Photo: Kacey Makol.

Jordana Still Records Her Premonitions In Her Bedroom

Interviews

Like any writer with poor memory, I keep a running list of my favorite words. On the list is “premonition” because I like that it sounds like it refers to a positive omen when the word actually describes a feeling closer to anxiety. I use this list when I can’t think of titles for my Spotify playlists, there is one with the title “A sweet premonition” because of this. Amongst classics like “Thought I Was Dead” by A$AP Ferg, “Unbelievable” by EMF and “Carrie and Lowell” by Sufjan Stevens, I decided to add “my forever” by Orchid Mantis and Jordana. I made this playlist shortly after Jordana’s album Lively Premonition came out so it seems like the word was stuck in my mind like a catchy melody. I am honored to present my interview with the priestess of nostalgic new-wave pop; in which we discuss intuitions, imposter syndrome and the idiosyncrasies of love and life. 

SLUG: One of the lead singles for Lively Premonition, “Like a Dog,” is about a very distinct puppy love. What does it mean to love or be loved like a dog? 

Jordana: It’s like a sad dog story. Dogs are just always super hyper and they’re innocent, they can only just, like, love and be loved, sort of. So, yeah, there’s this sort of … always craving, you know what I mean? A little desperation. And in this case, I am a dog. I’m actually walking my dog right now. It’s funny that this question is asked. Yeah, I have a chihuahua, he’s a very good boy. 

SLUG: What’s your dog’s name? 

Jordana: His name is Ducky.

SLUG: Lively Premonition as an album title is very distinct. Did you have any premonitions for discoveries during the record, and were there any that didn’t make the cut? 

Jordana: So, I had this kind of problem where I was feeling so much and writing solely from my heart, but it was kind of getting… It was taking a toll, ‘cause I felt like the well was running dry and I don’t really know how to be creative in any other way yet. But then I just tried stepping outside of this little box in my mind. Just being like: “I can write about literally anything.” I can write about a dog … I can straight up just lie on the track, you know what I mean? So I lied. And some of the songs in there are complete lies. And some of them, I felt at a different time. This past couple of months, when we released “Like a Dog,” I was like, “Oh my God, I’m so happy that I’m not in [that] situation,” you know what I mean? 

And then all of a sudden I get involved with somebody and I’m literally living my song, and I was like, “This is so stupid — How am I not learning from my mistakes?” And yeah, I guess the main thing was learning to write or at least learning to exercise, trying to write outside of big emotions constantly, ‘cause it kind of just drains you. What was the other part of the question? 

SLUG: If any didn’t make the cut. It sounds like you were kind of holding your cards to your chest a bit and I really appreciate that about this album. I think it’s really just an enjoyable and creative record because it doesn’t take itself too seriously and it keeps you kind of guessing with what it’s coming up with. 

Jordana: Yeah, I wanted organic for sure for this. I was writing it with Emmett and the first few songs that we wrote, we were like, “All right, are we fully committing to the sounds?” Because we were both listening to the same music around that time, sort of just giving each other recommendations and stuff like that. We [were] like, “Yeah, let’s do some modern throwback shit.” 

SLUG: I love a modern throwback.

Jordana: Everyone’s doing it — so what, you know? If everyone’s doing it, you should do it too, (just kidding). Yeah, I always make that joke and then I relate it to drugs and then I lie. We had two tracks that didn’t make the cut. One of them I just didn’t know how to finish, I don’t know, there was one of them that just was stuck in a loop and a verse, but it was pretty. It’s called “Summer Stay” and then there was another one called “Pardon Me.” That was the one that I couldn’t figure out a second verse for, and I was like, “I don’t really want to try to push it if nothing’s coming out for it right now because we have other songs that are nearly done.” That would make sense on the record. It was kind of a slow jam too, so we just didn’t. I didn’t finish it. We will one day probably, cause I’m proud of the riff. 

SLUG: Do you ever miss recording in your bedroom? 

Jordana: I still do record in my bedroom sometimes, I’ll finish songs and stuff on my own. Just on my Logic and, you know, start ideas or something on it and then bring it to the studio with whoever I’m working with who I feel would just kind of maximize the production of it all because I’m not too good of a producer. I would love to dive more into that this year, I think. But just to answer the question … I don’t really miss just doing things all by myself because I think if great minds work together, they can make things and see things in a different light and there are definitely times where I’m stuck on something. If someone else wasn’t there to give me a second opinion then I would just kind of give up or choose the wrong one. 

SLUG: Yeah, collaboration and creative work is just like, it’s inevitable and it’s everything. It’s so important to be able to bounce these ideas off of one another. 

Jordana: I had a problem with that at first, collaborating with people. ‘Cause I just put all of my self-worth into what I was making and I was like, “If this isn’t good and all for me, then it’s not mine.” Which, I mean, that’s a little harsh of a mindset for yourself, I think. You gotta give yourself a break, you know? It’s like, there’s so much fucking fucked up shit in the world, why are you thinking that deep about it? That’s one of the realizations I came to. 

SLUG: That’s a good realization, I like that. 

Jordana: Yeah, so now it’s easier to make things with people cause there’s not that [guilt], I mean, I felt that guilt actually recently, with my band and stuff, ‘cause well, they’re like hired guns and I’ve been with my band for two years, and I just recently added my friend John Keys, and he makes the world of difference. And I don’t know, I just felt like, I’m barely playing an instrument and I usually do. And I feel kind of like a phony. Cause I’m just singing for this tour. It doesn’t feel like it’s me, really, and I’m just kind of, I don’t know… I felt guilty because I was like, “You guys are doing all the hard work with the production of this whole thing, I’m just singing.” But it felt like I didn’t even write anything, which is really weird, and I need to get over this, whatever I’m in right now, because I fully wrote this album with my friend and there’s guilt in there as far as translation to live shows go[es].

SLUG: You’ve worked with some very notable artists like TV Girl and Magdalena Bay and I was wondering what your experience was like and what it taught you about collaboration in music, which is kind of what we were just talking about. 

Jordana: I mean with Mag Bay, it was like, I had this song that I did with two of my friends in New York and my label was like, “We should look for a feature for the song,” and they just kind of send it out to people. Mag Bay got back to us, and at that point, we already had like a ton of mutuals cause they’re friends with the TV Girl people and I just heard it and I was like, “This is fucking badass like, we’re going with it.” I wasn’t living in LA at the time, so I flew to LA, it might have been to rehearse for the tour or record or all three, but film the music video as well and they are just like, they’re like beasts, it’s crazy. They’re so hardworking. And they did the music video all by themselves, it was like, we just stood in front of a green screen and had props and they just edited it and it’s fucking sick. 

SLUG: Yeah, it does a really good job of bringing both of your guys’ individual tastes and visions and meshing them together in a really fun, retro way. I really like it. 

Jordana: Thank you. Yeah, so that was just one track, but, for the TV Girl thing. We had some tracks on there that probably just didn’t make it. I remember having a couple that weren’t on there, but, ‘cause we wanted to make it an EP, make it short enough. My manager actually had the idea of the EP, it’s kind of an attempted protocol every time that I go on tour with somebody or like, I gotta be involved with them in some way to make it relevant that I’m there. That’s how I feel at least, cause it’s also just the way I’ve been doing things for a while. But we started writing it in 2021, like early 2021. Brad would come to New York and I would go to LA and we just kind of picked it and we planned to release it on tour, which is what happened. Yeah, it was super chill, cause the way he does it, it’s just like, you know. He just is at home and makes it, like is still doing that. Which is the life, it’s great. 

SLUG: Over time, you’ve cultivated and curated a strong visual narrative to go alongside your music with album covers, merch, music videos, and I was wondering what the process looks like for you in creating these aspects in addition to your music writing. 

Jordana: I really wanted to have a record cover that was not my face on it, finally, cause I just kind of got tired of that. Maybe I’ll change my mind again, but for this one, I was like, “A picture of me does not suffice for the range of it,” you know what I mean? And I need[ed] some second opinion on how it’s perceived. That’s when my friend Avia, the girl who did the cover … I looked at her work and I was like, “This is interesting and  it’s very different but beautiful, and I wonder what she could do,” and she sent me the photo when she was done with it, and I gave her my references. It just blew me away, honestly, when I saw it. It’s just so detailed and gorg. 

SLUG: So my next one for you is if you write the melodies or the lyrics first. 

Jordana: That’s another epiphany I’ve been having recently is, or premonition, that I usually write lyrics first actually, cause there’s something about trying to hum a melody out that just kind of cringes me out. Like I kind of cringe myself out when I try to hum a melody, so I will kind of just do the rhythmic syntax of words first and then figure out a melody based on it, cause I’m like, “If I’m gonna sing something, I want it to be words,” ‘cause of the whole “cringe” problem that I have. But recently, I’ve kinda come out of my shell. I guess it just depends on who you work with and how you get there yourself, personally. Yeah, I usually do lyrics first, but I have been doing melody first. I guess maybe it’s just ‘cause  I don’t really like just recording like, a take of a chop of a vocal or something, it’s just easier to write words out because I can see them and remember them and with singing. It’s so easy to forget a melody, like after I sing it, at least for me, personally. So I just kind of get in my head about it. It’s just easier to see the lyrics, and then I hate just going like, “nah, nah, nah,”  you know, like mumbling shit. It’s not for me. Which, I mean, whenever people ask me that and I tell them what I just told you, they just kind of don’t understand it and maybe I just still don’t understand it. 

SLUG: I’ve got one last question for you, and it’s a really important one. You have been featured on the Instagram page @perfectlyimperfect and the post mentions that you found a Gumby figurine that you take everywhere on tour. Could you expand on the story of how you found him and confirm that he will be joining you on your current tour? 

Jordana: Actually, I was thinking about this cause I actually didn’t bring my guitar from my house ‘cause I had so much shit that I was carrying. Gumby is still at home in LA right now, and I think I need to find a new one while I’m in New York, but I found him in Milwaukee on the TV Girl tour, and there’s actually a video of the night that I found him. Well, actually, we played it, yeah, we played two nights. Oh yeah, it was the first night. And I found a video of him on the side of the stage, holding my vape. ‘Cause I was a vaper. He was holding my vape while I was playing bass. And it was the funniest shit ever. I don’t know. Somebody sent it to me, but yeah, I just kind of made it a thing after a couple of shows. I was like, “All right, I’m gonna take him out every night,” and you know what? That actually has gotten me many wonderful things in my life, as far as Gumby goes. I was able to connect with the guy who runs the Gumby Central fan page in LA and he does Gumby screenings, like every once in a while, and he’ll like have an event at a venue, and then just show episodes of Gumby and he’ll have it down the street from where I live. [There’s] this marionette theater where they’ll do a marionette performance and then show a couple of Gumby episodes and it’s kind of the best thing ever, and it’s all because I’ve brought the figurine on stage that I get to see that stuff and be a part of it. 

SLUG: So true. Yes, Gumby and social media unites us all.

Jordana: Oh, yeah. 

SLUG: That’s so cool. I love, who doesn’t love Gumby?

Jordana: People don’t know who he is though, it really confuses me honestly. I’m like, “How do I know who he is and you don’t?” I don’t know. 

Get tickets to the idyllic show Jordana will be playing at Kilby Court on Valentine’s Day here and listen to Lively Premonition on any major streaming service.

Read more interviews with national artists:
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La Luz Shana Cleveland Is “Living In A State Of Love”