Jess say the word
As she returns with a new single, Jess Glynne talks to ALEX GREEN about the new perspective the pandemic has given her and why she won’t put up with anti-Semitism
WHILE some stars spent lockdown frantically writing songs, teaching their fans guitar over Instagram Live or penning long overdue memoirs, Jess Glynne took time to recalibrate.
The singer, who celebrated her 30th birthday last October, marked a pause after a busy six years in which she scored two number one albums and featured on seven number one singles.
After years of hard touring, Jess suffered a vocal haemorrhage around summer 2019 and doctors warned her she could damage her voice permanently if she did not take time off.
“It’s been really great. It’s been such a nice chill period,” she explains over the phone.
“Last year got a bit intense for me. My diary went so crazy and I was put under so much pressure. Physically, it really did get me.
“So it has been a really nice period for me to get back to myself and find a new balance, which has been really good.”
Jess’s first release of the new decade, Lie For You, is a collaboration with Sheffield electronic music duo Snakehips – Oliver Lee and James Carter – that was, for the most part, recorded remotely.
“(It) came when I was doing my second album but it didn’t really fit with the whole sound and concept of the record,” she recalls. “But I always wanted to release it.
“I left it sitting there, and then in this period, I had a few ideas so I reached out to Snakehips and they put their thing on it. It turned into what it is now.”
The low-slung earworm features Afrobeats star Davido and US rapper A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie.
It’s also accompanied by an anime-style video that riffs on the Japanese genre’s classics.
“It was a really nice way to do something while avoiding making a really budget home video,” Jess offers, laughing.
The north London singer, famed for her staggering vocal range, is excited to be back on the music treadmill but admits she expects little from 2020.
“I’m definitely doing a bit more now but it’s not crazy, crazy busy.
“I don’t think this year is going to be a busy year. It’s just going to be a ‘something’ year.”
She continues: “Lockdown has been a very telling time for people and it has opened our eyes to a lot of things you wouldn’t have probably realised before.
“None of us have ever experienced anything like this. It makes you really think about how you live your life, (your) health – a lot of different things. It’s made me want to not travel as much and not fill up my diary in the way I used to.”
Recent months have seen the issue of racial equality come to the fore. Jess, who is Jewish, was among those who condemned rapper Wiley – known as “The Godfather of Grime” – after he posted a string of anti-Semitic comments across social media. “You are disgusting. Check yourself,” she tweeted to him at the time.
Grime producer DJ Spoony and MPs including Jess Phillips and Dawn Butler were also among those decrying the musician.
“The Black Lives Matter stuff is super important because a voice is being heard and it hasn’t been forgotten,” Jess asserts. “It hasn’t just come and gone. The anti-Semitism as well. That kind of stuff doesn’t get spoken about. People just dust that off.
“Me, being Jewish, I think that is a very important voice to be heard.
“It’s something that hasn’t been forgotten and should carry on.”
Jess is confident that the end result of 2020 will be positive.
“When we come out of whatever recession we are about to go into and all this craziness, I do feel there are going to be positives.
“My mindset is very different to what it was six months ago.
“I know that everything has affected me quite drastically. I presume it has for everyone else.”
Oliver, who has worked with stars including Anne-Marie, agrees.
“There’s been a lot of totally unplanned time to reflect,” he suggests. Obviously, there has been some crazy stuff going on in the world. It’s been a good time to get educated. People are usually so busy and it’s almost like they need roadblocks to really make change.”
Both miss the thrill of performing and are keen to return to the live setting. In August, indie rocker Sam Fender played to an audience of some 2,500 socially-distanced fans at Newcastle’s Gosforth Park – each group watching from inside a personal raised pen.
“I would be down (for it). That sounds hilarious,” Oliver says when asked whether he could see Snakehips doing a similar gig. But Jess maintains some reservations.
“It’s a weird one because I feel like when you do a show the whole point is that everyone is being free in themselves. I can imagine it being really odd like that,” she says, before adding swiftly: “But I would never say never.
“Once people have had a drink and they are let loose, the likelihood of people staying in those boxes – I don’t think it is realistic personally.
“We will have to see, I guess.”