Jena Rose

a long way in the decades since then. Today she's making a name for herself by pusing her love of seventies singer songwriters, ad sinth rock and rhythms from her Cuban heritage into a fresh sound for the dance club charts. You can hear the influences on her single Forever Yours and her latest song Checkmate, partially inspired by everyone's favorite quarantine stream, The Queen's Gambit. It's an infectious and empowering anthem in which the Queen takes the King. I'm so

happy to welcome my guest today, Jenna Rose. Well, I'm speaking to you a few days after The Queen's Gambit one. I think it was eleven Emmys, so it feels appropriate to start with your new single, Checkmate, which is wracked up I think five million views on YouTube and two point five million streams. Tell me about the background of

that song. How did it first come together? Yeah, I mean you mentioned the Queen's gambit, which was a huge influence on the song obviously, So yeah, I just wanted to incorporate the strategy of chess into a song, and being a songwriter, that's what I try and do with every song is be creative and come up with new ideas.

And so when I saw the Queen's gambit, I was like, oh my gosh, and seeing such a strong, powerful woman in chess, in a game where men and women are on the exact same playing field, it was so powerful to me and really resonated, and so I took it to a song, and that's how Checkmate came about. That's funny, you know, I never really thought about relationships and chess as having much in common. I guess the strategy, well, what some of the more of the overlap there. Yeah.

I think with every relationship in your life, whether it's I'm a romantic relationship, friendship, family, there's strategy. I think we can all admit that. And you talk to people differently and you do different things, and so is stress With chess. You always have to be three moves ahead, and so that's kind of it relates to life. Like you said, stress, there is a really good Freudian slip right there with relationships, right, I know it makes sense.

I mean the lyrics, I mean they could be pretty cutting at point. My heart is more than a target, but I took a bullet regardless. I mean, where did that come from? What was this inspired by a real relationship or was this this fiction? Where where did that come from? You know, with every song, I write it for other people, but I take from relationships in my life and experiences that I've had. So it definitely has stem from relationships in my life and different things that

I've gone through. So yeah, it's definitely real for me. We've all been there, unfortunately. Yeah, it is a great track. What was it life working with Nick for long? I know he's written with so many great people Blink two see Byoki all time low number of really wonderful people. What was that collaboration? Like? It was so fun. He's so talented and as a fellow songwriter, it's so fun to work with people who are like minded, and it was just such a smooth process and really really a

great experience. I probably should have asked us earlier. Do you play chess? I do. I do. I grew up playing it with my dad. Really, Oh wow, I mean it's so funny. It's one of those things that I assume I'm Okaya, and then I meet people that like have their own chess clocks and like go to like park benches in New York and bring their own pieces and play with strangers. I'm like, oh, I'm not like that, I guess. And then you watch The Queen's Gambit as well,

and you're like, oh my gosh. Well, oh, I mean it's so cool the song that's such an empowering message, and the visuals are so amazing. I mean just crazy in the best way. I mean, it's like The Queen's Gambit meets Alison Wonderland. I think you've said that seemed like a blast. Shoot. It was so much fun. It was like Christmas the whole day long. I kept saying that it like one up the other. Every outfit, every scene,

it was just like a dream. Oh my god. I mean you worked with Richie Jackson, I believe, Lady Gaga's choreographer. What was that process like of getting all those steps down so much fun. I love to dance, and so incorporating that into the music video is something I really really wanted to do and Richie was the perfect person for that. He's so talented. And also, Lady Gaga has been a huge influence for me as an artist, and her visuals are so insanely amazing, and so having him

on the project was just such a blessing. And some of the styles in the video too were very very Gaga. I mean like, come on that yellow dress when you're on the chess board, it's so cool. Like how evolved were you with with with picking the outfits? Yeah, I have an amazing stylist. Her name is Tiffany Gifford, and she's so talented, and we had our fitting and we knew that we wanted a crazy cool rest on the

life size chessboard and she delivered with that. When I saw the yellow dress and my jaw dropped, I was I was so excited and all the fashion. Fashion is so important to me as an artist. I think fashion and music go hand in hand, and to so to have that in my video so cool. I was gonna say, I saw your your countdown, your favorite met Gal looks on I think goes on Twitter the other day. You feel like you need your own style blog or something that was awesome. I should have a style blog. That's

