Words By Zach Collier
Photos By Saskia Kovandzich
When her debut single went to number one in several markets around the world, Jazzy didn’t let the pressure of success or the weight of expectation get to her. Instead, she embraced the unexpected success with confidence, compassion, and an unyielding determination to protect what she loves most.
“I have a big festival this Friday in Ireland, so I was just getting some stuff ready for that. I was actually going for a fitting for a custom outfit. Now I’m home.”
“ How does it feel to have a ‘custom fitting for a big festival?’”
“It's kind of crazy.”
Jazzy is the demure, humble, unassuming type. She’s a simple, kind, down-to-earth Irish girl who likes to take her niece to the park and push her on the swings. A “bit of a homebody, to be honest,” she loves spending time with her immediate family and ordering in dinner to watch a film at home.
But at this point, Jazzy is also no stranger to massive festivals. The BRIT and Ivor Novello Award-nominated DJ had a massive hit with her song “Giving Me” in early 2023. The lead single from her breakthrough EP Constellations, the song was certified platinum in the UK and diamond in Ireland and opened massive doors for her. She recently supported Becky Hill at her Cork stadium show, and played the second headline set at Belsonic in Belfast. The monumental success of her music over the last few years has also turned her into a well-traveled foodie with favorite vegetarian restaurants in Osaka, Tokyo, and Kyoto.
“I didn't really do a lot of traveling until I started doing music. That has brought me to most places that I've been. I'm always curious to find the best veggie spots wherever I am,” Jazzy laughs. “We had loads of ramen while we were there, but there was this one place in Kyoto and it was the best vegan ramen I've ever had. I’m doing an Australian tour soon, and on the way home we said we'd go back to Japan because we loved it so much. But I'm literally going back for that bowl of ramen.”
That’s what I admire about Jazzy. Here she is casually discussing a continent-hopping tour, and instead of focusing on her success or future achievements, she’s laser-focused on getting ramen with her friends.
Jazzy never expected to become an international superstar. But she’s learning to embrace the unexpected.
“It kind of came out of nowhere, you know?” she tells me. “I've kind of done music for my whole life. I've done it in school growing up. We had a program and it was basically a string instrument program. Everyone in the school got to learn a string instrument. No tuition fees or anything like that. It was amazing. And I went on and I done all my grades on violin.” Jazzy actually went back to the school she attended growing up and became an assistant violin teacher. “That’s what I thought I was going to do. Or maybe go and join a nice orchestra or something like that.”
But the universe had other plans.
Along the way, Jazzy realized she loved singing. After completing school, she joined a hip-hop group known as Powerful Creative Minds with two of her best friends. “We've been neighbors for our whole lives,” she says. “Two lads, Ciaran and Ricky, they're called.”
Brothers Ciaran and Ricky Reddington rapped, while Jazzy acted as the de facto featured vocalist. It was her first experience being a vocalist in a public, pop-oriented capacity. “The guys are amazing. They really taught me so much. They had been writing for a couple of years before I joined them. It was amazing just getting to work with them. I had never done any writing before that, so they taught me a lot. We were together for a good three years, I would say. We'd done some local gigs and competitions. We put out a good bit of music as well while we were together.”
A live performance of the Powerful Creative Minds track “Hope is Good, Change is Real”
While she cut her teeth in Powerful Creative Minds, Jazzy’s first big break came when her partner, Russ, introduced her to one of the guys from Belters Only. “The lads from Belters Only were separately doing a lot of writing. They were very big DJs in Dublin at the time, before they came together. I was a huge fan of them both,” Jazzy explains. When the Belters Only DJs Bissett and RobbieG invited Jazzy to the studio to have her feature on a track they’d been working on, she jumped on the opportunity. She ended up cutting the vocal for “Make Me Feel Good” – the first ever Belters Only track. That track is sitting at a wild 112 million streams on Spotify alone.
“It just blew up when they put it out,” says Jazzy. “It was just after COVID, so I guess everyone kind of needed it. The dance scene wasn't doing anything at that time because there were no nightclubs, there was no nightlife. It just blew up. It was blown up on TikTok, on all the social media platforms, I guess you could say. The boys got approached by a big label, and the song got signed to the big label.”
