Jenna Bryson
Jenna Bryson is an american singer/songwriter I discovered three years ago.
A true passionate artist with meaningful lyrics, Jenna Bryson is part of those people who work very hard to make things happen and who will always stay humble, no matter what. This is why I never stopped supporting her and this is why she’s part of this project.
Get to know her through this interview where Jenna shares with us her stories in the music industry.
Tell us about your different experiences in the music industry. What have you learned from these experiences?
Oh, man… the list of experiences is long, including both the good and the “bad“… I say “bad” in quotes, because it’s all how you react, and what you do with your experiences that count, even if the experience felt negative, you can learn something from it. I’ve won contests, been flown to NYC to meet with an industry exec, sang in offices and been told how amazing my voice is, but then never heard from the people I sang for again, had a hit songwriter tell me he could “hear my song on the radio today” but then that’s it, nothing else came from it… I mean, you can die of compliments in this town, it’s actions that count. Overall, you gotta keep pushing. Take everything with a grain of salt, both criticisms and compliments (especially compliments!), but be willing to try new things, too.
Tell us a story behind one of your favorite song you have written.
Ahh! So many stories… OK, I think the best story is the one behind ‘Clear’, probably my most popular song. My boyfriend and I had just broken up (might have been for the second time! I can’t remember, it was so long ago), but I KNEW we were right for each other and that if he could just take some time and realize it himself, it would be “clear” and we’d be together again. I cried the whole way thru writing it. Haha! I can laugh at it now, but at the time, the lyrics were everything I wanted to say to him, but couldn’t because he was gone. And yes, it all worked out; he came to his senses. Yay!
What vision do you have of today’s music? If you could have the opportunity to change something in the music industry, what would it be?
If I could compare the music industry today to, say a body of water, I’d say it’s very murky… cloudy…
And there’s a lot of amazing, colorful, interesting fish lurking in that water (awesome singers/songwriters/artists), but there’s also a lot of just OK, normal, basic fish, too, and there all swimming about all over the place… but you can’t tell them a part, or you can’t find the really cool fishies because the waters are so packed of just OK fishies. That makes sense? Basically, it’s difficult to rise above the crowd, tough to get heard. There’s a lot of noise. Of course, everyone should be free to play/write/sing music, no matter what; that’s how you get better, and if you enjoy doing something, you should be able to do it. But it does make it slow-going to break thru, for everyone.
What vision do you have for your own art/music?
I think my vision is simple: make art/music that people will like. Make something that people will enjoy and connect to. I like to think that I have pretty great taste, and that taste informs my writing and helps me choose which songs I will record and release. I’m picky, so if I like a song, then I’m pretty certain others will like it, too.
Who are the artists/people you look up to?
List time!
- Sara Bareilles (not only for her songwriting and insanely skilled vocal stylings, but also her fashion sense — I wish I was tall and skinny like her and could rock a mini skirt and fedora as well as she can)
- Lady Antebellum (I’m a huge fan of contemporary country music and Lady A’s history of crossing genres with their records is something I’d like to replicate with my own music)
- Taylor Swift (speaking of country artists who can cross over genres, this girl does it like nobody else… great pop writing sensibility, fabulous showmanship, and while she doesn’t have the best technical voice in the world, she’s got a signature sound and quality to her voice that I love listening to)
- Katy Perry (last but not least… I’ve been a fan of this lady since 2005 back in the MySpace days. When I finally caught her playing live, at a little place in LA that I have played at, too, called Room 5, my boyfriend and I had just broken up, and she was there on-stage, in a black tee and jeans, and she was playing her guitar, and she sang ‘Thinking of You’, and I burst out crying. That’s an artist. No matter how glitzy she is, at the heart of it, is a real artist who connects to her music. I grabbed her arm as she walked past me afterward and told her how amazing I thought she was; she was so sweet and grateful).
What do you want to accomplish in the music industry?
I’d love for music to be my career, which basically means I’d like to write songs for and with other artists (which I’ve been doing more of lately, so I’m working towards that)… I’d love to hear one of my songs on the radio one day, (it’d be great if it were ME singing the song, but I would be just as happy if it were a song I wrote for someone else), and in a big commercial, movie trailer, or in a big hit movie, for that matter. A singer-songwriter can have a fulfilling career placing songs with other artists, placing their own songs in film & TV… a huge tour, radio hits… that stuff is awesome, and I’d love it, of course, but I’m also happy with the smaller successes, which is really important. If you can’t be happy with the little things, then nothing will ever be enough.
Connect with Jenna:
http://www.facebook.com/jennabrysonmusic
http://www.twitter.com/jennabryson