0:01

Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode

0:04

of Inside of the Studio on iHeart Radio.

0:06

My name is Jordan Runt Tug, but enough about

0:08

me. My guest today is an up and

0:10

coming pop prodigy. She began

0:13

playing piano at age five and made her

0:15

on stage debut as a teen, singing a

0:17

song by fellow Texan Don Henley.

0:19

She's come a long way in the decades since then.

0:22

Today she's making a name for herself by pusing

0:24

her love of seventies singer songwriters,

0:26

ad sinth rock and rhythms from her Cuban

0:29

heritage into a fresh sound for the dance

0:31

club charts. You can hear the influences

0:33

on her single Forever Yours

0:35

and her latest song Checkmate, partially

0:38

inspired by everyone's favorite quarantine

0:40

stream, The Queen's Gambit. It's an infectious

0:43

and empowering anthem in which the Queen takes

0:45

the King. I'm so happy to welcome my

0:47

guest today, Jenna Rose. Well,

0:57

I'm speaking to you a few days after The Queen's

0:59

Gambit one. I think it was eleven Emmys, so

1:01

it feels appropriate to start with your new single,

1:03

Checkmate, which is wracked up I think five

1:06

million views on YouTube and two point

1:08

five million streams. Tell me

1:10

about the background of that song. How did it first

1:12

come together? Yeah, I mean you mentioned

1:15

the Queen's gambit, which was a huge

1:17

influence on the song obviously, So

1:20

yeah, I just wanted to incorporate the strategy

1:23

of chess into a song,

1:25

and being a songwriter, that's what I try

1:27

and do with every song is be creative

1:30

and come up with new ideas. And so when

1:32

I saw the Queen's gambit, I was

1:34

like, oh my gosh, and seeing such a strong,

1:37

powerful woman in chess, in a game

1:40

where men and women are on the exact

1:42

same playing field, it was so powerful to me and

1:44

really resonated, and so I took

1:47

it to a song, and that's how Checkmate came about.

1:50

That's funny, you know, I never really thought about relationships

1:52

and chess as having much in common. I guess

1:54

the strategy, well, what some of the more of the overlap

1:56

there. Yeah. I think with

1:59

every relationship in your life, whether it's

2:01

I'm a romantic relationship, friendship,

2:03

family, there's strategy.

2:06

I think we can all admit that. And

2:08

you talk to people differently and you do different

2:10

things, and so is stress With

2:13

chess. You always have to be three

2:16

moves ahead, and so that's kind

2:18

of it relates to life. Like

2:20

you said, stress, there is a really good Freudian

2:23

slip right there with relationships, right,

2:25

I know it makes sense. I mean the lyrics,

2:28

I mean they could be pretty cutting at point. My heart

2:30

is more than a target, but I took a bullet

2:32

regardless. I mean, where did that come from? What was

2:34

this inspired by a real relationship or

2:36

was this this fiction? Where where did that come from?

2:39

You know, with every song, I write it for

2:41

other people, but I take from relationships

2:44

in my life and experiences that I've had. So

2:46

it definitely has stem from relationships

2:48

in my life and different things that

2:50

I've gone through. So yeah, it's definitely real for

2:52

me. We've all been there, unfortunately.

2:56

Yeah, it is a great

2:59

track. What was it life working with Nick for

3:01

long? I know he's written with so many great people

3:03

Blink two see Byoki all

3:05

time low number of really wonderful people. What was

3:07

that collaboration? Like? It was so

3:09

fun. He's so talented and

3:12

as a fellow songwriter, it's so fun

3:14

to work with people who are like minded, and

3:16

it was just such a smooth process and really

3:18

really a great experience. I probably

3:21

should have asked us earlier. Do you play chess? I

3:23

do. I do. I grew up playing it with my dad. Really,

3:26

Oh wow, I mean it's so funny. It's one of those

3:28

things that I assume I'm Okaya,

3:30

and then I meet people that like have their

3:33

own chess clocks and

3:35

like go to like park benches in New York

3:37

and bring their own pieces and play with strangers. I'm like,

3:39

oh, I'm not like that,

3:41

I guess. And then you watch The Queen's Gambit

3:44

as well, and you're like, oh my gosh. Well,

3:47

oh, I mean it's so cool the song that's such

3:49

an empowering message, and the visuals

3:52

are so amazing.

