful woman
Speaker 1: in chess, in a game where men and women are
Speaker 1: on the exact same playing field, it was so powerful
Speaker 1: to me and really resonated, and so I took it
Speaker 1: to a song, and that's how Checkmate came about. That's funny,
Speaker 1: you know, I never really thought about relationships and chess
Speaker 1: as having much in common. I guess the strategy, well,
Speaker 1: what some of the more of the overlap there. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I think with every relationship in your life, whether it's
Speaker 1: I'm a romantic relationship, friendship, family, there's strategy. I think
Speaker 1: we can all admit that. And you talk to people
Speaker 1: differently and you do different things, and so is stress
Speaker 1: With chess. You always have to be three moves ahead,
Speaker 1: and so that's kind of it relates to life. Like
Speaker 1: you said, stress, there is a really good Freudian slip
Speaker 1: right there with relationships, right, I know it makes sense.
Speaker 1: I mean the lyrics, I mean they could be pretty
Speaker 1: cutting at point. My heart is more than a target,
Speaker 1: but I took a bullet regardless. I mean, where did
Speaker 1: that come from? What was this inspired by a real
Speaker 1: relationship or was this this fiction? Where where did that
Speaker 1: come from? You know, with every song, I write it
Speaker 1: for other people, but I take from relationships in my
Speaker 1: life and experiences that I've had. So it definitely has
Speaker 1: stem from relationships in my life and different things that
Speaker 1: I've gone through. So yeah, it's definitely real for me.
Speaker 1: We've all been there, unfortunately. Yeah, it is a great track.
Speaker 1: What was it life working with Nick for long? I
Speaker 1: know he's written with so many great people Blink two
Speaker 1: see Byoki all time low number of really wonderful people.
Speaker 1: What was that collaboration? Like? It was so fun. He's
Speaker 1: so talented and as a fellow songwriter, it's so fun
Speaker 1: to work with people who are like minded, and it
Speaker 1: was just such a smooth process and really really a
Speaker 1: great experience. I probably should have asked us earlier. Do
Speaker 1: you play chess? I do. I do. I grew up
Speaker 1: playing it with my dad. Really, Oh wow, I mean
Speaker 1: it's so funny. It's one of those things that I
Speaker 1: assume I'm Okaya, and then I meet people that like
Speaker 1: have their own chess clocks and like go to like
Speaker 1: park benches in New York and bring their own pieces
Speaker 1: and play with strangers. I'm like, oh, I'm not like that,
Speaker 1: I guess. And then you watch The Queen's Gambit as well,
Speaker 1: and you're like, oh my gosh. Well, oh, I mean
Speaker 1: it's so cool the song that's such an empowering message,
Speaker 1: and the visuals are so amazing. I mean just crazy
Speaker 1: in the best way. I mean, it's like The Queen's
Speaker 1: Gambit meets Alison Wonderland. I think you've said that seemed
Speaker 1: like a blast. Shoot. It was so much fun. It
Speaker 1: was like Christmas the whole day long. I kept saying
Speaker 1: that it like one up the other. Every outfit, every scene,
Speaker 1: it was just like a dream. Oh my god. I
Speaker 1: mean you worked with Richie Jackson, I believe, Lady Gaga's choreographer.
Speaker 1: What was that process like of getting all those steps
Speaker 1: down so much fun. I love to dance, and so
Speaker 1: incorporating that into the music video is something I really
Speaker 1: really wanted to do and Richie was the perfect person
Speaker 1: for that. He's so talented. And also, Lady Gaga has
Speaker 1: been a huge influence for me as an artist, and
Speaker 1: her visuals are so insanely amazing, and so having him
Speaker 1: on the project was just such a blessing. And some
Speaker 1: of the styles in the video too were very very Gaga.
Speaker 1: I mean like, come on that yellow dress when you're
Speaker 1: on the chess board, it's so cool. Like how evolved
Speaker 1: were you with with with picking the outfits? Yeah, I
Speaker 1: have an amazing stylist. Her name is Tiffany Gifford, and
Speaker 1: she's so talented, and we had our fitting and we
Speaker 1: knew that we wanted a crazy cool rest on the
Speaker 1: life size chessboard and she delivered with that. When I
Speaker 1: saw the yellow dress and my jaw dropped, I was
Speaker 1: I was so excited and all the fashion. Fashion is
Speaker 1: so important to me as an artist. I think fashion
Speaker 1: and music go hand in hand, and to so to
Speaker 1: have that in my video so cool. I was gonna say,
Speaker 1: I saw your your countdown, your favorite met Gal looks
Speaker 1: on I think goes on Twitter the other day. You
Speaker 1: feel like you need your own style blog or something
Speaker 1: that was awesome. I should have a style blog. That's
Speaker 1: a good idea. Seriously, did they let you keep the
Speaker 1: yellow dress or any of the outfits from the set?
