RS: When you are working with producers, do you usually start
with the vocals or song or do you start with the track? What's your
songwriting process?
Jes: Well, it's always different. I play guitar and piano by ear
and that's how I always write. A lot of times, I also program. I
have a lot of old instruments at home, so I put ideas down, with the
track in a simple form and write the song usually. Then I bring it to
the people I work with or who I think will be good to work on the song
with me and then we finish it together. That's usually how it works.
When I wrote Like a Stranger, they had a track and it was so funny
because that song was originally more rock. When I heard the track, I
just sang it over and it fit so well that I said well, I guess that's
the music it belongs to. Sometimes people will send me tracks and I
just hear something through them. So I do it in many different ways
and I'm constantly writing lyrics, constantly jotting down things so I
have many different processes.
RS: Talking about the rock thing, I noticed the Like a Waterfall
that's on the CD is a little more rock than I remember. What was the
reason to go in that direction with that song?
Jes: The hardest thing was to find the coherence in the album to all
the music, bring it together so that everything kind of relates to
each other and nothing's too far off. I did include a song or two
that people might say doesn't belong on the record, but I still wanted
it on. One of them was "Stronger."
RS: That's the more old school sort of Sneaker Pimps track?
Jes: Yes, I've had that song for a while and it needed to live, it
needed to be heard, and so I didn't want to save it for my next album.
I wanted it to be out there and I wanted people to see different
sides of me. I really wanted to be a lot of different things on the
CD.
RS: Like the downtempo tracks "See You Soon" and "Want My Love"?
Jes: I love Want My Love, yes. Yes, I hope you like them too.
RS: I like that it's not just the same sound all the way through
the album, was that a conscious decision?
Jes: No, it was hard to try to figure out. It also took years to
finish it because a lot of people like me sitting down with a guitar
and singing, and they wanted me to make that kind of record. I sort
of dabbled in making a record like that, so it took me a little in a
different direction. But then I really wanted to make a dance album
or at least something that had a dance flavor, and I didn't want to
alienate the amazing fans that have supported me all this time. So I
got back to my original idea and that's when I started to try to
combine a little bit of the songs that I write with a little bit more
of an electronic feel. A lot of the songs got a little bit more edgy
in the mixes and that's probably why when we did the mix of Waterfall,
we brought a little bit more guitars forward and probably edged up the
beat a little bit. Also with Ghost, we did a different version of it
and that's what was on the radio in Europe.
RS: The press release gives you a title Queen of Rocktronica,
but I've got a different title for you.
Jes: You do? Uh-oh.
RS: I call you the Diva of the Raver Kids.
Jes: I love that. I think I need a shirt that says Diva of the
Raver Kids, I'm going make one with that.
RS: Most of the raver or party kids only respond to DJs or they
guys who play drum machines/keyboards while DJing. When I saw you on
stage at the Billboard Dance Music Summit in Vegas, you're probably
the one live vocalist who can connect to that generation.
Jes: That's so nice. To me, it's more about connecting to people in
general. One of the great things is you meet so many people. After
the shows with Tiesto, I would do a signing at the stand where the
shirts were and it was just amazing how I would be there for two hours
just talking, taking pictures, and connecting with people. It's a
wonderful thing when you're on stage and they're singing with you,
looking at you, reaching for you and you're reaching for them. It's
such a loving place to be. So I love my fans so much. I get amazing
letters from people and it's a hard business and I always tell them,
that if I didn't get those letters sometimes, I wonder if I'd still be
here.
RS: I've got to ask you on the artwork, there seems to be this
white stripe coming down your face in your hair and lips, does that
symbolize anything?
Jes: We were experimenting with some things. I have a tattoo that's
very tribal, so we were playing with the warrior feeling of it and the
title. It was funny because we were actually playing around with it
and those are the ones that everybody wanted, that really felt were
good for the album. So it was a surprise, but we were thinking that
as we were doing it.