3:54

I mean just crazy in the best way. I mean,

3:56

it's like The Queen's Gambit meets Alison Wonderland.

3:59

I think you've said that seemed like a blast. Shoot.

4:01

It was so much fun. It was like Christmas

4:04

the whole day long. I kept saying that it like

4:06

one up the other. Every outfit, every

4:09

scene, it was just like a dream.

4:11

Oh my god. I mean you worked with Richie Jackson,

4:14

I believe, Lady Gaga's choreographer. What

4:16

was that process like of getting all those steps down

4:19

so much fun. I love to dance, and so

4:21

incorporating that into the music video is

4:23

something I really really wanted to do and Richie

4:26

was the perfect person for that. He's so

4:28

talented. And also, Lady Gaga

4:30

has been a huge influence for me as an artist,

4:32

and her visuals are so

4:34

insanely amazing,

4:37

and so having him on the project was just such a blessing.

4:40

And some of the styles in the video

4:42

too were very very Gaga. I mean like, come

4:44

on that yellow dress when you're on the chess board,

4:46

it's so cool. Like how evolved were you

4:48

with with with picking the outfits? Yeah,

4:50

I have an amazing stylist. Her name is Tiffany

4:52

Gifford, and she's so talented, and

4:55

we had our fitting and we

4:57

knew that we wanted a crazy cool

5:00

rest on the life size chessboard and she

5:02

delivered with that. When I saw the yellow

5:04

dress and my jaw dropped, I was I

5:06

was so excited and all the fashion.

5:09

Fashion is so important to me as an artist.

5:11

I think fashion and music go hand in hand,

5:13

and to so to have that in my video

5:16

so cool. I was gonna say, I

5:18

saw your your countdown, your favorite

5:20

met Gal looks on I think goes

5:22

on Twitter the other day. You feel like you need your own style

5:24

blog or something that was awesome. I should

5:27

have a style blog. That's a good idea. Seriously,

5:30

did they let you keep the yellow dress or

5:32

any of the outfits from the set? Unfortunately

5:34

No, I did get to keep the body suit, the

5:36

Laclon Smith body suit. That. Oh

5:39

I have that in my closet. Hopefully one day it'll be

5:41

an amazing peace to have.

5:44

Oh that's so cool. I love going to

5:47

uh to vintage stores and thrift stores

5:49

me and my girlfriend. I love because I'm in New

5:51

York and going out in Brooklyn stuff. I know you're out in

5:53

l A. Are there any favorite thrift shops or vintage

5:55

places you like to hit up? Oh? I love the Melrose

5:58

Trading Post here. But I was actually in

6:00

New York. My brother lives in Brooklyn, and so

6:02

we went in Boklyn. Oh,

6:05

well, do you remember any of the places? H

6:08

m hmm. I don't remember the names of

6:10

them. It was really fun though, and a great

6:12

experience there. Oh yeah, I

6:14

mean this is really cool stores. I

6:17

mentioned the Queen's Gambit earlier. What

6:19

other shows did you kept your company?

6:22

During the pandemic. I

6:24

think my parents and I watched all

6:26

of Homeland we were just looking for and

6:30

the Outer Bank. Of course, I think everyone watched

6:32

Outer Banks too, But the Queen's Game

6:34

was a big one for me. Oh definitely.

