By Callum Ludwig
Young Warburton artist Jayda Jean is set to take a big step into her musical career with the launch of her debut EP set for the start of February.
Five original songs feature on ‘Through Your Eyes’ which Jayda will perform at Yarra Valley ECOSS for supporters on Friday 3 February at around 7.30-8pm, before holding further launches in Melbourne and Adelaide and at a few festivals.
Jayda said the launch is really exciting and that she is super proud of what she has achieved.
“With five songs in the end, it’s a bit surreal. There’s always a bit of self-doubt, that comes along with being an artist, but I feel proud of what I’ve achieved, I wouldn’t have been able to do it without all the support I had,” she said.
“I’m excited to play with a band that will be coming along on the journey with me, and it will be pretty special to have all of my supporters there. I’ve never had a gig that’s all about me, its always been as a support act or as part of a festival.”
Supporters of Jayda helped make her dream a reality through a crowdfunding campaign that ended in early June last year, which raised $4770 to fund the EP.
Jayda said she had written all the songs before the crowdfunding campaign, which gave her the opportunity to produce them in studios.
“I had a few friends who were producers, so they helped me find which direction the EP was going in terms of producing, and then take it into the studio and go a bit further or see if I wanted to add stuff. Sometimes I did, sometimes I didn’t,” she said.
“I went travelling for two months, which put a bit of a hold on the music but came back and smashed out two songs before sending them off to get mixed and mastered now as well.”
Lovely Place will be the support act at the launch, with a band consisting of school friends of Jayda’s to play alongside her at her launches in Adelaide and Melbourne. Positions are open for a bass guitarist to join the band and for a support act to accompany in Adelaide.
Jayda said her songwriting process is very personal and often has to do with how she is feeling and the different situations in her life at the time.
“I will sit down and type something that just flows out to me and then I feel better afterwards, or something won’t make sense to me at the time and then I look back later at what I wrote and realise how I was feeling. A lot of people say artists have a certain sound or genre, but I want to have songs that will suit everyone, the production of each song is very different but if I had to pick a genre I’d say indie, indie-soul or indie-rock even, ” she said.
“The EP’s name and the song ‘Through Your Eyes’ came from one of my best friends who was struggling and I could see she was not really being herself, held down by other people and their standards, and I was writing songs at her house and her mum walked in and then we were all singing along when she said the line ‘Through Your Eyes’ and it just stuck in my head for a while.”
Tickets for the EP launch are available for $10, with kids under 15 allowed to attend for free.
Jayda can also be found on Spotify under ‘Jayda Jean.’ Prior to the EP’s launch, she has three songs: ‘Lost’, ‘Rose Coloured Sky’ and ‘Freezing Toes’, with the new songs to be released soon.
