Hello Rockstars! Today’s Artist of the Week is Singer-Songwriter Joobilee!
Here’s her story in her own words! Enjoy! 🙂
Also, She has a new song on Spotify called “Bonfire” I encourage you to go take a listen on Spotify!
VMS:
“When did you start writing and performing your music.What’s your backstory.”
Joobilee:
“I started writing music when I was around 12, but I had started performing music in general when I was around 8 years old. I’ve always been pretty musical and got my foundations in Opera. My first voice teacher was the director of the Denver Metropolitan Opera at the time. I think I got really invested in personal creation and started to release my own music around 15 under a different name. Some things were a hit, but others were definitely a miss, so I created joobilee to start over fresh. I started performing my own music in 2019, a year after having moved to Montana, but only recently got into performing out here in Vegas as of March.”
VMS:
“What artist or bands inspire you and your sound.”
Joobilee:
“My inspirations are a little all over the place, but I find myself drawing a lot of inspiration from America, Radiohead, Lianne LaHavas, Fleetwood Mac, and Mac Demarco!”
VMS:
“What’s your writing process and inspiration for your lyrics.”
Joobilee:
“All of my songs draw from some emotion that I’m feeling very strongly in that moment. I write most of my lyrics to tell a story. Sometimes I write lyrics before I compose the song, but more often then not I’m fiddling around with something on my guitar, uke, or piano and write around the sound I am creating. I really like textures in my music and will usually throw in ambient sounds or multiple layers of the same instrument to create a specific feeling.”
VMS:
“I love your songs “Small”, “Nepenthe” and “Lemons”.
What is the inspiration or story behind these songs.”
Joobilee:
“”Small” is my most recent release! It’s about losing touch with yourself and your partner in a relationship. My boyfriend and I have been together for 6 years and through all that time I’ve learned that it’s normal to have your ups and downs. This is just about one of our rockier times.
Listen to “Small” (Acoustic) on Spotify:
“Nepenthe” is a feel good song. I was listening to a lot of Fleet Foxes, Radiohead, and Tame Impala at this time. I think those influences definitely bled into this piece in their own way. I started off with just two chords and ended up creating this off loops I made. I think there’s around a total of 12 layers on this.
Listen to “Nepenthe” on Spotify:
“Lemons” was inspired by my mom. She has always had a cup-half-empty view of the world and tends to REALLY emphasize the negatives in life. This was pretty hard to deal with growing up because she was inherently very tough on me. A lot of my unreleased stuff is about her and I’m not really sure if I’ll release most of those, but this is just one of the few that I chose to share.”
Listen to “Lemons” on Spotify:
VMS:
“Tell me about your EP: “Prelusive”. What was the inspiration and process of writing it.”
Joobilee:
“”Prelusive” was a collection of songs that I had largely written while living in Montana before I had graduated high school with the exclusion of about 3 songs. This project is about growing up and the uncertainty around what it is that you’re doing with your life and if you’re making the right decisions a lot of us feel when we enter young adulthood.”
Listen to “Prelusive” on Spotify:
VMS:
“Which local artist would you like to work with and why.”
Joobilee:
“I would love to work with Michael Richter. I think he has a fantastic voice and so many cool folk elements. I’ve only seen him play an acoustic set at Taverna once, but he knocked my socks off.”
VMS:
“What’s your overall theme or message of your music.”
Joobilee:
“I think a lot of my music centers around growing up and emotionality. I really endorse being vulnerable with my lyrics and find that music tends to be an outlet for releasing how i feel and my opinions.”
VMS:
“Do you have a favorite song that you like to perform.”
Joobilee:
“One of my favorite songs to perform is “We’re Not Friends”, which is not yet released but I’ll be recording it with my band in the near future.”
VMS:
“Do you have any crazy or interesting stories from working in the music scene.”
Joobilee:
“I wrote “My Distractions” with a guy I had actually met off craigslist and invited to come over to my college dorm for a writing session. Reflecting on that, it was definitely a risky decision given that I’d never met that him before, but he ended up being cool and we wrote a really beautiful song together.”
VMS:
“What does the future hold for Joobilee.”
Joobilee:
“Right now my band and I are planning to record within the near future. A lot of my work up until now has been solely written by me or collaborated on with a producer so I’m very excited to get some stuff with a band out! I’m also working on an acoustic project at the moment. I’m hoping to gig more in the fall, so we’ll see where that goes!”
VMS:
“What do you want your audience to feel and experience at one of your live shows.”
Joobilee:
“I want my audience to feel heard and find some sort of connection to my music. It could be through my lyrics or purely the sound. I want my audience to feel comfortable and cozy, feel good.”
Vegas Music Scene Thoughts:
What I love about Joobilee is her intoxicating journey of love, self reflection, loss, and everything in between that she takes you on with her incredibly insightful lyrics, emotionally beautiful melodies and vocals that take you to another world. She paints a beautifully complex world with her songs, and I find myself getting blissfully lost in her music. I think the reason why I always seem to gravitate towards the Singer-Songwriters sometimes is how in tune and self aware of their own experiences they are, and how they can shape that so effortlessly into a wonderful song or album. But I guess that is the beauty of music, how we can take our personal experiences and create something magical.
Joobilee has found that balance, and has shifted that into a one of a kind experience. Whether it’s songs like “My Distractions” where you can feel the raw emotion in her lyrics, or “Nepenthe” where her gorgeous vocals take center stage to take you on a ethereal journey that is too much to just put into words, and my personal favorite “Small (Acoustic)”, about the complexities of relationships and how to weather the storm. She definitely has a clear vision of what she wants to share, wears her heart on her sleeve and in turn creates a beautifully emotional sound that I encourage you to get lost in.
I’m excited to see the evolution one day of her sound, her voice, and her unique perspective on the human condition. I think she has a wonderful perspective and I can’t wait to see where she takes us as the listener next.
That’s why i’m proud to call her my Artist of the Week. 🙂
For more information about Joobilee, check her out on Instagram!
—–VMS