‘Music is my therapy': We talk to multiselling singer-songwriter Jess Glynne about the best and worst day of her life
With five number-one singles and three award nominations for this month’s Brits, JESS GLYNNE is poised to take her place at UK pop’s top table
BLAZER, Reem Juan
There’s an old expression about life giving with one hand and taking away with the other, but few, perhaps, have experienced this phenomenon to the extent of British music’s breakout star Jess Glynne.
The ‘Hold My Hand’ singer is telling me, over breakfast in Soho, about July 2013, when, in one week, her life changed beyond recognition.
Her girlfriend of three years dumped her over the phone, without explanation – she hasn’t heard from her since – and, that same week, after years of rejections, she was signed by a manager and landed a record deal.
Amid the wreckage of a broken heart, her lifelong dream of being a musician started to come true.
‘It was mental,’ recalls the flame-haired 26-year-old from Muswell Hill, North London.
‘One minute it was, “Oh my God, it’s finally happening,” and the next it was, “OMG, I wish I was dead!”’ (said with typical twentysomething melodrama).
‘I was in Heathrow Airport last week and, walking past Dixons, I heard one of my songs blaring out. It still feels surreal,’ said Jess, who has had five number one songs in the UK
Two and a half years on, Jess’s debut album I Cry When I Laugh has gone double-platinum. The bestselling debut released last year outsold the likes of Coldplay and One Direction.
Even before its release, Jess had equalled Cheryl Fernandez-Versini’s record for most UK number-one singles by a British female (five).
‘I was in Heathrow Airport last week and, walking past Dixons, I heard one of my songs blaring out. It still feels surreal,’ says Jess.
And it’s set to become more so, since she has been nominated for three awards at the Brits (for best British female, breakthrough act and single) and she will also be performing at the ceremony in the O2 on 24 February.
For Jess, singing was all she ever wanted to do.
‘When I was young, I would listen to Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston, rewrite their songs with my own lyrics, record myself performing them and play them back.’
School – the local comprehensive – was never of much interest.
‘I was a bit mouthy – I am a typical fiery redhead. People teased me because of my hair. I couldn’t wait to leave.’
After finishing her A-levels, she took an entry-level job at a music management company – ‘The best thing I ever did, as now I understand things like contracts and PR.’
And she recorded demos, which she sent around in the hope of being signed.
Jess wears WAISTCOAT and CROP TOP, Reem Juan
‘There was a guy at one of the labels I sent recordings to who wrote back: “Don’t give up your dayjob.” I was so upset. I considered contacting him recently, to rub his nose in it, but then I thought, “Nah. What’s the point?”’
Success has, understandably, helped to heal Jess’s wounds and she is now able to be philosophical and mature about things, including her break-up (she will only identify her ex as ‘someone I met working’).
‘I am over it, but find it sad that one day someone can be everything in your life – and then they’re nothing. It felt like bereavement.
'I don’t know if she is alive or dead because she wants nothing to do with me, and I don’t know why. But I am a better person for going through that.’
And what of relationships now?
‘Nonexistent,’ she answers quickly.
She won’t define herself as gay or straight.
‘Aren’t those terms meaningless these days? I’ve been in love with a man and with a woman, so I can’t say it would be one or the other; it’s about the person.
'If it’s right, I’ll commit, but my experience has definitely damaged me.’
It’s no secret, though, that pain fuels creativity, and had she not been rejected so callously, one wonders if Jess’s soulful lyrics would have quite the same depth.
Jess wears COAT, Tibi. NECKLACE, Robinson Pelham. SHOES, Miu Miu, BRA, Jess’s own
‘I definitely handled my emotions by writing music. That was my therapy and I think it’s why the album is so special. I’d sit down and be amazed by what would pour out.
'Lyrics have always come naturally to me. I’m terrible with words when it comes to speaking. If I have to get up on stage and say something or accept an award, I panic, but with music it flows.
'Whatever I’m feeling, I jot down in Notes on my iPhone and return to it for inspiration.
'Looking back, I feel proud of how I dealt with it. There’s no secret to getting over someone: it just takes time and space.’
But, perhaps contrary to expectation, Jess’s lyrics are not heavy with melancholy.
