When Dr. Luke, Jessie J, and I sat down in our favorite studio again for the first time in months, we were faced with one problem…how do we let the world see just how damn amazing Jessie is.
by the end of that session we had “Domino”.
When you have a singer with the range, and depth that Jessie has, the obstacle is finding ways of showing that off on a pop song without making it so flashy and complicated that people cant sing along.
We imagined that Clive Davis probably struggled with the same obstacles when trying to introduce Whitney Houston to the world. he figured it out, masterfully.
so…early Whitney Houston records is where we looked for inspiration.
WE PLAYED THIS SONG (very loudly):
AND THIS ONE:
we wanted to capture the colorful melodies, subtly sexy lyrics, the vocal acrobatics, the fun/carefree dance vibe…
spacious, soulful verses that show off her range, power, and attitude. (ie: “How Will I Know”)
rhythmic, staccato party chorus that gets stuck in your head. (ie: “I Wanna Dance With Somebody”)
and of course, a vocal performance so good and in a key thats so damn high that every girl will love it and try to sing along, but never sound as good as the original artist
im sure you can see the musical resemblance now.
Jessie recorded Domino on a broken foot! she had to record the whole thing sitting down, cuz she couldn’t put any weight on her foot. I think subconsciously we were writing the most energetic record possible to help distract her brain from all the pain she was in.
we spoke about her feeling frustrated that she couldn’t wear high heels. She hated that she couldn’t throw her crutches down and run around dancing to the music like we did when we wrote & recorded “Price Tag” & “Abracadabra”.
I can feel the tension like a cloud of smoke in the air, Now i’m breathing like I’m running cuz you’re taking me there…”
Dont those lyrics make more sense now? *evil grin*
i’ve heard & read a lot of comparisons to Katy Perry. flattering? yes…she’s a current pop machine. Accurate? eh, maybe. music is subjective. people hear what they hear. and Dr. Luke is the mastermind behind a lot of her hits too.
But the TRUTH? the inspiration “for Domino” was early Whitney Houston. she’s an icon, and one of Jessie’s & my favorite artists…and 1 of the best places to go for inspiration.
very few artists in the world today can sing as well as Jessie J. even fewer are as genuine and believable. so i’m glad DOMINO is reaching and hitting people like we hoped it would.
dont have it yet:
Yes and he is one of the co-writers. He said the same thing on twitter months ago attributing this to Whitney Houston influence. Not sure why folks didn't believe him first time, clearly you can hear the influence and both are huge fans of Whitney.
