Three years after she was forced to cancel her first New Zealand show, British pop star Jessie J is heading to Auckland to play a free show at Vector Arena. Rachel Bache spoke to the chart topper.
Four years ago, Jessie J burst onto the music scene with the hit song Price Tag. It topped charts both here and around the world, making her a household name and sending her on a global arena tour. Illness forced her to cancel her New Zealand shows in 2012 but now she's coming back - putting on a free gig with iHeartRadio.
What can New Zealand fans expect from your show?
Big vocals, a great band, lots of fun, lots of audience participation - I always get them involved some way or another, it changes every show. I like to just have fun you know? And just create an atmosphere that they really remember forever. Lots of big hit songs - stuff from the new album, the first album, the second album. It's gonna be fun!
Getting to sing, to be fair, seeing the reaction of the audience, seeing how much they enjoy what I do, being able to jam out with my band, and the unexpected, you know, the best thing about being on stage is you never really know what's going to happen.
Bet your song Bang Bang (her hit featuring Ariana Grande and Nicki Minaj) goes off live?
Oh yeah, the audience literally sing Ariana's verse louder than I can sing it. Yeah, it's one of those songs, you can't help but tap your foot. You can see the people who don't really want to be there - the ones that are there as someone's plus-one - even they enjoy that bit.
You've done a few collaborations recently. Ever thought "wow I can't believe I'm working with this person"?
Smokey Robinson was probably one of the people that I was just absolutely blown away by, with his hard work, his vocal ability, his dedication, his professionalism, everything. I just learned so much from him. Tom Jones, Mary J. Blige, and Jennifer Hudson - I've had the chance to work with some incredible people, so I'm very, very, very lucky.
Jessie J features on the cover of this week's TimeOut:
How was working on latest album Sweet Talker?
Oh, it was amazing! I recorded this album in eight weeks, it was a quick process. I really let my guard down and recorded songs I hadn't written, which is new for me, I wrote loads of songs, vocally I pushed myself and the album's been a great success, so I'm really happy. I'm still in the moment of this album.
Was there anything in particular you wanted to say with it?
I suppose, if you've heard it, it sort of is what it is. I'm a woman and we're all very emotional, whether we want to admit it or not and for me every single song on the album provokes a very different emotion. Personal, is a moment of vulnerability and you've got Burning Up which is a moment of great confidence, you've got songs like Masterpiece, which is a very honest, reflective song. I just really wanted dig deep and have an album that was different moods for different moments, so that people can always enjoy it, not just in heartbreak or just in happiness, but it goes across the whole board.
You do have so many great catchy singles, but do you ever worry about your songs being overplayed on the radio?
I don't think you can ever overplay a song. It's like saying to a designer: "Do you think you could ever sell too many jackets?" Promotion is great promotion and radio is one of the biggest outlets of music now, so if a radio station wants to play your song ... of course, there are songs that are [played too much] and people can get irritated by it.
British pop star Jessie J.
You've done a lot in your career so far, what's one thing that you're really proud of?
Staying true to myself, being healthy, being consistent, just not allowing other people to dictate who I am, becoming a better live performer, just ticking off my dream list. I'm proud of a lot of things that are just kind of behind the scenes, rather than one performance or one awards ceremony. I'm a bit deeper than that in the sense that I'm very proud of myself for hopefully remaining almost the same person, with everything that has changed in my life, as I was 10 years ago, when I first got signed to where I am now.
How have you found working on The Voice and seeing young talents come through?
The Voice UK was two years ago, so yeah it was very fun. Obviously it's really different going from the stage to being in front of the stage and critiquing what's on the stage, but honestly, I'm not a competitive person. I love what I do and I like to be generous with my experience, my expertise, my knowledge, my past life. I'm the first person to tell you it wasn't good, but I'm the first person to give you a hug. So I suppose that's what I've enjoyed, I enjoy the people who want to take that and take it in and use it to better their ability. I'm not into arrogance or anything like that, so I find the best contestants are the ones who are willing to learn and are willing to teach me something too; you know, we're all learning. I just started filming The Voice Australia and it's going really good, it's really fun.
British pop star Jessie J.
How are you feeling about having to move your life over to Australia for The Voice?
It's not easy, me and my whole team are extremely homesick. The time difference - everyone's got families and wives and husbands and kids and partners and everyone that we miss. But this is a great opportunity. It's very rare as human beings that we get to travel the world like this and see things a lot of people don't and it's only a moment and in that moment we have to enjoy it and that's what we're doing. We're all just trying to settle in. It's a very different vibe here to England, very different.
Do you find there's a camaraderie between yourself and other UK artists, or do you try to stand out from the rest?
I mean, you go into Tesco's [supermarket] and there're 16 different types of butter, but everybody chooses what butter they like. The butter's not arguing, there's cooking butter, there's salt-free butter, there's extra salt, it's preference - but they all exist. So for me, like, I'm just me, I'm not a competitive person, we all exist for a reason and I genuinely hope that everyone is successful.
What: Jessie J plays her first and only New Zealand concert When: Wednesday, March 11 Where: Vector Arena
* TimeOut has 10 double passes to the Jessie J concert. To enter, head to our Facebook page and tell us your favourite Jessie J song. Entries close 5pm, Friday March 6.