The funniest thing about all this is that never once did Jazzy assume she could be signed. Her friends had just signed a deal and she was the featured vocalist on their biggest track – but it never occurred to her. Eventually, the A&R from the label approached Jazzy and asked to meet. “I was so excited when he approached me because I just didn't think that was even an option,” she laughs. “I’ll never forget the day of the phone call. I was pacing up and down. I was so nervous just to even talk to him.” Shortly after that, she signed a deal and launched her solo career.
Since then, it’s been accelerated growth at a breakneck pace for Jazzy. In a short period of time, she’s had to step into a new role as a performer who projects confidence. And she does. But it didn’t come easy.
“I've definitely had to work on it, yeah,” Jazzy says. “Even now, still, I'm still learning. I would say I'm quite a nice person. I'm not going to let people take advantage of me either, but yeah, it's definitely been a road of learning. There were one or two things at the very start that I had done that I thought I had to do – and later on learned that it wasn't necessarily needed. You don't have to do everything that everyone else is doing as an artist.”
She pauses here. It’s a reverent, painful pause. When she speaks again, you can tell it comes from a place of hard-earned wisdom, and she means it. When she speaks, it’s to a world that needs to hear it.
“You don't have to put yourself in uncomfortable situations if you don't want to. Even if saying no is frowned upon.”
When she says this, suddenly I get a glimpse of the powerful, confident Jazzy. She’s not abrasive, she’s not in your face, she’s not out to win, to be better than anyone else. Rather, it’s humility paired with complete and utter belief in what she’s saying. As she puts it, “I'm just trying to look after my peace at the end of the day and make music for people at the same time.”
This kind of confidence is most apparent in her music. On the opening track from Constellations – “Shooting Star” – Jazzy drops the lines “And I know I just met you, but I'll be seeing you later. Don't be acting a player. I got you right on my radar.” It's very forward, but it doesn't come across as cocky. Just self assured and fun.
“That is very accurate,” Jazzy says. “I think there's a good balance where you can be confident and not super cocky. The moral of when I'm making music is I always want it to be a good vibe. No bad vibes. Kind of uplifting. Confident in what I'm saying.”
Her single, “Make Up,” explores this theme of self confidence. “At first you would look at it and say it's about makeup. It kind of is,” she explains. “But the other story behind it is having confidence in yourself and fighting with yourself to be a better version of you.”
The song’s focus is less on waking up every morning and putting on makeup, and more about intentionally and routinely choosing to give yourself the confidence to take on the world.
Being intentional is very important to her. In her new career, there are times when Jazzy is so busy that she barely has time for a phone call home. And her time at home is becoming less frequent. “I've been traveling quite a lot lately, so it's kind of rare that I get a whole week at home,” she says.
But she’s the kind of person where when she’s home, she’s home. She clears her schedule and makes time for what matters most. Guarding her life is very important to her. After all, real life was there before her success, and it’s what’s going to be there long term. We briefly joke about a future where she’s 50 years old and doesn’t want to play giant music festivals anymore, and simply moves home to return to music education. Maybe get really into the violin again. She prizes her relationships, because the people she loves are who she always comes back to.
“It costs nothing to be kind,” she says. “I'm a big believer of that. I know as people get bigger in the music world, their egos are going to get bigger. I just feel like no matter what happens with me, that's not going to happen. I'm going to make it my business. I just don't see the point in it.”
Jazzy is embracing the unexpected with confidence while guarding the truths she holds dear. She’s a strong believer in giving herself grace and giving compassion to those around her. “Don't put too much pressure on yourself,” she says. “That's one big one that I would say to everyone is not to do that. Ever since I started all this, it's obviously been quite a lot on me. When I put out my first single, it went to number one. That doesn't usually happen with a debut single. So there was a lot of pressure on me, but I didn't let it get to me. Anything could have happened after that. If I had let the pressure get to me, I could have spiraled out of control trying to make another number one. And that's just not what you're supposed to do. When I go into the studio, I'm just vibing.”
While she never expected to be where she is today, she’s proud of where she is. And a part of her thinks it was always meant to be. “I was literally just doing a clear out in my room yesterday and I found some old artwork (I guess you could say) from school,” she says warmly. “It was really badly drawn. I was probably only about 5 or 6, and it was like: what do you want to be when you grow up? I said a teacher, a singer, and a vet. I got to take two of those off the list.”
Two out of three ain’t bad.
Her new EP No Bad Vibes drops November 22, 2024 via Chaos. Make sure to follow Jazzy on Instagram and check out the title track featuring KILIMANJARO below!