When Island records invited me to a private listening party with
their newest artist Jenna Andrews, I checked out her new single
that just hit radio May 17th this week, ‘Tumblin’
Down.’ Not bad I thought, but it was not enough to entice
me. Then I thought a minute, and listened again, and a third
time. ‘Wow!’ I thought, it took me three listens,
then I finally got it. It was a B-B-C-D-E type of key descent,
mimicking the lyrics of the song itself, going down in elevation,
with some smooth melody that was really not easily definable by
any single musical genre. “Wow again.” I was hooked,
by these seemingly simple but not really so simple, genius hooks.
I E-mailed her record label, one of the best major labels on the
planet, Island Records (U2, PJ Harvey, The Killers, The
Cranberries, et al), and the next day off I went to Hollywood to
check her out.
A small list of about 50 or more packed in for the 7
o’clock set, and then 50 or so more including myself, for
the 8 o’clock set here at an undisclosed, famous rehearsal
and recording studio, just off of Hollywood Boulevard. Guests
were busy mingling, and partaking in the massive quantities of
free red wine, white wine, cheeses, crackers, cookies, foods,
beer, and more. “If they don’t like the music, at
least they’ll like the food and drinks, I thought, now all
we need is some gift bags with free cd’s and L.A.
Reid!” Oh wait, there were free cd’s! Awesome.
Finally, after about 20 minutes after 8, a young pretty girl
wisps in the area out away from the crowd where I just happened
to be standing, in a bright, checkered coat and hat, looking
every bit a star, and I knew it was Jenna Andrews. She made eye
contact. “Hi,” I said. “Hello” she
replied matter of factly, as if knowing she has arrived, both
tonight, and as an artist. I push in the door seconds before the
guard closed it after me, shoved in through the elbow-to-elbow
crowd as the lights go dim- to black, and mark my usual position;
stage right. “I know everybody’s gone through
pain,” Jenna Andrews confides earlier. “I talk to the
little girl in me or the little girls that are dealing with
similar things to remind them that you can do big things in your
lives if you have hope.”
Relying on that very hope, Jenna left home after just six months
of college, determined to make a name for herself in Vancouver.
The going was rough; some nights she couldn’t afford to
fill her gas tank, preventing her from getting to work. So she
would spend those car-bound nights learning the guitar and
writing songs; how ironic that a car without gas would eventually
steer her to the office of music’s famed mogul- Chairman,
Antonio ‘L.A.’ Reid, where she’d sign to Island
Def Jam.
“Melody can make you feel any given emotion—happy,
sad, angry,” she explained. “But lyrics are hugely
important because when you attach amazing lyrics to the melody,
it syncs. A great song resonates like nothing else in the
world.”
The sound man worked the stage lights and the crowd went silent
as Island announced Jenna Andrews as the girl from Canada who
went from busking on the streets and living in her car, to a girl
who now isn’t doing too bad, with a deal with Island
Records, that they stated are very proud of and excited about.
L.A. Reid was chillin’ in the back of the room, and the
sound kicked in as Jenna walked on stage and hit in to
“Tumblin’ Down.” By the third song, all of us
in the room were undoubtedly reading each other’s minds
knowing that we are all watching a piece of musical history. This
young artist hit every high and low note and each in between to
sheer and total perfection. Wow.
Jenna’s mother noticed her daughter’s innate talent
but didn’t want to push her. Jenna, however, needed no such
prodding. She learned the piano by ear and started writing songs
when she was just 14 years old. She would eventually travel with
a youth performance troupe. By high school, her performances at
downtown Calgary nightclubs in Canada commanded as many as 500
fans a night.
Jenna decided to leave college, and her family, and move to
Vancouver. She scraped out a meager existence playing at open mic
nights. She signed with Chris Smith Management in Canada (that
helped launch the genius of Nelly Furtado which Jenna is uniquely
in the style of), and spent the next year writing and recording
with hitmakers ranging from Babyface to Max Martin; of Pink,
Carrie Underwood, Britney Spears, Celine Dion fame. The result is
eclectic—pop to jazz with funk and soul elements, and even
some sultry beats. But more apt than any genre label is the feel.
It’s real.
“My album is heartfelt and honest. It came out very
naturally,” Jenna muses. “Every song is really close
to my heart. I want my listeners to feel like I’m right
beside them in any circumstance they face.” Jenna has
indeed navigated some rough roads, particularly a negative body
image (unfounded – she’s beautiful in every sense of
the word), which triggered an enduring eating disorder. But her
travails alone don’t define her. “There is a lot more
going on here than just pain,” she insists. “I feel
like you need your first album to show your different colors. I
don’t want it to seem like I’m this dark person all
the time.” And she’s not. She’s like an old
soul trapped in a twenty something body and mind – and she
shines.
Jenna Andrews will be a major music star. Remember that, and that
you heard it here first. Do yourself a favor, and check her out
now.
www.youtube.com
-Bruce Edwin
© 2010, The Hollywood Sentinel. All rights reserved.