Interview — Jade Bird
Heart On Her Sleeves
With »Different Kinds of Light,« singer-songwriter Jade Bird has just released her second studio album. The record that was produced in Nashville, Tennessee, turns out to be truly charming, deep, and very energetic—as is Jade herself. We talked with the 23-year-old about powerful women, disappearing parental figures, and keeping chaos in her life.
3. September 2021 — Interview & text: Katharina Weiß, Photography: Manuel Puhl, Editing: Ben Overton
Jade Bird might have the name of a rather delicate animal, but she has the roar of a lion when it comes to the storytelling that defines her folksy Americana sound. Similar contradictions apply to her age: Jade Bird was born in 1997 in the north of England, but her vibe offers a kinship to vintage legends like Janis Joplin, Gillian Welch, Sheryl Crow, or even Dolly Parton, with whom she already performed.
There is a certain fearlessness about the way she walks and talks on stage, a place that she hopes to return to again soon. While being unable to tour, she produced her second album in Nashville, which sounds as cool as the record turns out to be. “Different Kinds of Light” is truly charming and deep in a wholesome way, embraced by an energetic musical vibe.
When we met her in Berlin—one of her first trips after the outbreak of the pandemic—her personality reflects the same feelings: She feels as warm and witty as one’s favorite episode of Gilmore Girls, just with a good portion of 2021’s edginess thrown into it.
»I wanted to keep the chaos that I got used to when I was a child to stay with me.«
MYP Magazine:
You come from a military family and your music style has a lot of counter-culture influences. How are the two perspectives—the discipline and the uniformed lifestyle versus the free-spirited chaos—combined in your character?
Jade:
Bloody hell, quite a start with that question! I think the discipline shows in my craft and the love for my art. I have been working on songwriting since I was very young and there was a lot of patience involved. On the other hand, the chaos was genuinely my personal life. It was just absolutely mad, up until the age of 19 when I met my partner. I think I wanted to keep the chaos that I got used to when I was a child to stay with me. To some extent, it had become a strange cornerstone of my identity. That inspired my writing on the first songs a lot.
»I feel so at home with all these powerful women changing the structures of the music industry.«
MYP Magazine:
You’ve lived many years in London, a city perceived to be top-notch cool. Yet you have decided to settle in Austin, which is considered to be the most hipster of all of Texas cities—but it is still in Texas. Please take some of our German prejudices about the oil state away and tell us: What thrills you about the southern state?
Jade:
I think I have been very welcomed in a community of songwriters there. Especially by people who were breaking boxes. You think about Brandi Carlile being a gay woman and leading the country scene in the moment—you cannot break more boxes. Also, Sheryl Crow was one of a kind at the time. I feel so at home with all these powerful women changing the structures of the music industry. And I want to tell stories. I feel like songwriting is not at the top of everyone’s mind at the moment. There is a lot of soundscape stuff, but I am rather traditional in the aspect that I really like lyrics.
MYP Magazine:
You were quoted with the following statement about your inspiration: “I’ve written about fictional characters, about myself and people who don’t exist or at least only exist in my mind, memory and imagination.” Are there imaginary characters that follow you around like imaginary childhood friends?
Jade:
No, I think that would make me mental. But there are lingering concepts. For example: The new song “1994” is based on a Bonnie and Clyde theme. It’s this really crazy scenario where I am Bonnie and another person is Clyde, trying to make me rob a bank with him. But the subtext, the punchline is about a middle-aged couple and the guy is going through a midlife crisis, while the woman is trying to carry this relationship.
»I did not witness any relationship in my life evolving well, ever.«
MYP Magazine:
An often-quoted fun fact about your art is that, in your debut album, you released a song called “Love Has All Been Done Before.” In this song you look at your mum’s and your grandma’s divorces and confidently conclude that any relationship of yours would also end up doomed. Yet you seem to be pretty happy with your guitarist who you’ve been with over three years now. How did it feel to write songs about allowing yourself to be loved instead of heartbroken?
Jade:
Quite nice. I am slowly coming out of a pretty bad mindset, which I don’t think is blamable. I did not witness any relationship in my life evolving well, ever. And that’s a heavy weight you put on a new relationship with someone you’re really in love with. It has taken a lot of change on my and his behalf to make it matchable. But I feel like a better person for it and I think you hear the joy in my songs. A lot of the new songs feel like beaming or smiling. That was very refreshing because I used to write very cynical stuff. Maybe I can motivate someone else out of that darkness and make them see this little beam of light and life.
MYP Magazine:
What’s the story behind the song “Honeymoon?” It sounds happy, but there seems to be a twist in the subtext of the lyrics.
Jade:
It is a vignette of my mother’s and my grandmother’s relationships where I observed them always trying hard to please this person who just was a bit of a waste of time. There is no polite way of saying this. I was living with them for so long in a very tiny house, while watching them bend over backwards to make every day brilliant and amazing while this guy was giving nothing. It’s a feisty track.
»I was singing myself out of a very dark situation.«
MYP Magazine:
It seems that you’re a person that’s generally interested in other humans. In what kind of situations do you start a conversation with strangers? And what kind of questions are the most intriguing to you?
Jade:
“Do you have brothers and sisters?” sounds boring, but you can so easily start a conversation. And indulging in the topic of being the oldest child—or a middle child like my partner, or an only child like me—you can find out so much about a person by starting off with that question.
MYP Magazine:
Due to its kindness, the title song “Different Kinds of Light” reminds me of a lullaby. Were you singing someone’s sorrow to sleep in that song?
Jade:
I think I was singing myself out of a very dark situation, where I felt I could not thrive anymore. It was a moment when I was a bit overstimulated with touring and so I wrote that really dark love letter to touring, when I sat around in the backstage.
»I would never forgive myself if I had to cancel a show because of a hangover.«
MYP Magazine:
Was the work too much or the lifestyle?
Jade:
I don’t party, this kind of says it all. I just can’t, because my work schedule is too much. I would never forgive myself if I had to cancel a show because of a hangover. But I go to New Orleans very occasionally and there I allow myself a night full of drinks and madness.
MYP Magazine:
One striking thing about you is the warm humor of your lyrics, one great example is the song “Houdini.” Am I right to think it is about dealing with people disappearing from your life? How long did it take to write about these things with this subtle humor?
Jade:
I have been writing about that topic since I am 14 years old: parental figures just disappearing whenever the fuck they want, without my control. But I could never write about it in such a concise metaphor. But when “Houdini” came to my mind, I was so cathartically thrilled by that song. I thought: Finally, I fucking got it! That’s exactly how these emotions should be expressed, that is the perfect picture!