‘It was important to write an album that was hopeful and full of belief. Someone hurt me, but I didn’t want to seem broken.
'I didn’t realise how tough I was until I had to go to endless meetings with people from the record company and, each time, find a way to hide my pain.’
Her hit single ‘Don’t Be So Hard On Yourself’ is about exactly that. ‘“I came here with a broken heart that no one else could see/I drew a smile on my face to paper over me,”’ she quotes.
‘That opening line sums it up.’ ‘Hold My Hand’, an upbeat dance favourite, is, she says, ‘about friendship and having someone to hold your hand when you’re down and help you take on the world’.
Luckily for Jess, she has many such people. She grew up in a tight-knit Jewish family who still gather for weekly suppers.
![‘Amy [Winehouse] had that sadness, didn’t she? I have it, too. But for me it wasn’t about sinking into it, it was about seeing the good and taking lessons away,' said Jess](http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2016/02/02/17/05CEF5A40000044D-3428042-image-m-39_1454433687641.jpg)
‘Amy [Winehouse] had that sadness, didn’t she? I have it, too. But for me it wasn’t about sinking into it, it was about seeing the good and taking lessons away,' said Jess
‘My dad is an amazing cook. He made us all a delicious seafood risotto last night.’
She is close to both of her parents. Her father, whom she credits with teaching her positivity and a strong work ethic, runs his own estate agency, and her mother was in the music industry, providing Jess with many of her early contacts, as well as her love of music.
‘I grew up with stacks of records around the house – artists such as Sting, Aretha Franklin and David Bowie,’ she says.
Her elder sister works for The Economist – ‘we are very different, but love each other’ – and lives down the road from the flat Jess shares with friends in East London.
Despite the starry turn her life has taken, Jess seems resolutely grounded.
Her closest friends are still those from school: ‘One is a graphic designer, one works on an urban farm, one wants to open a restaurant… My best mate Joely is my creative director.’
She casually mentions having ‘long chats about the artistic process’ with the ‘amazing’ Emeli Sandé; taking tips from Sam Smith, who ‘calmed me down when I had to go on stage at the V Festival a few weeks after surgery on my vocal cords’, and running into Adele in the WC of a recording studio and bonding over the fact that they had their cords repaired by the same surgeon – but she never sounds awed by these stellar names. One notable exception is Amy Winehouse.
‘It’s no secret that Amy was a massive influence on me. She was the person I wanted to be,’ gushes Jess. ‘When I found out she had passed, I didn’t believe it. I was in tears.
'I had it in my head that she and I would work together one day.’ (Jess has recently started covering Amy’s ‘Tears Dry On Their Own’ in her set, as a way of collaborating posthumously.)
And, as two deep-voiced, ballsy Jewish chicks from North London, the comparisons between the two have been inevitable.
Jesse is close to both of her parents. Her mother was in the music industry and her father runs his own estate agency. She credits him with teaching her positivity and a strong work ethic
‘Amy had that sadness, didn’t she? I have it, too. But for me it wasn’t about sinking into it, it was about seeing the good and taking lessons away.’
Although the two singers never met – ‘I used to always see her around, as we lived near to one another, but I’m not the type to go up to someone’ – Jess is now an ambassador for the Amy Winehouse Foundation, which was set up by Amy’s parents to educate teenagers about drug and alcohol misuse and to help troubled young people realise their dreams.
‘I spoke to Amy’s father Mitch at a foundation event and he was lovely. He said, “It’s amazing that you’re a part of this.”
'Aside from her family, I don’t think Amy had the best people around her like I do.
'I think there were people who could have saved her, but didn’t. The documentary about her [Amy] makes that clear.’
Another way in which Jess and Amy diverge, fortunately, is in their attitude to drugs.
‘I’m a total hypochondriac. I can’t go near drugs. I even get nervous if I breathe in second-hand smoke. My mum is, like, “Shut up, Jess. There’s always something wrong with you.”
'I get scared if I drink too much – although I was hungover yesterday,’ she admits.
And though in the past she has reportedly been prone to binge-drinking, nowadays hangovers are rare.
‘If you tend towards anxiety or depression, which I do, to take drugs or overdo the alcohol sets you on a downward spiral. I hate feeling out of control.’
