Jessie J revealed that her upcoming sophomore attempt will focus on the darker side of her life and the struggles she had before the fame.
“There will be a lot more pain in the lyrics on my next album,” the British songstress revealed to the Daily Star newspaper. “For the seven years before I signed my record deal I was in a bad place and I was scared that I couldn’t get out of it. That’s why I wrote such upbeat music, as a way of trying to escape how I felt.”
Jessie also added, “Now that I am happier, I won’t be afraid to explore my pain. But in a good way; it’ll be me saying that it’s OK not to feel OK.”
She also unveiled that Adele has been a motivation to take this new approach to her music. “[Adele] said she’s worried everyone thinks she’s always going to be this broken-hearted woman because of the songs on ’21’. Those songs were just a moment in Adele’s life and that’s what music should be, a moment in time, an exaggeration of that moment condensed into a three-minute song,” she said.
Aside from more personal and deep lyrics, the “Dominoes” singer also plans to “explore every aspect of music more on the next album,” with more duets for the forthcoming project, including with Ed Sheeran and gospel singer, B Slade.
“B is this amazing artist who used to be called Tonex but he retired when there was a lot of bad publicity when he revealed he was gay. B’s voice is just insane,” she explained.
Jessie also mentioned her past collaboration with James Morrison and hopes to work with him again in the future. “I also want to work with James Morrison again after I guested on his single ‘Up’. When James sent me the demo, I just couldn’t get the song out of my head. So when I went to the studio I wanted it to be perfect for him because I knew how personal ‘Up’s lyrics were to him.”