a good idea. Seriously, did they let you keep the yellow dress or any of the outfits from the set? Unfortunately No, I did get to keep the body suit, the Laclon Smith body suit. That. Oh I have that in my closet. Hopefully one day it'll be an amazing peace to have. Oh that's so cool. I love going to uh to vintage stores and thrift stores me and my girlfriend. I love because I'm in New York and going out in Brooklyn stuff. I know you're out in l A. Are there any favorite thrift shops or vintage

places you like to hit up? Oh? I love the Melrose Trading Post here. But I was actually in New York. My brother lives in Brooklyn, and so we went in Boklyn. Oh, well, do you remember any of the places? H m hmm. I don't remember the names of them. It was really fun though, and a great experience there. Oh yeah, I mean this is really cool stores. I mentioned the Queen's Gambit earlier. What other shows did you kept your company?

During the pandemic. I think my parents and I watched all of Homeland we were just looking for and the Outer Bank. Of course, I think everyone watched Outer Banks too, But the Queen's Game was a big one for me. Oh definitely. I don't know. We did the oh my god, yeah, Tiger King of course. Uh, caught up on Succession, getting ready for the new season, and uh, and then when we wanted to get cheered up. Have you ever seen The Wonder Years show? I mean, it's this really sweet.

It was the show from the late eighties, like a sitcom about these these kids growing up in the late sixties. It's just like massive, like hallmarky kind of coming of age, super sweet. Like every episode, I feel like it was like happy tears kind of thing. That was like the cheer up moment if you were if the news became too much. So I love that. I'm going to give it a try. I think they just they started a remake of it. In fact, no one's telling me to

say this, but I think it's premiering this week. Actually it's uh, yeah, it's it's very sweet. But but anyway, Uh, speaking of the Wonder Years, I want to ask you about your early years. How did you first get into music. I know you started playing piano, like what age five? Yeah, I think I was actually four when I started playing piano.

I started because my brother was taking lessons. My brother's four years older than me, and I was jealous that he was taking piano lessons, and so I was like, I have to do this too, and so yeah, I started piano and guitar when I was four. And then when I was nine, my friend asked me if I wanted to do joint singing lessons, and I was kind of like, sure, I guess I will, and so I

went with her. We did lessons and we had our first performance coming up at the House of Blues in Dallas, and she had to go out of town and so I did the performance alone and I was yeah, I was nine, and I was so terrified because I was such a shy kid, and so I stepped up on the stage and it was a life changing moment for me, just like feeling at home on the stage and singing is something that I never thought that I I could do, just stemming from just being so scared to talk to

people and stuff. And I think that's when I realized that it's what I'm meant to do when I can feel at home on a stage. Wow, that is a great mom, Went you remember what you're saying. I sang Boys of Summer by Don Henley, Oh Fellow text and of course, yeah, yes, exactly. Oh my gosh. There were some other people that made you want to, you know, pick up an instrument and write. And early influences. Yeah, my parents would always have eighties music on in the house,

and so I take a lot of eighties influences. I love Depeche Mode, Echo and The Bunny Man, Blondie, Duran, Duran New Order. So there's a lot of eighties influences in my music and that's made me want to get into music in the first place, as well as Latin influences as well, because I'm I'm Cuban American and so Latin music has been really big for me as well. Oh absolutely, I've big into the eighties. I'm in a

big cure phase myself. I'm not sure. Oh yeah, I mean Disintegration has been on my on my Spotify list for not stop the past week. So also good being four or five years old, it's amazing for me to think that your hands could even be on the keys. That's like, that's amazing. Do you remember the first song you ever wrote or is that sort of banished to a drawer somewhere. Oh my gosh. So I started it

when I started singing at nine. I also started songwriting that year too, So my piano teacher taught me how to improvise on the piano, and that same day I came home and I wrote my first song because I was like, I'm tired of singing covers and I want to write something of my own. And it was called Summertime Sweetheart, and it was about a crush that I had on the boy across the pond for me, like a literal pond, or like in England, a pond, like there were houses around the pond and he was across

