Hello Jessie! We just saw on Twitter that you are currently in Malta. How's the weather?
"I am, I'm by the pool with Rudimental and Rita Ora. It's beautiful here. We're only here for a few days so I'm trying to soak up the rays while I can.
'Wild' is a little a more urban sound than anything we've heard from you before. Is it an indication of things to come?
"Everyone keeps saying that, but no! The next single is straight up pop and everything on the album is completely different. 'Wild' was the one that grabbed people's attention, but the album is really eclectic actually - probably more so than the first one."
Where are you at with the album? Is it all finished?
"Pretty much. We're just sorting out some features, production, final vocals and some mixes and masters. The body of work is pretty much there."
So we can expect it soon then?
"Yeah, it will be out before Christmas. I'm not going to give a date, but all will be revealed very soon."
We remember seeing a picture of you on Instagram getting emotional in the studio after recording a track - are you able to tell us the story behind the song?
"There's a song on the album about a family member that's very close to me who has suffered from an illness and it's kind of changed them. So I wrote a song about someone being in your life, but being themselves even though they are still there. It's a very personal and honest song."
This Calvin Harris song you recently said you've recorded is surely a good one to get out for the summer?
"Yeah I hope so. At the moment we're still building up the tracklist for the album, and it keeps changing every ten minutes! We didn't actually record the track together, but it was one of the last ones I did for the album. I'm yet to even meet him, so it'll be exciting when I do. It's a good song though - a really good song."
Is it a big trademark Calvin Harris party anthem?
"It is, but it's not as [makes heavy club beats sound]. It's kind of like the one I did with David Guetta, in the sense that 'Laserlight' was guitar-based, so it's in Calvin Harris's realm, but a little different."
We also love the fact you've recorded a duet with Brandy...
"Ooh you're saying that as though this has happened and it's going to be on the album..."
Is it going to be on the album?
"We haven't finished it yet, but I am so honoured that she sang something I wrote with Claude [Kelly]. I'm over the moon, so I just hope it gets the attention it deserves. I'm fighting for it! She has recorded it, but it's yet to make the album. It's exciting."
Who else have your approached to feature on the album?
"At the moment we're really trying to approach people that we feel are right for it. It's this thing where, if you have a song for a person it's 100% right for and then they go, 'No,' do you then go to the second person, for them to maybe find out they are the second person? Or do I just leave it as it is? So I have to think about where people are at in their promotional cycle and you have to take that into consideration. It gets quite mathematical. We're talking to a few people, but nothing is set in stone yet."
My biggest problem with her debut album was how there was absolutely no cohesion. Just a smattering of genres thrown together. Looks like that's happening again... ugh.
My biggest problem with her debut album was how there was absolutely no cohesion. Just a smattering of genres thrown together. Looks like that's happening again... ugh.
That's the thing with Jessie, that bother me. Because that her pop songs are REALLY pop and her Urban songs REALLY ubran. She doesn't really mix both of the style or tone a bit down to get an album with a tracklist not as messy as Who You Are. (Hopefully she won't throw a Live Song in the middle of the album).