6:37

I don't know. We did the oh

6:39

my god, yeah, Tiger King of course. Uh,

6:42

caught up on Succession, getting ready for the

6:44

new season, and uh, and

6:47

then when we wanted to get cheered up. Have you ever seen

6:49

The Wonder Years

6:51

show? I mean, it's

6:53

this really sweet. It was the show from the late

6:55

eighties, like a sitcom about these these kids

6:57

growing up in the late sixties. It's just

7:00

like massive, like hallmarky

7:02

kind of coming of age, super

7:04

sweet. Like every episode, I feel like

7:06

it was like happy tears kind of thing.

7:08

That was like the cheer up moment if

7:11

you were if the news became too much. So

7:13

I love that. I'm going to give it a try.

7:15

I think they just they started a remake

7:17

of it. In fact, no one's

7:19

telling me to say this, but I think it's premiering this week.

7:21

Actually it's uh, yeah, it's

7:23

it's very sweet. But but anyway,

7:26

Uh, speaking of the Wonder Years, I want to ask you

7:28

about your early years. How did you

7:30

first get into music. I know you started playing piano,

7:32

like what age five? Yeah, I

7:34

think I was actually four when I started playing piano.

7:37

I started because my brother

7:39

was taking lessons. My brother's four years older than

7:41

me, and I was jealous that

7:43

he was taking piano lessons, and so

7:46

I was like, I have to do this too,

7:48

and so yeah, I started piano and guitar

7:50

when I was four. And

7:53

then when I was nine, my

7:55

friend asked me if I wanted to do joint singing

7:57

lessons, and I was kind

8:00

of like, sure, I guess

8:02

I will, and so I went with her. We

8:04

did lessons and we had our first performance

8:06

coming up at the House of Blues in Dallas,

8:09

and she had to go out of town and so I did

8:11

the performance alone and

8:13

I was yeah, I was nine, and I was so

8:16

terrified because I was such a shy

8:19

kid, and so I stepped up on the stage

8:22

and it was a life changing moment

8:24

for me, just like feeling at

8:27

home on the stage and singing

8:30

is something that I never thought that I

8:32

I could do, just stemming

8:34

from just being so scared

8:36

to talk to people and stuff. And I think that's when I

8:39

realized that it's what I'm meant to do

8:41

when I can feel at home on a stage. Wow,

8:44

that is a great mom, Went you remember what you're saying. I

8:46

sang Boys of Summer by Don Henley,

8:48

Oh Fellow text and of course, yeah,

8:51

yes, exactly. Oh my gosh.

8:53

There were some other people that made you want to, you

8:55

know, pick up an instrument and write. And

8:58

early influences. Yeah, my parents

9:00

would always have eighties music on in the house,

9:03

and so I take a lot of eighties influences.

9:05

I love Depeche Mode, Echo and

9:07

The Bunny Man, Blondie, Duran, Duran

9:10

New Order. So there's a lot of

9:12

eighties influences in my music and that's

9:15

made me want to get into music in the first place,

9:17

as well as Latin influences as well, because I'm

9:19

I'm Cuban American and so Latin

9:21

music has been really big for me as well. Oh

9:24

absolutely, I've big

9:26

into the eighties. I'm in a big cure phase myself.

9:29

I'm not sure. Oh yeah, I mean

9:31

Disintegration has been on my on

9:33

my Spotify list for not stop the past

9:35

week. So also good being

9:49

four or five years old, it's amazing for me to think

9:51

that your hands could even be on the keys. That's

9:53

like, that's amazing. Do you remember the first song

9:55

you ever wrote or is that sort of banished to

9:57

a drawer somewhere. Oh my gosh. So I started

10:00

it when I started singing at nine. I also

10:02

started songwriting that year too,

10:04

So my piano teacher taught me

10:06

how to improvise on the piano, and

10:09

that same day I came home and

10:11

I wrote my first song because I was like, I'm

10:13

tired of singing covers and I want to write

10:16

something of my own. And it was called

10:18

Summertime Sweetheart, and it was about a crush

10:20

that I had on the boy across

10:23

the pond for me, like

10:26

a literal pond, or like in England, a

10:28

pond, like there

10:30

were houses around the pond and he was

10:33

across the pond. Oh my god, that's

10:35

I mean. Improv is something that is

10:37

just always seems like magic to me. I mean I always

10:39

I got very strict, like I want the root,

10:41

I want I want to know the notes to play, I want the chords.