the pond. Oh my god, that's I mean. Improv is something that is just always seems like magic to me. I mean I always I got very strict, like I want the root, I want I want to know the notes to play, I want the chords. Like how do you sort of I mean as a songwriter, I mean, what is your process like when you sit down to write? I mean, do you have something in your head that you want to get out through, you know, sort of finding your way on the keys around the guitar, or

do you just experiment and see what happens. It's it's so very for me. So sometimes I'll have an idea already, I'll have like either a melody or or lyrics, and I'll go into it and I'll try for those melodies or lyrics. Other times I'll sit down on the piano and I'll just start playing whenever I feel or the guitar and I'll start strumming chords random. It can be anything, and somehow it just starts turning into melodies along with

it and lyrics and then it's a full song. And I was saying earlier to my manager, but I feel like when I songwrite, I'm in a completely different headspace. And there's been times where I I don't remember the process of writing a specific song because I'm just I don't know if I dissociate that, I'm just in a different headspace and somehow the song comes out, if that makes sense, So yeah, that's it's it's kind of a

crazy process for me. And then other times I go into the studio with the producer and he starts on a track and then I write the melodies and lyrics on top of it or with the co writer as well. I love I love hearing about all the different ways that people are able to create. Have you ever heard of, uh, what's it called synesthesia? No? I have not. It's this funny thing and I'm not going to describe it very well.

It's basically people who see like associate colors with different sounds, like there their visual and auditory cortex is or somehow like entwined. So it's like, Okay, I wanta, I wanna, I want to play this chord. It sounds like it's I want something that's read to me, and Okay, this one's blue and this one's It's really fascinating. There's um Yeah. There's a guy named Oliver Sacks who is a neuro surgeon or a neuro scientist, and he wrote a book

called Music Call Leah. I think I forget what it's called, but it's all about just the different ways that the brain process is music. And it's just so interesting to me. So to hear you talk about how you write and you go to this different place, that's just that just I love hearing about other people's processes too, and like things like that, that just shows me. It just proves that music is so amazing and can be so magical and for everyone. Is this something that you do every day?

Almost like people, you know, some people jog and some people do yoga. Do you write every day or player every day? Oh? Yeah, yeah, I write most days. Do you find that you're you're gonna laugh at me for asking this? Almost superstitious about it, like as a certain time of day or a certain instrument that you know is lucky for lack of a better term, you know,

I have certain things. I have one thing where if I write a verse and maybe a chorus and nothing else is coming, I I just step right away because I don't ever push it too hard, because I don't think that's what song writing is about. And like staying with the studio, if you're not feeling it that day, or like it doesn't come out fully, you you come back another day and and you try again. Because it's supposed to be a fun process, is supposed to be

an easy process. So if there's ever a point where I get stuck, I step away and I come back another day and typically comes out that day. What's your favorite way to reset when you're not, you know, involved with music. What's your favorite thing to do just kind of clear your mind and then put it aside for a while. I love going for walks. I walk a lot. My parents and I just walked eight miles on the beach the other day, so my hurt to walk. It's really really relaxing for me. Um, I'd love to get

into reading more. I know there's there's a bunch of ways to relax and clear your head, but walking is one for me. Did you do meditation? I do not. I really want to. I know it's so hard for me because my brain is always going and I'm always thinking about things I need to do or things going on. It's just it's something I want to get into. Oh yeah, I'm always like I could take this ten minutes and actually do the things that are stressing me out and

have checked them off my whist Like. It just seems counter intuitive to me, but I guess I'm told that it does a lot of good for a lot of people, So I guess I should try it. When you're working on a song or working on lyrics, I guess I should say do you get more inspiration from looking out word or looking in word? Hm hmm, that's like a question. I being a songwriter from such a young age, there

is something to say. Like when I was younger, I would write these songs and people would be like, how can you write songs You've never been through anything, Like you don't have these experience, You've never been heartbroken or cheated on or whatever. And I would just say that I I take inspiration from the world around me, from people around me, even TV shows and movies like between scams that exactly. So I just take things. I take in information, and then whether it's intentional or not, I

