Exclusive Interview: Pop Culturalist Chats with Jai Waetford about His New Single, “Friends”

Australian recording artist Jai Waetford is an international pop star who continues to impress. At the age of fourteen, he finished third on the fifth season of X Factor Australia, and immediately landed a recording contract with Sony Music Australia. His debut single, “Your Eyes”, hit the top 10 on the ARIA’s Singles Chart and would go on to be certified Gold. He’s shared the stage alongside the likes of Selena Gomez and Little Mix, and headlined his own sold-out tour.

Through the years, he’s continued to hone his craft and evolve as an artist, building a loyal fanbase that spans from coast to coast. In 2018, he dropped not one, not two, but three new singles: “Lost In You”, “Get Over”, and most recently, “Friends”. Each showcases his growth as a songwriter and his ability to strike a chord with audiences around the world.

Pop Culturalist spoke with Jai about his new single, “Friends”, what’s ahead in 2019, and the biggest lesson he’s learned being a part of this industry.

PC: Tell us about your new single, “Friends”. What was the inspiration behind the track?
Jai: I’m excited it’s finally out. I’ve been working on it with a guy named James Angus for a few months now. It came pretty naturally with the new sound and music that I’ve been making. When we started making it, everything just clicked and it happened really, really quickly. It’s about the dangers of being someone else online and that coming to bite you in the bum in real life.

PC: You’re releasing a music video for the song soon. What can you tease about that?
Jai: It’s funny. When we were creating it, I didn’t really know what I wanted it to look like. It has a real party vibe, so we were like, “Are we going to do a house party? Are we going to get a bunch of people in it? What are we going to do?” We ended up getting a little more creative. There are a lot of big elements, so it took us time to set everything up, but I’m happy with how it turned out. It should be dropping in this week, but I’ve been teasing it a bit on my Instagram.

PC: You got your start on X Factor Australia. What did you learn from that experience that you’ve been able to apply to your career?
Jai: To be honest, I was so young and naïve at that point in my life. I saw the experience as an opportunity to learn and become aware of what it was like being on live TV. It was exciting and suspenseful because you spend an entire week building up for one performance at the end of the week.

It taught me about work ethic and what it takes to make it in this industry. On the show, everyone has the same amount of time to prepare. Everyone was doing their best, so there was this pressure to work as hard as you can.

PC: Going in and having zero expectation, how crazy is it to look back now and realize it jump-started your career?
Jai: It’s pretty wild. At the time, I never envisioned doing this as my career, but once I did X Factor, it all kicked off from there. I had no idea what was going on and I was totally wigging out. After the show, I got signed and started releasing music. My dreams became reality. It happened really, really quickly and here we are today: “Friends” is out, it’s exciting.

PC: You’ve had tons of success at a very young age and built this international fanbase. At the age of fourteen, did you know the type of artist that you wanted to be and how challenging was it to develop your sound having such a big presence?
Jai: At fourteen, I had no idea, to be honest. I was taking it day by day. I was listening to everyone around me and following directions. It wasn’t a bad thing because they were people that I trusted. As I got older, though, I started to grow up and my aspirations became more present. I knew where I wanted to go and who I wanted to be, but I needed to convey that to others and I needed to learn how to convey that to a wider audience.

PC: When you look back at your career is there a moment that sticks out to you?
Jai: I don’t think I can pick just one moment. For me, it’s important to find the balance between being grateful for the experiences that I’ve come across and then striving and focusing on what’s next.

PC: What’s been the biggest lesson you’ve learned being a part of this industry?
Jai: These are some good, hard questions. The biggest lesson that I’ve learned is to be true to yourself. You need to know what you want and how you want to be perceived. You have to be honest with the people around you. If you start to doubt yourself or your vision, it’ll confuse them.

PC: How did you overcome those moments of doubt?
Jai: By surrounding myself with the team that I have. I love them so much. I trust them completely. I know I can give them a song and they’ll honestly tell me what they think about it. We’ve been working really hard to achieve what we want. We’re on the same page and we all see eye-to-eye.

Pop Culturalist Speed Round

PC: Guilty pleasure TV show?
Jai: The 100

PC: Guilty pleasure movie?
Jai: I love cartoons, so probably an animated kids’ movie.

PC: Favorite book?
Jai: Anything Harry Potter! I love Harry Potter.

PC: Favorite play or musical?
Jai: I’ve only ever seen Cats.

PC: First album you ever bought?
Jai: Exclusive by Chris Brown

PC: First concert you ever attended?
Jai: The Veronicas

PC: A band or artist that you’d like to collaborate with?
Jai: Frank Ocean

PC: A venue on your bucket list to perform at?
Jai: Madison Square Garden

Make sure to follow Jai on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, and pick up “Friends” today.

Photo Credit: Yasmin Suteja