Interviewing Sydney Jo Jackson: From dance music to songs with soul.
Can you tell me about your earliest memory of music?
My earliest memory of music was performing as Gloria Estefan in a school talent show at the age of 11. I was dressed as a nurse and had 3 friends dressed up as surgeons behind me - sounds a bit questionable for our age but it was very innocent. We had a full-blown choreographed routine that my uncle had put together for us as he was a breakdancer. I feel like our routine was channelling Britney Spears, we went full-out. I’ve always wanted to be a singer but I used to watch showgirls back in the day. In my head when I was younger I was flipping between becoming a singer, lawyer or showgirl.
Who are some of your biggest musical influences and how do you think that they have helped to shape your sound?
I love Britney Spears and adore the Spice Girls - I don’t think that they have shaped my sound however. The Spice Girls are massively influential to me, especially as a woman of mixed race - Neneh Cherry and Mel B (scary Spice) were some of the first mixed race female artists that I saw on the screen. It made me feel like I could do that. I’m obsessed with Neneh Cherry and her buffalo stance, she had so much attitude - I remember seeing her video and thinking that she radiated girl power. I also loved Moonwalker by Michael Jackson, that was one of my favourite films growing up. I listen to a lot of different things - Phil Collins, Tracey Chaplin. To be honest, I don’t really know how my current sound came to fruition - I listen to rap and pop music mostly so I’m unsure where the soul music I’m making currently has come from.
Is there a specific environment that is significant in your work?
The shower - the shower and the toilet, a lot of songs are written in the bathroom space. In the shower I’ll put beats on, and a lot of the time that’s the way I record my music. (I probably should be media trained and give an answer like “in the studio” but that’s interestingly where I get things done.)
What are some of the main themes that you address within your music?
My music definitely addresses heartbreak a lot - I’ve been through a lot of that. Mostly, my songs talk about relationships, not necessarily romantic relationships - I talk about my relationship with my father and with my mum which has been tumultuous at times. Also, my relationship with myself and how I perceive myself.
Your debut single ‘You Should be Here’ has been described as ‘an anthem of resilience’, can you tell me about the creative process for this song?
To be honest, I was a bit depressed and out of love with music at the time - I was making a lot of dance music which I hated. I was making dance music to get into the industry and become established but the more I was getting into it, the more out of touch I felt with myself and the songs I was making. As much as people would say to me they enjoyed my music, I wasn’t feeling any connection to my audience or to what was being conveyed in my songs. At that point, I wanted to challenge myself to write a song a day for 30 days. I was lying in bed and felt awful, so I got up and searched on my laptop ‘instrumental R&B soul beats’ on Youtube and an artist called Jonas came up. The first video I saw I clicked on and started a voice recording on my phone at the same time. I don’t know what came over me but I shut my eyes and started singing these lyrics. All the lyrics on the song are what was on the voice note, the only thing that changed was the chorus - it was going to be ‘I should be her, and you should be him’. I felt like at that moment I was taken over by a different person, I can’t even relate to the situation described in the song but all the words just came out of me in one sitting. I remember being in the shower after and singing the line “I watched him leave down the hallway as I crumbled inside” - thinking to myself ‘what are you on about?’, ‘who left you in the hallway?!’
What projects are you working on at the minute, when can we expect to see more from you in the future?
Right now we’re working on the EP, single 2 - which is either going to be between a song called ‘Bewildered’ or ‘F*ck you, h*e’. Very different vibes, probably not the second song because it’s a big jump from the first single. The stuff I’m working on at the minute is all in the same lane though, with a jazzy/soul feel going on. I’m also trying to do lots of live shows and build an audience - to me it’s not about going viral, it’s about connecting with people. I’d much rather have 5 people DM me to say they love a song I’m passionate about than a million likes on a dance song.
Do you feel that you have made, or are making a mark in the music industry?
Yeah I do feel like I’m making a mark. I have a thing about having no filter publicly - I don’t know if that’s a positive mark to be leaving though. I’ll make videos where I just talk and say what’s on my mind. When I was transitioning from dance to the soul/pop/jazz stuff that I’m making now, I made a video where I basically said ‘f*ck dance music’ - I’ve learnt that the industry is messed up in a few ways. It’s frustrating recording a song and the labels take 70-85% of the profits, there’s about 30% left to be divided up between the 6 people who actually recorded it. By the time you’ve made any money, you’ve not even got enough to supersize your happy meal. It’s insufferable at times making music in that way so I’m focusing now on writing and recording for myself as well as connecting with my audience.
Ending on a fun question - if you could go back in time to work on any one song with its recording artist, who and what would you pick?
I would have to say Madonna and her single ‘Human Nature’. The music video for that was crazy - all the sexy and powerful visuals. It was so sexualised and confident, I remember seeing it as a kid and thinking the song was really cool. As a 16 year old I wasn’t aware of the sexual implications of the video but it felt so empowering seeing a female artist like that. To me she wasn’t a sex object in that video, she was somebody that I wanted to be - confident in her outfit and in her movements.
