The Twin Cities are a proven hotbed for soulful and lively performing artists. Dr. Mambo’s Combo, Davina & the Vagabonds, and Sonny Knight & the Lakers are just a few of a great lineage of acts that have delivered electrifying stage shows that can captivate crowds from dive bars up to amphitheaters with the slickest grooves.
For Jaedyn James, the path to singing was sparked by a visit to grandma’s house. “My grandmother showed me The Bodyguard in 1997. I was like, ‘That’s the life I want. I want to be Rachel. I want to be Whitney Houston.’”
Growing up in northeast Minneapolis, others around James didn’t see that as a viable option. “My mom was working really hard raising four girls,” she reflects. “It was like, ‘Okay, you can be a music teacher or you can be a nurse,’ but I didn’t want to do any of that. I was always writing and singing. I had been holding on to this dream of wanting to be a singer and having a band. Knowing that so definitively about who I am, but growing up in the Midwest, I really didn’t ever think it would be a possibility.”
The road to any creative career can be a treacherous path, and even that description puts James’ experiences lightly. “My road to music was riddled with, ‘Don’t do it. Not here. It’s not safe. Stop,’” James reflects. She says the harrowing experiences of being a survivor of domestic and sexual abuse, as well as traversing through repeated experiences of sexism within the music scene pushed her harder to become the artist she is today. She formed her first band Jaedyn James & the Hunger with friends and family in 2014, eventually leading them to performing at the Basilica Block Party in 2017 and touring across the Midwest.
“When I first came out of the gate with Jaedyn James & the Hunger, I didn’t care what people thought,” says James. “I just had to do it, which was very powerful. I did a lot of healing and writing from that initial rage, hurt, and devastation. There was a lot of high-octane energy going into Jaedyn James & the Hunger, because I had so much to express.” The group released a series of music videos in 2017 and the Outright EP in 2018, before disbanding in 2019.
At that time, James started to reassess what she wanted to do in the bigger scope of music. “Outright still feels like a transitory time; I struggled during that recording experience,” James says. “I think the songs are great, but I was struggling to really figure out my voice and what I wanted next out of music. It was like, ‘Okay, I have this big tool, what do I do with it?’”
In the fall of 2019, she started writing and stockpiling songs that had a slightly different approach. “I love R&B, and that’s always going to be in the mix, but I really wanted to do romantic things,” James says. “I really wanted to not have a five-piece horn section every song. I wanted to stretch out. The Hunger had such a reputation for what it was, and who Jaedyn James was, and I needed to redefine that.”
Additionally, a groundswell of loss – three of her close confidantes in the music scene died within a year – also caused James to recalibrate. She sought out a songwriter that could help bring those ideas to life and began working with Ilan Blanck of Sprig of That and Porky’s Groove Machine. “I’ve always needed an interpreter because I don’t have music education, but I have the desire,” she says. “I am opinionated about what I want to hear, so I knew that I was going to need a co-writer that was really going to be hands-on, and Ilan was that.”
Another collaborator arose in R&B wunderkind EHN JEY, whom she had met at the Basilica Block Party in 2017. As the time neared for backing vocals, “[EHN JEY] said, ‘Why am I not doing it?’” she recalls. “So I handed him a couple of songs, and he brought them back with his backing vocals, and I was amazed by how good they were.”
This core group of collaborators, along with engineer Holly Hansen of Zoo Animal, helps Loving You So Hard, Jaedyn’s first solo foray, develop as a grand utopia. The album brims full with unwavering confidence, love, and candor that expands James’ emotional range.
During the making of the album, James looked to works like Alanis Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill and Aretha Franklin’s Aretha Now to help shape its mission statement. “When you think of Alanis, you think of power and straight-up, in-your-face feminism, backed by great bass lines and a great rhythm section,” she says. “I also think a lot about Aretha. If you ever listened to Aretha Now, she would kick your butt vocally the whole time. Even as a singer, you have to give it a breath, and Aretha and Alanis were able to do that, while still balancing their power.”
Buoyed by the lead-off “Here In Your Love,” James is able to ebb and flow vocally with great ease. “That song was such a departure from everything that I’ve put out. And it offered a breath of fresh air,” she says. “As much as I am a loud, thick-skinned woman, I am also a soft, romantic, loving, and nurturing person. When she gets stepped on, or when she’s hurt, you’re asking for an entirely different beast. I wanted ‘Here In Your Love’ to be the welcome hug into the house of Loving You So Hard, because there’s a lot more stories and emotions going on in there.”
Songs like “I Do It For Her” and the title track tap into James’ renowned feminism, delivering moments that rock hard and keep a good balance of energies on the album. “You Are the Man” touches on themes of yearning and vulnerability backed by sumptuous strings and a baby grand. Elsewhere, there’s the playful track “Good to You,” perfect for a summer cruise. The album’s title track is a monster gospel rock song featuring James literally screaming at the end. “I didn’t intend to name the album Loving You So Hard, but as soon as the mix came in it was clear the song was the overarching theme of the entire record,” she says. From the ballads to the feel-good tunes, they are all through a lens of relentless love.
“I still get to kick ass and be myself,” James says. “The album is as multidimensional as I am, like all women are. I like my life, and I like who I am. It was important to me to enjoy the recording process. My mental health is really important to me so I’m always balancing that and my music career. I’m proud to say I finally figured out how to make a gorgeous album and I can’t wait to share it.”