A CONVERSATION WITH... JANE.
We got to know multi-cultural and multi-home artist Jane. about the evolution of his artistry and where his latest EP, Celeste, has taken him.
(credit: Muriel Margaret)
There are some songs that are meant to be screamed in a stadium, sung along to in a pub, or listened to all alone in the darkness of your room.
And while Jane. loves the songs made for singing in packed rooms, he’s found himself creating insular and introspective songs to cry your heart out to in your room.
L.A.-based artist Jane. embraces his identity as a multi-cultural multi-ethnic multi-home person and translates that into all of his projects. Starting as “Raj” with his first project, then moving to “Jane Holiday”, created during his time in the South of France as a Serge Gainsbourg-esque character, he finally settled on Jane. (with the period).
“Sure the period is for SEO reasons, especially since there’s an incredible French artist called Jain but it’s also just a ubiquitous name. It’s like if a band was called ‘Beige’, the music can sound like anything and you won’t know what to expect with the name.”
Being a solo artist his whole life means that he’s branched into so much different music to express and learn so much about himself. So with Celeste, his latest EP, he stuck to self-producing and is entering into a new beat-driven era. He explains that every piece of music he puts out under Jane. is about sharing the gift and the music he wants to hear. “I might call making music vain, but it’s really not. It’s honest, it’s making yourself understood and helping others understand themselves, and creating what I want with less regard for how the world sees it.”
In a time where so much of music, down to the punctuation you use for your name, is about catering to SEO and catering to what will go viral or sell, Jane. emphasises the need in creating art you want to see in the world. Like his aforementioned EP, he wanted a project that contains positive triggers. “What makes me happy? Everything doesn’t have to be the heaviest thing you’ve ever heard but still be built with the pillars of trust, honesty, and vulnerability.”
Exploring his five-track EP, you’ll find lush vocals, instrumentals veering into gospel, and songs that will bring chills down your spine and tears to your eyes. He dives into a journey of healing and trauma, that ends with ‘Sun in My Eyes’: a song he co-wrote with his close friend, Jesse Rutherford from the Neighbourhood. In a project that was so incredibly personal, it’s so indicative that this song was the definition of vulnerable — opening yourself up to another person while reckoning with your own trauma and healing.
“I went through a traumatic accident when I was 16, and I hadn’t really written, or even talked, about it before. But being in the studio with Jesse, I felt like it was finally time to come to terms with it fully. It was connecting heart-to-heart with him, a rare instance of co-writing, and it worked out.” He smiles a little as he says, “It was a beautiful thing, and he encouraged me to break down the defence mechanism I’ve spent years creating.”
He explains that in his artistry is the person he wants to be, because while he trims the fat from his projects, he wants to share with the world everything he can — just at the right time. “I’m a still new artist, even with having created music for a long time. And that’s what this year is about, relishing in the novelty of this time and exploring a new space with, and within, Jane. that I hadn’t before.” This exploration in 2023 is taking place through touring with Suki Waterhouse and her band, making so much more music, and travelling the world whenever he can.
“I think it’s so important to take stock of where you are right now and acknowledge that you even three years ago would have their mind blown from where you are. That’s why I recommend going on that trip, saying yes to adventure, and taking that step, even if you’re petrified to. Because if you stop now, you don’t know what you three years from now had to offer if you had said yes.”