10:44

Like how do you sort of I

10:46

mean as a songwriter, I mean, what is

10:48

your process like when you sit down to write? I mean,

10:50

do you have something in your head that you want to

10:52

get out through, you know, sort of finding your way

10:54

on the keys around the guitar, or do you just

10:56

experiment and see what happens. It's

10:58

it's so very for me. So

11:01

sometimes I'll have an idea already,

11:04

I'll have like either a melody or or

11:06

lyrics, and I'll go into it and I'll

11:08

try for those melodies or lyrics.

11:10

Other times I'll sit down on the piano and I'll just start

11:13

playing whenever I feel or the guitar

11:15

and I'll start strumming chords random.

11:18

It can be anything, and somehow it just starts

11:20

turning into melodies along with it and

11:22

lyrics and then it's a full song. And

11:25

I was saying earlier to my manager, but

11:27

I feel like when I songwrite,

11:29

I'm in a completely different headspace.

11:32

And there's been times where I

11:35

I don't remember the process of

11:37

writing a specific song because I'm

11:40

just I don't know if I dissociate that, I'm

11:42

just in a different headspace and somehow

11:45

the song comes out, if

11:48

that makes sense, So yeah,

11:50

that's it's it's kind of a crazy process for

11:52

me. And then other times I go into the studio

11:55

with the producer and he starts on

11:57

a track and then I write the melodies and lyrics

11:59

on top of it or with the co writer as well.

12:02

I love I love hearing about all the different ways that people

12:04

are able to create. Have you ever heard of, uh,

12:06

what's it called synesthesia? No?

12:09

I have not. It's this funny

12:11

thing and I'm not going to describe it very well. It's

12:13

basically people who see

12:16

like associate colors with different sounds,

12:18

like there their visual and auditory

12:21

cortex is or somehow like entwined.

12:24

So it's like, Okay, I wanta, I wanna, I want to

12:26

play this chord. It sounds like it's I want something that's

12:28

read to me, and Okay,

12:30

this one's blue and this one's It's really

12:32

fascinating. There's um Yeah.

12:36

There's a guy named Oliver Sacks who

12:38

is a neuro surgeon or

12:40

a neuro scientist, and he wrote

12:42

a book called Music Call

12:44

Leah. I think I forget what it's called, but it's

12:46

all about just the different ways that the brain process

12:48

is music. And it's just so interesting to me. So

12:50

to hear you talk about how you write and

12:52

you go to this different place, that's just that

12:55

just I love hearing

12:57

about other people's processes too, and like things

13:00

like that, that just shows me. It just

13:02

proves that music is so amazing

13:04

and can be so magical

13:07

and for everyone. Is

13:09

this something that you do every day? Almost like people, you

13:11

know, some people jog and some people do yoga. Do you

13:13

write every day or player every day? Oh? Yeah, yeah, I

13:15

write most days. Do

13:17

you find that you're you're gonna laugh at me

13:20

for asking this? Almost superstitious about it,

13:22

like as a certain time of day or a certain instrument

13:25

that you know is lucky for lack of a better

13:27

term, you know, I have certain

13:29

things. I have one thing where

13:32

if I write a verse and

13:34

maybe a chorus and nothing

13:36

else is coming, I I just step right away

13:39

because I don't ever push it

13:41

too hard, because I don't think that's what song writing

13:43

is about. And like staying with the studio, if you're

13:45

not feeling it that day, or like it doesn't come

13:47

out fully, you you come back another day

13:49

and and you try again. Because it's supposed

13:52

to be a fun process, is supposed to

13:54

be an easy process. So if there's ever a point where I get

13:56

stuck, I step away and I come back another

13:58

day and typically comes out that day. What's

14:00

your favorite way to reset when you're not, you know, involved

14:03

with music. What's your favorite thing to do just kind of clear

14:05

your mind and then put it aside for a while. I

14:07

love going for walks. I walk a lot.