Speaker 1: Unfortunately No, I did get to keep the body suit,
Speaker 1: the Laclon Smith body suit. That. Oh I have that
Speaker 1: in my closet. Hopefully one day it'll be an amazing
Speaker 1: peace to have. Oh that's so cool. I love going
Speaker 1: to uh to vintage stores and thrift stores me and
Speaker 1: my girlfriend. I love because I'm in New York and
Speaker 1: going out in Brooklyn stuff. I know you're out in
Speaker 1: l A. Are there any favorite thrift shops or vintage
Speaker 1: places you like to hit up? Oh? I love the
Speaker 1: Melrose Trading Post here. But I was actually in New York.
Speaker 1: My brother lives in Brooklyn, and so we went in Boklyn. Oh, well,
Speaker 1: do you remember any of the places? H m hmm.
Speaker 1: I don't remember the names of them. It was really
Speaker 1: fun though, and a great experience there. Oh yeah, I
Speaker 1: mean this is really cool stores. I mentioned the Queen's
Speaker 1: Gambit earlier. What other shows did you kept your company?
Speaker 1: During the pandemic. I think my parents and I watched
Speaker 1: all of Homeland we were just looking for and the
Speaker 1: Outer Bank. Of course, I think everyone watched Outer Banks too,
Speaker 1: But the Queen's Game was a big one for me.
Speaker 1: Oh definitely. I don't know. We did the oh my god, yeah,
Speaker 1: Tiger King of course. Uh, caught up on Succession, getting
Speaker 1: ready for the new season, and uh, and then when
Speaker 1: we wanted to get cheered up. Have you ever seen
Speaker 1: The Wonder Years show? I mean, it's this really sweet.
Speaker 1: It was the show from the late eighties, like a
Speaker 1: sitcom about these these kids growing up in the late sixties.
Speaker 1: It's just like massive, like hallmarky kind of coming of age,
Speaker 1: super sweet. Like every episode, I feel like it was
Speaker 1: like happy tears kind of thing. That was like the
Speaker 1: cheer up moment if you were if the news became
Speaker 1: too much. So I love that. I'm going to give
Speaker 1: it a try. I think they just they started a
Speaker 1: remake of it. In fact, no one's telling me to
Speaker 1: say this, but I think it's premiering this week. Actually
Speaker 1: it's uh, yeah, it's it's very sweet. But but anyway, Uh,
Speaker 1: speaking of the Wonder Years, I want to ask you
Speaker 1: about your early years. How did you first get into music.
Speaker 1: I know you started playing piano, like what age five? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think I was actually four when I started playing piano.
Speaker 1: I started because my brother was taking lessons. My brother's
Speaker 1: four years older than me, and I was jealous that
Speaker 1: he was taking piano lessons, and so I was like,
Speaker 1: I have to do this too, and so yeah, I
Speaker 1: started piano and guitar when I was four. And then
Speaker 1: when I was nine, my friend asked me if I
Speaker 1: wanted to do joint singing lessons, and I was kind
Speaker 1: of like, sure, I guess I will, and so I
Speaker 1: went with her. We did lessons and we had our
Speaker 1: first performance coming up at the House of Blues in Dallas,
Speaker 1: and she had to go out of town and so
Speaker 1: I did the performance alone and I was yeah, I
Speaker 1: was nine, and I was so terrified because I was
Speaker 1: such a shy kid, and so I stepped up on
Speaker 1: the stage and it was a life changing moment for me,
Speaker 1: just like feeling at home on the stage and singing
Speaker 1: is something that I never thought that I I could do,
Speaker 1: just stemming from just being so scared to talk to
Speaker 1: people and stuff. And I think that's when I realized
Speaker 1: that it's what I'm meant to do when I can
Speaker 1: feel at home on a stage. Wow, that is a
Speaker 1: great mom, Went you remember what you're saying. I sang
Speaker 1: Boys of Summer by Don Henley, Oh Fellow text and
Speaker 1: of course, yeah, yes, exactly. Oh my gosh. There were
Speaker 1: some other people that made you want to, you know,
Speaker 1: pick up an instrument and write. And early influences. Yeah,
Speaker 1: my parents would always have eighties music on in the house,
Speaker 1: and so I take a lot of eighties influences. I
Speaker 1: love Depeche Mode, Echo and The Bunny Man, Blondie, Duran,
Speaker 1: Duran New Order. So there's a lot of eighties influences
Speaker 1: in my music and that's made me want to get
Speaker 1: into music in the first place, as well as Latin
Speaker 1: influences as well, because I'm I'm Cuban American and so
Speaker 1: Latin music has been really big for me as well.
