Exclusive Interview: Jessica Lowndes Discusses Harmony From the Heart, the Inspiration behind the Film, and Her Upcoming Album

Jessica Lowndes is a world-renowned storyteller who has captivated audiences across mediums. From starring in projects like 90210 to penning films like Over the Moon in Love, Jessica has emerged as one of the voices of her generation. Her latest project, Harmony From the Heart, finds her putting all of her talents on display.

Starring Jessica Lowndes and Jesse Metcalfe, Harmony From the Heart tells the story of a music therapist and an established physician who initially clash over the care of a shared patient. But as Valentine’s Day approaches, they might find that music and love make excellent remedies.

Pop Culturalist was lucky enough to speak with Jessica about Harmony From the Heart, wearing multiple hats for the project, and how she hopes the film will shine a light on music therapy. Plus, she gives us a sneak peek at her upcoming album.

PC: Tell us about Harmony From the Heart and the inspiration behind the film.
Jessica: I play Violet McKay, who is a music therapist. She’s been given a challenging task to help a patient regain his ability to speak. If she’s not successful, she doesn’t graduate. The stakes are very high. On top of that, the patient just happens to be her professor’s brother. Along the way, she meets Dr. Blake Williams, who is Charles’ open-heart surgeon, but also his grandson, who is a huge skeptic. That’s another obstacle thrown her way.

But, throughout the process of working together to help his grandfather and my patient, we open our hearts to each other. We fall in love. There’s a lot of music, which is great. I’m a musician, so I wanted to write about two things that I love so much. I love, love, love music.

I’m absolutely blown away by music therapy. I believe in it. I believe that has an extraordinary capacity to heal. It was important for me to write a story that was filled with hope. It’s about resilience. I felt like it was important. I had never seen a movie about music therapy before.

PC: You’re a multifaceted talent. You can tell from your writing that you have a deep connection to music. What came first for you, acting or music?
Jessica: There are home videos of me singing when I was three, but I was also performing. I’ve always done both. That’s what’s been so cool about writing these projects and executive producing them. I always try to add music into all of them. I’ve been doing that since the beginning. I was lucky enough to write for my character on 90210, Adriana. I wrote all of her music.

Over the last couple of years, I’ve been writing songs for different Hallmark projects. The first script that I sold was called Over the Moon in Love. That was for Hallmark. I wrote music for that one. This is my second script from conception to completion, which is unbelievable. But this is actually the very, very first script I wrote. I wrote this one before anything else.

I had a year where I was auditioning, and it was a weird pilot season where I kept getting very close and not booking. I forced myself to write every night for an hour. That slowly evolved into writing nine to five. I would break for lunch. I didn’t do it to sell a script. I did it to remind myself why I got into this business in the first place. I fell in love with it. It was incredible.

Harmony From the Heart is the first time that I wrote “The End” on a document. That was a success within itself.

PC: Like you were just saying, not only are you starring in the film but you also wrote, produced, and created original music for it. How challenging was it to wear all those different hats?
Jessica: It was very challenging but so rewarding. Even on the days that were hard or if there were a lot of moving parts or things were not going as smoothly as anticipated, I was so unbelievably happy to see my vision come to life. I’ve never been so involved in the creative process, from the location scouting to the art direction to the sets to the wardrobe. It was unbelievable.

The hardest part for me was acting opposite these incredible actors playing my characters. I just wanted to stop and stare. There were moments where they would be doing such a great job and the writer in me would be like, “Oh my goodness. This is unbelievable.” But I’m acting opposite them so I can’t do that.

But yeah, this whole thing was incredible. I wanted to do something a little different. We break the formula here. It’s a rom-com. There’s lots of romance and music. But instead of saving a town or a festival, I wanted to save a person. I thought that was something different. I really liked that. There’s just a lot of depth here.

I wanted to create a backstory for both of our characters. Once you learn about Blake Williams and what he’s been through and what my character has been through, you care about them. You want them together. They share a lot in common. It was important for me to add in the storyline with my character’s grandmother because I wrote and dedicated this movie to her. I actually named Violet after my great-grandma.

PC: As you were writing these characters, did you have these particular actors in mind? Can you talk a little bit about the process of creating and shaping these characters and then working with the actors so that they can interpret and make them their own?
Jessica: I was involved in the casting process. It was very clear to me when everyone walked in that they had taken my vision and multiplied it. They are so, so talented and so great. They did such a great job. I’m all about the best idea wins. If people came to me and had suggestions or different ideas for their character, I loved that. I wanted them to feel involved in the process and to make it their own as well. That was really fun. We had a great time. We told a beautiful story and I couldn’t be more proud of it.

Michael St. John, who plays Charles, did such a great job, especially considering he has no lines in the movie, but he captivates you. He did such a great job and so much research. He brought this depth to that character, as well as Susan Hogan who plays Maryanne. She’s so talented. She can do the light stuff like baking cookies but she can also get really emotional. We had a dream cast. I’m really proud of it. The sets too! I’m really proud of it. They look beautiful. I wanted everything to look sexy. That was my thing. We’re filming a TV movie, but I wanted sexy lighting. I wanted sexy sets. I wanted it to be beautiful and feel like a feature and unlike anything that anyone has seen before.