14:10

My parents and I just walked eight miles

14:12

on the beach the other day, so my hurt

14:16

to walk. It's really really relaxing

14:18

for me. Um, I'd love to get into

14:20

reading more. I know there's there's a

14:24

bunch of ways to relax and

14:26

clear your head, but walking is one for me. Did

14:29

you do meditation? I do not.

14:31

I really want to. I

14:34

know it's so hard for me because my brain is always

14:37

going and I'm always thinking about things I need

14:39

to do or things

14:41

going on. It's just it's something

14:43

I want to get into. Oh yeah, I'm always like I

14:45

could take this ten minutes and actually do the things

14:48

that are stressing me out and

14:50

have checked them off my whist Like. It just seems

14:52

counter intuitive to me, but I

14:54

guess I'm told that it does a lot of good for a lot

14:56

of people, So I guess I should try

14:58

it. When you're working

15:00

on a song or working on lyrics, I guess I should say do

15:02

you get more inspiration from

15:05

looking out word or looking in word? Hm

15:07

hmm, that's like a question. I being

15:11

a songwriter from such a young age,

15:14

there is something to say. Like when I was younger,

15:16

I would write these songs and people would be like,

15:18

how can you write songs You've never been through

15:21

anything, Like you don't have these experience,

15:23

You've never been heartbroken or cheated

15:26

on or whatever. And I

15:28

would just say that I I take inspiration

15:31

from the world around me, from people around

15:34

me, even TV shows and movies like between

15:36

scams that exactly. So I just

15:38

take things. I take in information, and

15:41

then whether it's intentional or not,

15:43

I can write songs from it. You

15:45

mentioned your your Cuban American heritage

15:48

a moment ago. I mean music

15:50

in Cuba it's it's I mean, not only

15:52

is it the best, I mean it's formative.

15:55

I mean that's what we're gonna rock and roll is based on all

15:57

those Cuban rhythms and stuff. I mean, tell

15:59

me more about did you grow up with a lot of Cuban

16:01

music in the house. Oh for sure. My

16:04

You know, my dad he immigrated here from

16:07

Cuba with my abuolo and

16:09

abuela and my my aunts,

16:11

myt my aunts, and they came here

16:15

in search of, you know, a better life. It was during

16:17

Castro's reign, but it was very

16:19

sad for them to leave Cuba because of

16:22

the culture and and

16:24

the family values and the music

16:26

and everything. And it's such

16:29

it's such a thing that I carry with

16:31

me in my heart every day in my life and

16:33

in my music. It's something that I was really inspired

16:35

by growing up hearing it. You know,

16:38

my my abueolo always had reggaeton

16:40

and gumbia and in Flamenco

16:42

music and jazz on the house, and so

16:45

I would go there and it was such like a just

16:48

wonderful blast of culture.

16:50

And like me being

16:52

a little girl, I just I took from it a

16:54

lot and I learned from it and

16:57

I love it. I love being Cuban American. That's

16:59

put a Wulman. Yeah, that stays with you. Have you ever

17:01

have you ever been? Have you ever been to Cuba? No,

17:04

My family and I have talked about going, especially

17:07

because it's almost like when

17:09

they left, you know, the cars are the same

17:11

in the music on every corner, and

17:14

so I think going would be a really magical

17:17

experience. And so We've talked about it for sure.