Speaker 1: Oh absolutely, I've big into the eighties. I'm in a
Speaker 1: big cure phase myself. I'm not sure. Oh yeah, I
Speaker 1: mean Disintegration has been on my on my Spotify list
Speaker 1: for not stop the past week. So also good being
Speaker 1: four or five years old, it's amazing for me to
Speaker 1: think that your hands could even be on the keys.
Speaker 1: That's like, that's amazing. Do you remember the first song
Speaker 1: you ever wrote or is that sort of banished to
Speaker 1: a drawer somewhere. Oh my gosh. So I started it
Speaker 1: when I started singing at nine. I also started songwriting
Speaker 1: that year too, So my piano teacher taught me how
Speaker 1: to improvise on the piano, and that same day I
Speaker 1: came home and I wrote my first song because I
Speaker 1: was like, I'm tired of singing covers and I want
Speaker 1: to write something of my own. And it was called
Speaker 1: Summertime Sweetheart, and it was about a crush that I
Speaker 1: had on the boy across the pond for me, like
Speaker 1: a literal pond, or like in England, a pond, like
Speaker 1: there were houses around the pond and he was across
Speaker 1: the pond. Oh my god, that's I mean. Improv is
Speaker 1: something that is just always seems like magic to me.
Speaker 1: I mean I always I got very strict, like I
Speaker 1: want the root, I want I want to know the
Speaker 1: notes to play, I want the chords. Like how do
Speaker 1: you sort of I mean as a songwriter, I mean,
Speaker 1: what is your process like when you sit down to write?
Speaker 1: I mean, do you have something in your head that
Speaker 1: you want to get out through, you know, sort of
Speaker 1: finding your way on the keys around the guitar, or
Speaker 1: do you just experiment and see what happens. It's it's
Speaker 1: so very for me. So sometimes I'll have an idea already,
Speaker 1: I'll have like either a melody or or lyrics, and
Speaker 1: I'll go into it and I'll try for those melodies
Speaker 1: or lyrics. Other times I'll sit down on the piano
Speaker 1: and I'll just start playing whenever I feel or the
Speaker 1: guitar and I'll start strumming chords random. It can be anything,
Speaker 1: and somehow it just starts turning into melodies along with
Speaker 1: it and lyrics and then it's a full song. And
Speaker 1: I was saying earlier to my manager, but I feel
Speaker 1: like when I songwrite, I'm in a completely different headspace.
Speaker 1: And there's been times where I I don't remember the
Speaker 1: process of writing a specific song because I'm just I
Speaker 1: don't know if I dissociate that, I'm just in a
Speaker 1: different headspace and somehow the song comes out, if that
Speaker 1: makes sense, So yeah, that's it's it's kind of a
Speaker 1: crazy process for me. And then other times I go
Speaker 1: into the studio with the producer and he starts on
Speaker 1: a track and then I write the melodies and lyrics
Speaker 1: on top of it or with the co writer as well.
Speaker 1: I love I love hearing about all the different ways
Speaker 1: that people are able to create. Have you ever heard of, uh,
Speaker 1: what's it called synesthesia? No? I have not. It's this
Speaker 1: funny thing and I'm not going to describe it very well.
Speaker 1: It's basically people who see like associate colors with different sounds,
Speaker 1: like there their visual and auditory cortex is or somehow
Speaker 1: like entwined. So it's like, Okay, I wanta, I wanna,
Speaker 1: I want to play this chord. It sounds like it's
Speaker 1: I want something that's read to me, and Okay, this
Speaker 1: one's blue and this one's It's really fascinating. There's um Yeah.
Speaker 1: There's a guy named Oliver Sacks who is a neuro
Speaker 1: surgeon or a neuro scientist, and he wrote a book
Speaker 1: called Music Call Leah. I think I forget what it's called,
Speaker 1: but it's all about just the different ways that the
Speaker 1: brain process is music. And it's just so interesting to me.
Speaker 1: So to hear you talk about how you write and
Speaker 1: you go to this different place, that's just that just
Speaker 1: I love hearing about other people's processes too, and like
Speaker 1: things like that, that just shows me. It just proves
Speaker 1: that music is so amazing and can be so magical
Speaker 1: and for everyone. Is this something that you do every day?