can write songs from it. You mentioned your your Cuban American heritage a moment ago. I mean music in Cuba it's it's I mean, not only is it the best, I mean it's formative. I mean that's what we're gonna rock and roll is based on all those Cuban rhythms and stuff. I mean, tell me more about did you grow up with a lot of Cuban music in the house. Oh for sure. My You know, my dad he immigrated here from Cuba with my abuolo and abuela and my my aunts, myt my aunts, and they came here in

search of, you know, a better life. It was during Castro's reign, but it was very sad for them to leave Cuba because of the culture and and the family values and the music and everything. And it's such it's such a thing that I carry with me in my heart every day in my life and in my music. It's something that I was really inspired by growing up hearing it. You know, my my abueolo always had reggaeton and gumbia and in Flamenco music and jazz on the house, and so I would go there and it was such

like a just wonderful blast of culture. And like me being a little girl, I just I took from it a lot and I learned from it and I love it. I love being Cuban American. That's put a Wulman. Yeah, that stays with you. Have you ever have you ever been? Have you ever been to Cuba? No, My family and I have talked about going, especially because it's almost like when they left, you know, the cars are the same in the music on every corner, and so I think

going would be a really magical experience. And so We've talked about it for sure. Yea, No, that's someplace I'm always going to go for that reason. I mean the music and just you know, the cars and just all the details and everything. It seems like such a fascinating place to visit. Wow, I mean, it's so cool. I I wanted to ask you. I know, I'm sure you get asked this a lot, but I'm so curious to hear what you say. You have such an incredible, um

just diverse list of influences. Who's on your list of people that you're absolutely dying to collaborate with? Is there a you know, a shortlist? Oh? I have so many? Um well, I love to collaborate with Rossell. Yeah, is amazing. I think she's an amazing Latin artist. And then you know Taylor Swept of course, and people that I grew up listening to as well. Even Elton John would be insane, you know, being a pianist as well. He's crazy. Carol King was another influence for me too. That's a writer.

She's literally so crazy. But I I really want to collaborate with many people. Oh so cool Carol King? Oh my god, I mean we uh just watched the performance of Beautiful the Broadway show recently. I mean, bow, Oh, it's so cool just the number of songs that you were not only for other people, but then you start getting in stuff like Tapestry she did for herself. I mean, what a gift. She She's not human. I don't got to be from another world. Have you ever met her? No?

Oh my gosh, I would die. Oh we gotta set that up. We gotta make that happen. That energy out there. I'm putting it out there. I'm manifesting it. Well, speaking of putting it out there, you have an EP coming shortly, Baby Maybe, which I believe the title came partially from a dream. Do I have that right? Yes, you have that right. My my manager, she is amazing. Her name is Veronica Zelie as well as Frank Simmonetti is my

manager as well. And and Veronica called me and she's like, oh my gosh, I had the title idea in my dream last night. And I'm like, okay, okay, and yeah, baby maybe it stends from a lyric in one of my songs. And we just think it's simple and a great title for the project. What I was gonna tell us about the tracks on I know there's a ballad

on it that uh, I want to hear more about. Yeah, so it's a lot of Checkmate is going to be on it, as well as for Ever Yours my my previous song with Casper Machico, and there's gonna be a lot of it's so hard to discuss. It's it's really fun. There's some fun songs on there that I'm super excited about all and as well as the ballad, which is so special to me. I'm that one I think I might be most excited to release, as well as the next single I have coming out that's coming very very soon.

That one is super special. So I'm really excited and I think people are going to really connect with the project. What's next is there is there a date for that yet or no. We we're literally deciding the date right now, but it is coming very soon. I'm going to announce it very soon. Coming soon, all right. We can't wait. Jennis, thank you so much for your time to day. It's such a pleasure talk and you. Thank you you You're awesome. I really appreciate it. Thank you so much for your

your music. You can't wait to uh to see on the road. Soon hopefully, Yes, I really hope, so I hopefully COVID you know, and allow me for that. But everyone starting to tour again, so hopefully I will get out there soon. Absolutely hope you come through New York. Of course, I I definitely want it. Yeah, we hope you enjoyed this episode of Inside the Studio, a production

of I Heart Radio. For more episodes of Inside the Studio or other fantastic shows, check out the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts,