Exclusive Interview: Pop Culturalist Chats with Jennifer Claude

R&B artist Jennifer Claude is living her life unfiltered. After spending years trying to please others, this artist on the rise is putting her own happiness first. Hoping to inspire others with her craft, Jennifer is ready to show off all the battle scars that make her uniquely her. Pop Culturalist had the pleasure of chatting with Jennifer about her journey as an artist and about her new single, “Bad at Love.”

PC: Who or what has had the biggest influence on your career?
Jennifer: I went through a very traumatic experience when I was a kid. When I was on the other side of that, I was going through a lot of therapy. One thing that the therapist recommended was that my mom get me journals so that I could write because I didn’t talk for about a year and a half. I remember not knowing how to say what I was feeling inside, so I didn’t speak. But when I got my journals, I would write, write, write, and write. It was a turning point for me. It’s always been an inspiration for me because I started writing to heal from my trauma and to heal the things that I overcame. Little did I know at seven or eight years old that that tool was going to stay with me through life. Therapy is expensive. [laughs] So writing has always been my escape. It’s my lifeboat in the darkness. It’s not the best answer, but that traumatic experience is what inspires me. I want to help people who have been through similarly dark phases to give them hope that, hey, this thing that happened to you doesn’t define you. You define you. You use it as fuel. That’s what I want to do. I try to stay on that path and do that daily because if I can be a light to somebody, then that makes it worth it.

PC: You’ve been really open about the ups and downs of life. Do you ever feel any nerves being so vulnerable?
Jennifer: I do. But I learned a long time ago that I don’t care what people think because it’s not them that my message is for. I have found that my transparency isn’t for attention or for gain; it’s for helping. When I show someone my scars, I can be like, “Hey, I’m not just saying it. I get it. I’ve been there.” I don’t know if you’ve ever been in a space in life where you feel like you’re the only person and you’re alone and no one knows what you’re going through. I think that if I can provide a space of healing in my music and a person hears it and they’re like, “Oh, someone understands,” then that’s good. Even if it’s just one person, I’ve done my job. So for me, it does get nerve-wracking. I learned a long time ago that I have to keep moving forward and not worry about the nerves.

PC: You’re constantly spreading positivity and words of encouragement on your social platforms. What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned on your journey?
Jennifer: Nobody supports you like you. You can’t wait for validation from other people. You can’t wait for someone to say “yes” to a song. You cannot allow someone who says “no” to a song define you. If you have a path and clear destination, you have to run it. I wish I would have captured this concept within myself earlier because I feel like I would have been further in my career. I allowed a lot of influential people in my life to divert my path because I wanted to be a people pleaser. I wanted to make people that I love happy.

At the end of the day, I had to realize that my biggest concern should be about making myself happy. They say thirty is the new twenty. I feel that because I’m in a space where I feel so free and validated. I’m like, “I don’t care what you want me to do. With all due respect, I love you, but this is my path.”

PC: You’ve had a lot of success already in your young career. When you look back, is there a particular moment that stands out to you?
Jennifer: That makes me feel so good because when I look at it. I’m like, “I haven’t done anything.” I don’t look at the things that I have done because I’m always trying to move forward. Thank you for saying that. Actually, yes. When I won the Carolina Music Award back in 2015. That was a big turning point for me because I won it for R&B music. I come from a church background, so I was supposed to be doing inspirational/gospel music. A lot of family and people who have known me from back in the day were like, “You don’t know the real Jennifer.” I’m a soul singer. I do R&B. I use curse words sometimes. I’m not perfect, but I am my own individual.

I won for best R&B artist for the state of North Carolina. It was a really big deal. I got to go out and perform my song. I was asked to perform, and then right after I performed, I won. I was like, “Oh wow, that was amazing.” But when I came back on stage, it was crazy because the whole place was up on their feet wanting me to sing again. Afterwards, I had so many people interviewing me, and I was looking around outside of myself like, “You did it. Since you did this, you can do the other things you said you’re going to do. Keep going, Jennifer.”

It was an amazing time. Without that, I don’t think I would be where I am today. That was a big deal for me. I got to be Jennifer, not having everyone else in my ear telling me who I should be and how I should be doing things. It was dope.

PC: Tell us about your new single, “Bad at Love.” What inspired the track?
Jennifer: Oh gosh, it’s going to make me cry. That record was actually a song that I wrote in one of those therapy moments. I was in the studio. I was actually working on something else. It was my engineer and I. We were in there because the artists we were working with had left and we had some extra time. I was really upset. I moved here a couple of years ago, and I was in the middle of dealing with a breakup. I was trying to hold onto a relationship that wasn’t for me to hold onto.

So I was crying. I was boo-hooing my eyes out. My engineer, Irvin, is dope. He’s so funny because he wasn’t into it. He doesn’t show emotions. He doesn’t visually show emotions. He looked over at me and he was like, “You should really get this out.” I was like, “I can’t.” He’s like, “You should. Did you tell him you started this song?” At the time it was like two or three lines.

Fast-forward about twenty-five minutes: I got some food, I put my headphones on, and I got in there just crying. I started saying what was coming out of my head and my heart and how I felt in that moment. A big line in the song is “Why am I not good enough?” That’s something I had been repeating. I got the song out and then we went and vocal-produced it. It was a vibe. My engineer and I were both like, “Whoa.” We sent it to my manager and he was like, “Wow. You did this last night in thirty minutes?” It was crazy. I let somebody else hear it and they were like, “Jen, you should release this because I know this is not how you feel like for real, but this is a very real feeling in the moment.”

I’ve gotten so much great feedback on it. People are hitting me up like, “Hey. You said what I’ve been thinking because I too went through a relationship.” I’ve also had people tell me how they were trying to figure out how to please their dad, how to have a good relationship with their sister but not feel good enough. It’s crazy how people are relating parts of the song to their life.

PC: You’re going to be dropping your debut EP later this year. What can fans expect? What was the biggest takeaway putting that collection together?
Jennifer: Fans can expect a lot of good R&B vibes. There’s a lot of raw emotion and energy. I also want to incorporate some classical elements onto the record. On some of the records, I play violin. There’s a lot of art. They can expect something different from what Jennifer has done in the past but also not something that’s so mainstream. I’m excited about being able to put in different aspects of art: do some jazz, do some classical, incorporate some funk, incorporate some spoken word. I just want it to be unfiltered and full of heart.

Pop Culturalist Speed Round

PC: A band or artist that fans would be surprised to learn is on your playlist?
Jennifer: I love rap music, and in college I was the biggest Young Jeezy fan. I probably know every Young Jeezy song to date. I’m really hoping that he comes out with some new music. I know he’s out here happy and living his best life. But Young Jeezy, Cash Money [Records] taking over from the ’99,’00. I’m an ’84 baby. I’m in the mid-eighties, so coming up, I’ve always liked rap and hip hop, like Ruff Ryders and DMX. Yes, I listen to Ruff Ryders. I know guys, don’t judge me. I listen to Ruff Ryders, DMX, and Eve. I don’t know where my ratchet ear comes from. I should ask my mom. [laughs]

PC: First album you bought?
Jennifer: Alanis Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill. I know that entire album from front to back. I love Alanis. She’s an amazing writer.

PC: First concert you attended?
Jennifer: The first concert I ever attended was an India Arie concert. And if you’ve never experienced India Arie in concert, I suggest you do. It is a soothing, soul-shifting experience. There were lots of tears. She is a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful light beam. Yes, her voice is amazing, but her energy emanates from the stage.

PC: An album that changed your life and why?
Jennifer: I was a huge fan of Nirvana growing up too, even though I like ratchet hip-hop. As you can see, I have a wide range of tastes. The Nevermind album from Nirvana dropped in ’91. So I was obviously in elementary school, but I heard it and I was like, “I like this music.” I was a kid, so I didn’t understand it. And now as an adult, when I go back and listen to it, I love the nuances. I love that they experimented with a lot of different styles of music on that album. I thought it was great. And I liked the instrumentation. I’m a musician at heart. So for me, it was really like, “Oh, they’re artists. They’re showing their art through their music.”

PC: A venue on your bucket list to perform at?
Jennifer: Let’s manifest this. I like manifestation. I would love to perform at Madison Square Garden for whatever event would be going on there. I also want to perform at the Apollo. I had a few opportunities to perform there, but something came up each time. The first time it was the weather. The second time I had an exam that I couldn’t get put to another day.

I know you said one, but I’m sorry, I have to give you three. The last one is I have to perform for our forever POTUS and FLOTUS. And by “our,” I mean obviously not Donald Trump. [laughs] I mean Barack and Michelle Obama. I would love to perform for them. I don’t care where.

PC: A must-have on the road?
Jennifer: My iPad, so I can have my books. I need cucumber water because it keeps me hydrated. Cashews because I like to snack. I also need some candy. I really like gummy Starbursts and Lifesavers, but peach rings are my go-to.

To keep up with Jennifer, follow her on Twitter, Instagram, and Spotify.