Jazzy K: The Australian Singer You’ll Wish You Heard Sooner
Australian-born singer-songwriter Jazzy K stuns with the voice of a seasoned pro from down under. Influenced by music from a young age and paired with a current passion for connecting emotionally through her songs, she brings a whole new definition to what it means to be a superstar. Produced by well-known industry leaders like Babyface, her honest and raw songs are both captivating and relatable to many. MP recently sat down with Jazzy K to learn more about her music, musical influences, and life.
Jazzy K lives a bi-continental life to spend time both at home and in LA to pursue her passion for music. Although many people lose themselves trying to become famous, this likely won’t happen to her. Set on staying true to herself and not losing herself along the way, she’s not afraid to continue perfecting her craft and turning away deals that don’t exactly feel right. Her passion for sharing through her music, combined with her father’s guidance, has always enabled her to make the right decisions. Jazzy K isn’t afraid to take a step backward if it means going down the path on which she was meant to travel — there’s no reason to rush success.
According to Jazzy K, “people don’t realize how difficult it is to make decisions as a new artist because they don’t realize the long-term effect your decisions can have on your career. If I make one wrong decision, it can ruin the next five years of my career.” All it takes is one bad deal with the wrong person, and several years of your career could be wasted. Jazzy K is set on this not being the case and focuses on developing meaningful connections with people before working together. She has her own standards when it comes to morals and respect. Her standards are, in large part, derived from her family. As she puts it, “I’m very, very close to my family. I feel like that’s what brings out a lot of the characteristics in me and the type of personality I have.”
I genuinely care when I’m having a conversation with someone.
Although the word ‘genuine’ describes Jazzy K through-and-through, it’s just the tip of the iceberg. Her conversations are purposeful and engaging. She focuses on being present for the person and not their power. As she puts it, “I genuinely care when I’m having a conversation with someone, and I’m not just talking to you because I want something out of you.” This is a stark contrast to many of LA’s aspiring artists, often solely focused on talking to people who can immediately benefit them. And if you can’t, you’re discounted and left behind. Jazzy K is a complete breath of fresh air, and when you put her life’s work, both now and what she aspires to do in the future, into perspective, it makes sense.
I’d rather go down a journey where I know that I’m going to be happy.
One of the most difficult choices we face as individuals is determining what we want to be when we grow up. Then, once we’ve made that determination, the second most challenging thing in our lives is taking action. Most careers, like singing and songwriting, take years, if not decades, to succeed. You dedicate your entire life to become the best version of yourself while, hopefully, doing what you love. If you don’t love what you’re doing, you’re likely doing it for the wrong reasons. Jazzy K focuses on pursuing music for the right reasons. As she says, “I’d rather go down a journey where I know that I’m going to be happy with the people I’m surrounded by and where I enjoy what I’m doing. Because what’s the point of putting in all this effort and time? In whole, you dedicate your life to it, so you want to make sure you’re doing it for the right reasons.”
Honesty is both one of Jazzy K’s hallmarks and her attraction to others’ music. Each of her musical inspirations has one thing in common: honesty in their music. As she puts it, “I love The Weeknd’s melodies. You can hear the influence of Michael Jackson, and I love the cinematic side of his music too. I love that he’s not afraid to be a bit more dramatic with his productions and experiment with cinematic elements. I’m obsessed with things like that and eventually want my songs to be in movies. I also like his persona. I love that he’s low-key and mysterious, you know?” Although The Weeknd has made a lasting impression on her, Jazzy K’s musical influences don’t stop there. From listening to Elvis Presley with her father and uncle while growing up to Amy Winehouse and Billy Eilish as she got older, her inspiration was born, and she paved her path.
According to Jazzy K, she’s been a strong storyteller since she was a young girl. She always loved to sing, even when she wasn’t that good at it, but never expected to write songs. It wasn’t until she left school that she organically started getting into songwriting as she attended more and more studio sessions. The natural progression of writing resulted in her writing better and developing more and more ideas with different emotions and feelings.
As she’s developed as a songwriter, she began thinking about her music more mechanically. When writing a new piece, she asks herself how the song will be sung, from whose perspective, and if it’ll get her message across. And, according to Jazzy K, once she conceptualizes a song, the lyrics come to her quickly. Although there are many ways to approach a piece, she prefers “whatever feels the most natural and the most authentic.” Authenticity is key, and it’s what sets her apart from other artists.
Jazzy K, authentically an artist at heart, prefers to keep going. Where some would struggle with the constant demand for developing new creative, she thrives. In her own words, “for me, without music and without doing what I do, whether it’s a photoshoot, music, or songwriting, I feel like I’m losing my energy. If I stop, I get tired and sad. I need it to feel alive.” Going nonstop as a source of energy shows how much Jazzy K truly wants to change the world through her songs.
If I stop, I get tired and sad. I need it to feel alive.
“That’s my life, that’s my future, and I can’t see doing anything else. Growing up, people always told me ‘you’re no good,’ or this and that, especially when I left school. A lot of people from school were bullying me online. I just knew this is what I want to do, so I didn’t care. It was upsetting because they were supposed to be my friends, but at the same time, I didn’t care because they were no longer going to be in my life.” Pushing haters to the side and focusing on your journey can sometimes seem like an insurmountable obstacle.
Haters tend to hit below the belt and, at times, do whatever they can out of jealousy or fear. However, it takes both a strong and driven person to see beyond hatred and betrayal. Jazzy K’s commitment to her craft is a testament to her strength and desire to succeed. “I know what I’m doing. I believe in what I’m doing, and I’m doing it for the right reasons. If there’s anything in my life that I’m going to work hard for, it will be music. You have to put everything into it. There’s nothing else I want to put my effort into other than music,” she says. However, her music cuts much deeper than merely wanting to pursue a particular path.
One of the reasons Jazzy K is so focused is because of her family’s influence on her. Notably, her father, a successful businessman, and Jazzy K superfan, understands that overnight success doesn’t exist. He’s instilled a mentality of hard work and craft dedication within Jazzy K, enabling her to keep pushing forward and moving at the speed of light even during the global pandemic. On March 21, 2021, she released Game Boy featuring Inferno. Originally slated to be a completely different song, Game Boy results from her deep appreciation for Arabian music and the desire to be authentic and honest with herself and her creations.
“For Game Boy, we were in the studio for a few hours during the day, and we were working on a different song,” she says. “And the song we were working on just wasn’t happening. Nothing about it felt right. It just felt wrong, and we weren’t happy with it. So then, as we got on with the day, it was starting to get late, and we ate dinner at the studio.
Then we were like, ‘you know what, let’s just do something different.’ I said, let’s just do something completely different. I’ve always wanted to do a song that has some sort of Arabian influence in the production. So, when we started working on Game Boy, we had production finished within an hour and a half. As we were making the beat in the studio, my dad got on the little electronic drum kit and made an Arabian drum pattern. The song was written in about half an hour. And then we recorded the vocals for the song in an hour that night.”
From her authenticity to her mind-blowing lyrics and voice of a seasoned pro, Jazzy K is a force not to be taken lightly. She stands for positivity, is creative at her core, and is as humble as they come. Let’s not forget about her songs, which are absolute fire. While we can’t predict the future, one thing’s for sure: Jazzy K will be a massive star. It’s not a matter of if. It’s a matter of when.
View this article in the September 2021 issue of MP. Check out our interview with Faith Schueler.
Originally published at https://modernprofessional.co on September 11, 2021.