Speaker 1: Almost like people, you know, some people jog and some
Speaker 1: people do yoga. Do you write every day or player
Speaker 1: every day? Oh? Yeah, yeah, I write most days. Do
Speaker 1: you find that you're you're gonna laugh at me for
Speaker 1: asking this? Almost superstitious about it, like as a certain
Speaker 1: time of day or a certain instrument that you know
Speaker 1: is lucky for lack of a better term, you know,
Speaker 1: I have certain things. I have one thing where if
Speaker 1: I write a verse and maybe a chorus and nothing
Speaker 1: else is coming, I I just step right away because
Speaker 1: I don't ever push it too hard, because I don't
Speaker 1: think that's what song writing is about. And like staying
Speaker 1: with the studio, if you're not feeling it that day,
Speaker 1: or like it doesn't come out fully, you you come
Speaker 1: back another day and and you try again. Because it's
Speaker 1: supposed to be a fun process, is supposed to be
Speaker 1: an easy process. So if there's ever a point where
Speaker 1: I get stuck, I step away and I come back
Speaker 1: another day and typically comes out that day. What's your
Speaker 1: favorite way to reset when you're not, you know, involved
Speaker 1: with music. What's your favorite thing to do just kind
Speaker 1: of clear your mind and then put it aside for
Speaker 1: a while. I love going for walks. I walk a lot.
Speaker 1: My parents and I just walked eight miles on the
Speaker 1: beach the other day, so my hurt to walk. It's
Speaker 1: really really relaxing for me. Um, I'd love to get
Speaker 1: into reading more. I know there's there's a bunch of
Speaker 1: ways to relax and clear your head, but walking is
Speaker 1: one for me. Did you do meditation? I do not.
Speaker 1: I really want to. I know it's so hard for
Speaker 1: me because my brain is always going and I'm always
Speaker 1: thinking about things I need to do or things going on.
Speaker 1: It's just it's something I want to get into. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm always like I could take this ten minutes and
Speaker 1: actually do the things that are stressing me out and
Speaker 1: have checked them off my whist Like. It just seems
Speaker 1: counter intuitive to me, but I guess I'm told that
Speaker 1: it does a lot of good for a lot of people,
Speaker 1: So I guess I should try it. When you're working
Speaker 1: on a song or working on lyrics, I guess I
Speaker 1: should say do you get more inspiration from looking out
Speaker 1: word or looking in word? Hm hmm, that's like a question.
Speaker 1: I being a songwriter from such a young age, there
Speaker 1: is something to say. Like when I was younger, I
Speaker 1: would write these songs and people would be like, how
Speaker 1: can you write songs You've never been through anything, Like
Speaker 1: you don't have these experience, You've never been heartbroken or
Speaker 1: cheated on or whatever. And I would just say that
Speaker 1: I I take inspiration from the world around me, from
Speaker 1: people around me, even TV shows and movies like between
Speaker 1: scams that exactly. So I just take things. I take
Speaker 1: in information, and then whether it's intentional or not, I
Speaker 1: can write songs from it. You mentioned your your Cuban
Speaker 1: American heritage a moment ago. I mean music in Cuba
Speaker 1: it's it's I mean, not only is it the best,
Speaker 1: I mean it's formative. I mean that's what we're gonna
Speaker 1: rock and roll is based on all those Cuban rhythms
Speaker 1: and stuff. I mean, tell me more about did you
Speaker 1: grow up with a lot of Cuban music in the house.
Speaker 1: Oh for sure. My You know, my dad he immigrated
Speaker 1: here from Cuba with my abuolo and abuela and my
Speaker 1: my aunts, myt my aunts, and they came here in
Speaker 1: search of, you know, a better life. It was during
Speaker 1: Castro's reign, but it was very sad for them to
Speaker 1: leave Cuba because of the culture and and the family
Speaker 1: values and the music and everything. And it's such it's
Speaker 1: such a thing that I carry with me in my
Speaker 1: heart every day in my life and in my music.
Speaker 1: It's something that I was really inspired by growing up
Speaker 1: hearing it. You know, my my abueolo always had reggaeton
Speaker 1: and gumbia and in Flamenco music and jazz on the house,
Speaker 1: and so I would go there and it was such
Speaker 1: like a just wonderful blast of culture. And like me
Speaker 1: being a little girl, I just I took from it
Speaker 1: a lot and I learned from it and I love it.
Speaker 1: I love being Cuban American. That's put a Wulman. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that stays with you. Have you ever have you ever been?