As if to underline her point, she empties a pocketful of supplements on to the table. Among them are milk thistle, a probiotic and various more obscure remedies prescribed by her nutritionist.
'My advice to someone entering the industry is to have a thick shell, as there’s a lot of rejection, and to believe in what you do, because if you don’t, no one else will,' said Jess (pictured performing in Manchester)
We are, fittingly, both sipping a beetroot, cucumber and blueberry juice.
‘I can’t believe you drank that!’ she shrieks. ‘It was rank!’
We are also sharing some gluten-free toast, Jess’s nutritionist having taken her off gluten.
She tells me she took charge of her diet ‘because I was feeling overwhelmed by fame.
'Good nutrition has made me feel I can handle life. What I learned from Amy was that this industry is a lot [to handle].
'My mum never understood when I used to say, “I want to be a successful musician, but I don’t want to be famous.”’
Jess has admitted to feeling insecure about her appearance – ‘one of the many reasons I loved Amy was because she showed you didn’t need conventional good looks to make it’ – and in this respect she has found the attention difficult.
‘Of course, I worry about my body, but I would never let that stop me eating.
'Recently I’ve had terrible skin as a result of stress and travelling a lot, but if it shows my fans that I am human, and that we all suffer things like acne, it’s a good thing.’
Having been a music fan for so long herself and worked in the industry on ‘the other side’, Jess feels protective towards the young hopefuls who look up to her.
Last year she appeared as a guest judge on The X Factor, helping Cheryl.
‘She was lovely, but so terrified to pick who to put through because she knows she’ll be heckled for whatever she decides. She was, like, “Jess, help me!” So I would whisper in her ear, “Just do it.”’
Contrary to what was reported, Jess did not slate The X Factor afterwards, but she does have reservations about that type of show, having found her fame more organically.
‘I’d hate for young singers to think that’s the only way and there’s no hope if you don’t win.
'My advice to someone entering the industry is to have a thick shell, as there’s a lot of rejection, and to believe in what you do, because if you don’t, no one else will.
'You need to be committed, too – success is not going to be handed to you on a plate.’
And clearly this approach has worked for her. Jess has enjoyed a magical two years, only marred by the eight weeks she had to take out last summer to recover from surgery to remove a polyp from her vocal cords, which were inflamed from overuse.
‘It’s something most singers suffer – our voices weren’t meant to be used that much. It would be like an athlete running a marathon three days in a row.
'Adele and I agreed that our singing has improved since our ops, and that we now have a vocal range we didn’t previously.’
If this is true, the prospect of Jess’s next album – which she plans to write this year – is tantalising.
‘I won’t know where I am going to go with it until I come up with a title. I knew when I was 19 that my first album would be called I Cry When I Laugh.’
The title is perfectly in keeping with the album’s theme of mixed emotions, I point out.
She agrees. ‘And it’s true – the minute I start to laugh, I am crying, tears streaming. I don’t even need to be laughing hard. It’s really strange.
'For the next album, I need to come up with another fact about myself, as well as inspiration, but I don’t think I will be short of material!’
Jess’s debut album I Cry When I Laugh is out now on Atlantic and includes the new single ‘Ain’t Got Far To Go’.
Jess is on tour in the UK this month; jessglynne.co.uk
JESS’S GEMS
YOUR PERFECT DAY?
Chilling with friends, watching an old film such as Notting Hill and going for food. I also love hanging out at Soho House.
HOW DO YOU KEEP FIT?
When I have time, I swim or workout on a cross-trainer. I hate running!
FASHION GO-TOS?
Selfridges is the best – it’s got everything from high street to designer. I love Acne Studios, Alexander Wang, 3.1 Phillip Lim and, of course, Topshop.
ON YOUR TV?
Orange is the New Black and Gogglebox are my current favourites.
IF YOU COULD RECORD A DUET WITH ANYONE LIVING?
Beyoncé. I admire her musically and as a person – to achieve what she has and still be so lovely.
FAVOURITE ALBUM?
Probably The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. It inspired me because she wrote about lots of experiences, not just love.
HOW DO YOU RELAX?
I’m into meditating – I have some apps on my phone – and I love a good massage.
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