17:19

Yea, No, that's someplace I'm always going

17:21

to go for that reason. I mean the music and just you

17:24

know, the cars and just all the

17:26

details and everything. It seems like such a fascinating

17:28

place to visit. Wow,

17:31

I mean, it's so cool. I

17:33

I wanted to ask you. I

17:36

know, I'm sure you get asked this a lot, but I'm so curious to hear

17:38

what you say. You have such an incredible, um

17:41

just diverse list of influences.

17:44

Who's on your list of people that you're absolutely

17:46

dying to collaborate with? Is there a you know, a shortlist?

17:49

Oh? I have so many? Um

17:52

well, I love to collaborate with Rossell. Yeah,

17:56

is amazing. I think she's an amazing

17:58

Latin artist. And then you

18:01

know Taylor Swept of course, and people

18:03

that I grew up listening to as well. Even

18:05

Elton John would be insane,

18:07

you know, being a pianist as well. He's crazy.

18:11

Carol King was another influence for me too. That's

18:15

a writer. She's literally

18:18

so crazy. But I

18:21

I really want to collaborate with many people. Oh

18:24

so cool Carol King? Oh my god, I

18:26

mean we uh just watched the

18:29

performance of Beautiful the Broadway

18:31

show recently. I mean, bow,

18:34

Oh, it's so cool just the number

18:36

of songs that you were not only for other people, but

18:39

then you start getting in stuff like Tapestry

18:41

she did for herself. I mean, what a gift. She

18:44

She's not human. I don't got

18:47

to be from another world. Have you ever met

18:49

her? No? Oh my

18:51

gosh, I would die.

18:54

Oh we gotta set that up. We gotta make that happen. That

18:58

energy out there. I'm putting it out there.

19:00

I'm manifesting it. Well,

19:02

speaking of putting it out there, you have an EP coming

19:05

shortly, Baby Maybe, which

19:07

I believe the title came partially from a dream.

19:10

Do I have that right? Yes, you have that right.

19:12

My my manager, she is amazing. Her name

19:14

is Veronica Zelie as well as Frank Simmonetti

19:17

is my manager as well. And and Veronica

19:19

called me and she's like, oh my gosh,

19:21

I had the title idea in my dream last

19:24

night. And I'm like, okay, okay,

19:26

and yeah, baby maybe it stends

19:28

from a lyric in one of my songs.

19:31

And we just think it's simple and a

19:33

great title for the project. What

19:36

I was gonna tell us about the tracks on I

19:38

know there's a ballad on it that

19:40

uh, I want to hear more about. Yeah,

19:43

so it's a lot of Checkmate is going

19:45

to be on it, as well as for

19:47

Ever Yours my my previous song

19:49

with Casper Machico, and

19:52

there's gonna be a lot of it's

19:55

so hard to discuss. It's it's really fun. There's

19:57

some fun songs on there that I'm super excited about

20:00

all and as well as the ballad,

20:02

which is so special to me. I'm

20:04

that one I think I might be most excited

20:06

to release, as well as the next

20:08

single I have coming out that's coming very very

20:11

soon. That one is super special. So

20:13

I'm really excited and I think people are going to really

20:15

connect with the project. What's

20:17

next is there is there a date for that yet or no.

20:20

We we're literally deciding the

20:22

date right now, but it is coming

20:24

very soon. I'm going to announce it very soon. Coming

20:27

soon, all right. We can't wait. Jennis,

20:29

thank you so much for your time to day. It's

20:32

such a pleasure talk and you. Thank you you

20:34

You're awesome. I really appreciate it. Thank

20:36

you so much for your your music. You can't wait

20:38

to uh to see on the road. Soon hopefully,

20:41

Yes, I really hope, so I hopefully

20:44

COVID you know, and

20:47

allow me for that. But everyone starting to tour again,

20:49

so hopefully I will get out there soon.

20:51

Absolutely hope you come through New York. Of

20:54

course, I I definitely want it. Yeah,

21:04

we hope you enjoyed this episode of Inside the

21:06

Studio, a production of I Heart Radio. For

21:09

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