Speaker 1: Have you ever been to Cuba? No, My family and
Speaker 1: I have talked about going, especially because it's almost like
Speaker 1: when they left, you know, the cars are the same
Speaker 1: in the music on every corner, and so I think
Speaker 1: going would be a really magical experience. And so We've
Speaker 1: talked about it for sure. Yea, No, that's someplace I'm
Speaker 1: always going to go for that reason. I mean the
Speaker 1: music and just you know, the cars and just all
Speaker 1: the details and everything. It seems like such a fascinating
Speaker 1: place to visit. Wow, I mean, it's so cool. I
Speaker 1: I wanted to ask you. I know, I'm sure you
Speaker 1: get asked this a lot, but I'm so curious to
Speaker 1: hear what you say. You have such an incredible, um
Speaker 1: just diverse list of influences. Who's on your list of
Speaker 1: people that you're absolutely dying to collaborate with? Is there
Speaker 1: a you know, a shortlist? Oh? I have so many?
Speaker 1: Um well, I love to collaborate with Rossell. Yeah, is amazing.
Speaker 1: I think she's an amazing Latin artist. And then you
Speaker 1: know Taylor Swept of course, and people that I grew
Speaker 1: up listening to as well. Even Elton John would be insane,
Speaker 1: you know, being a pianist as well. He's crazy. Carol
Speaker 1: King was another influence for me too. That's a writer.
Speaker 1: She's literally so crazy. But I I really want to
Speaker 1: collaborate with many people. Oh so cool Carol King? Oh
Speaker 1: my god, I mean we uh just watched the performance
Speaker 1: of Beautiful the Broadway show recently. I mean, bow, Oh,
Speaker 1: it's so cool just the number of songs that you
Speaker 1: were not only for other people, but then you start
Speaker 1: getting in stuff like Tapestry she did for herself. I mean,
Speaker 1: what a gift. She She's not human. I don't got
Speaker 1: to be from another world. Have you ever met her? No?
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, I would die. Oh we gotta set
Speaker 1: that up. We gotta make that happen. That energy out there.
Speaker 1: I'm putting it out there. I'm manifesting it. Well, speaking
Speaker 1: of putting it out there, you have an EP coming shortly,
Speaker 1: Baby Maybe, which I believe the title came partially from
Speaker 1: a dream. Do I have that right? Yes, you have
Speaker 1: that right. My my manager, she is amazing. Her name
Speaker 1: is Veronica Zelie as well as Frank Simmonetti is my
Speaker 1: manager as well. And and Veronica called me and she's like,
Speaker 1: oh my gosh, I had the title idea in my
Speaker 1: dream last night. And I'm like, okay, okay, and yeah,
Speaker 1: baby maybe it stends from a lyric in one of
Speaker 1: my songs. And we just think it's simple and a
Speaker 1: great title for the project. What I was gonna tell
Speaker 1: us about the tracks on I know there's a ballad
Speaker 1: on it that uh, I want to hear more about. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so it's a lot of Checkmate is going to be
Speaker 1: on it, as well as for Ever Yours my my
Speaker 1: previous song with Casper Machico, and there's gonna be a
Speaker 1: lot of it's so hard to discuss. It's it's really fun.
Speaker 1: There's some fun songs on there that I'm super excited
Speaker 1: about all and as well as the ballad, which is
Speaker 1: so special to me. I'm that one I think I
Speaker 1: might be most excited to release, as well as the
Speaker 1: next single I have coming out that's coming very very soon.
Speaker 1: That one is super special. So I'm really excited and
Speaker 1: I think people are going to really connect with the project.
Speaker 1: What's next is there is there a date for that
Speaker 1: yet or no. We we're literally deciding the date right now,
Speaker 1: but it is coming very soon. I'm going to announce
Speaker 1: it very soon. Coming soon, all right. We can't wait. Jennis,
Speaker 1: thank you so much for your time to day. It's
Speaker 1: such a pleasure talk and you. Thank you you You're awesome.
Speaker 1: I really appreciate it. Thank you so much for your
Speaker 1: your music. You can't wait to uh to see on
Speaker 1: the road. Soon hopefully, Yes, I really hope, so I
Speaker 1: hopefully COVID you know, and allow me for that. But
Speaker 1: everyone starting to tour again, so hopefully I will get
Speaker 1: out there soon. Absolutely hope you come through New York.
Speaker 1: Of course, I I definitely want it. Yeah, we hope
Speaker 1: you enjoyed this episode of Inside the Studio, a production
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