PC: There are so many moments that are going to stay with audiences after they watch the film. Is there a particular scene that you’re really excited for them to see?
Jessica: Oh my gosh, there are so many for so many different reasons. I really love the scene in the chocolate shop, where Blake opens up to Violet and Violet opens up to him. That’s a huge turning point for our characters. I love it. It gives me goosebumps. My other favorite scene would have to be at the end with all the music. Being able to perform my song “11:11” was unbelievable. That was actually the last thing that we filmed. It was three o’clock in the morning. I was out there singing my heart out after a seventeen- or eighteen-hour day. I had goosebumps everywhere because I wrote this song specifically for the film. It’s a special song to me.

Also, the duet with Jesse. When he signed on, I was so excited. A lot of people don’t know what a talented musician he is. He also rides a motorcycle. I had a motorcycle written into this script since the very first draft. I wanted this doctor to be cool. That was awesome that he rides a motorcycle and Jesse actually rides in real life. We didn’t even need a stunt guy. The scene at the end of the film where Jesse and I are performing a duet and there’s that moment with Charles gave me goosebumps while filming it. I’m seeing it all edited together. It was such an incredible moment. It’s what you’re waiting for as an audience.

PC: Speaking of “11:11,” can you tell us a bit about the inspiration behind this song? Did you write this or the script first?
Jessica: I actually wrote this script four years ago, which is wild. I’ve written many since. I’m on script fifteen or twenty right now. But as far as writing goes, this was the first one. It was initially a Christmas concept. As I was thinking about it, I decided to turn it into a Valentine’s Day story. I put original love songs in there because I thought I could play them all year long.

I have an amazing team of music producers that I do all of my music with. I’m getting ready to release my first full-length album soon. Their names are Erin Edwards and Cory Wallace. I do everything with them. They’re my team. They’re so talented. We teamed up with their other artist named Zyra. She and I co-wrote “11:11.” I told her that I love every time you see 11:11 and you make a wish. I thought it would be cool to make the chorus all the things you wish you could say to someone but you’re too scared to say.

PC: There’s a moment in the film that really stood out to me. Your character is talking about the power of music and its ability to invoke emotions and memories that can turn a day around. When you’re having a bad day, what is the song that you turn on?
Jessica: I have so many, but probably S Club 7. It’s either S Club 7 or *NSYNC. It’s one of the two. I will put that on. Instantly, my mood is turned right around. I am also a huge Disney fan. I’ve got a Mickey Mouse phone case. So, any Disney song as well. That will also turn your frown upside down. You can’t listen to Disney music and not smile.

PC: What did you learn from this project that you’ll bring to the next?
Jessica: Oh my gosh. There were so many lessons. There was a lot of responsibility. I’ve never had so much responsibility and power on set. I would say trusting my voice and knowing that my instincts were right. That was a huge thing for me.

It was such a cool gift that I was able to do that and to have such an incredible team. We had the best director. Michael Robison is so lovely. Our DP, Randal Platt, made everything look so gorgeous. It was really cool. This whole project is a lesson to never give up on my dreams. This was hard. It’s hard to sell scripts. It’s hard to get a movie made. That was a huge thing for me. It could have been so easy to throw in the towel and be like, “You wrote a script.” I really believed in it. I really wanted to make a film that would affect people and shed lights and be filled with tons of positivity. I feel very fortunate to be able to do these kinds of films and provide people with escapism. I hope that’s what people get out of this one.

PC: That’s a perfect segue to this next question. Two of the major themes within the film have to do with resilience and hope. What do you hope audiences take away after they see it? Has that changed given the crazy past two years that we’ve had?
Jessica: I would love people to keep their hope alive and know that it’s never too late, whether it’s wanting to find your dream job or your future person. You never know. That’s the coolest thing about this whole thing. It’s about believing and having hope and faith that it’s going to work out. Also, opening your heart. That’s a really big thing too. I think that can be scary at times, and that’s what you see my character and his character do. I’d love for people to take that away. I’d also love to shed some light on music therapy. I hope that after people watch the film they put on their favorite song and feel better.

PC: You’re getting ready to release your first album. Is there anything you can tease about it? If you had to select a song off that album that best encompasses who you are as an artist, which would it be, and why?
Jessica: That’s such a hard question. My album is called Elemental. I directed a visual album. It’s something that I’m very, very proud of. It’s one long short film. It’s seven music videos. Each video is a different element. There are natural disasters involved with each element. Each video serves as a metaphor. It’s basically a story of all the ups and downs we face. We face a cocktail of emotions when we’re leaving a relationship and we’re finding ourselves again. We’re open to finding new love. It’s something that I’m unbelievably proud of. I’ve worked really hard on it. I don’t know how to choose because all the songs mean so much to me. I’ve been working on them for a long time. It’s something that was a dream of mine.

Make sure to follow Jessica on Twitter and Instagram. Watch Harmony From the Heart on GAC Family on February 12th at 8/7c.

Photo Credit: Farrah Aviva