Hey. So what's your name and what do you do?

Hi, my name is Josie, and I'm a musician singer-songwriter.

Okay, so what influenced your music? Give me a little story about your background.

I moved around quite a lot when I was a kid, and so I've just been kind of influenced by different backgrounds of music and stuff like that. And so being half Swiss, hoff, Zimbabwean, coming from two different cultures, I think it's just I've kind of picked up from different places, different styles of music, and implemented them into kind of what I want to do.

How does your music make you feel?

Going deep! I don't know how to explain it. Just makes me kind of feel warm and fuzzy because that's the type of music that I try and create. It's just, like, meaningful things that I don't really write songs about love, per se. I write more things about self growth, self, basically everything to do with your inner self.

Very introspective.

Whenever I write my music and I listen to it back, I'm always just, like, yeah, makes me feel, like, heard from myself. I feel like it's, like, little notes to myself that's kind of, like, on my music. It's just, like, reminding myself of things that I need to tell myself, and yes, just like, a little story.

What are you inspired by?

My music? Well, much like a lot of other people, I would say my music stems off of the experiences that I'm going through at the time. But do you mean more so, like, artists?

Could you mention any artists?

Yeah, I mean, the artists that inspire me probably the most are two completely different genres, but I think they're, like, the key holders of what kind of makes me me, but I would say definitely Erica Badu is top of the list. She's there, and then this artist called Ryx, and so he does a lot more. Lunch is over. You need to start getting softer, more intimate type of music, whereas Erica Baldur gives me that little sexy vibe to it. So it's just kind of, like, gelling those together to create me.

If you could, how would you describe your music? In three words?

“INTROSPECTIVE

PASSIONATE

SOFT”

What would you say are some of your biggest challenges coming up as artist?

As an artist. I mean, there's a lot there's a lot of challenges that come up, but I think probably the main one for me is, like, comparing to artists and just feeling as though you have to fit into a specific box to be a creative. And I think the challenge that I have is just trying to just be able to let myself be free with the ideas that I have and not feel like I have to box it down to this is R and B, or this is Jazz, or this is that. I think my biggest challenge is trying to navigate being able to be free musically and not feeling as though I have to stick to this specific narrative of how to do it in the industry, if that makes sense. Right? Yeah. There's some deeper questions here.

You spoke a little bit about overcoming these challenges. Is there anything else you'd like to add to that? 

How I would do it, I don't know. If I knew I'd do it. I don't know. I think it's just more of just being present in the things that I do and taking time to realise and notice what makes me feel good and not feel as though not feel influenced by the creative. Don't know what I'm trying to say but I would say more like just not putting so much pressure on yourself to conform to a specific type of genre just because that's what people assume you to be. Like, when people look at me, they usually think, oh yeah, she does R&B. And I'm like, yeah, some of the songs that I do are R and B, but that's not necessarily what I'm all about. I have my indie side. I really do love indie music. A lot of my inspirations are from indie artists and stuff. And so I want to have that, like, indie but sexy genome. Have a little bit of both.

Do you have anything upcoming or in the works?

I'm working on some stuff. Obviously this is going to be released, but I'm working on some stuff at the moment, so I'm very excited for that. All hush hush at the moment. We're working on trying to figure out logistics and things like that.

Okay, let's talk about today a bit. How do you know Jordan and how did your single “FORE life” come about?

So this project came about where we'd been friends for like a year or so. And he was like, I'm looking for some artists to work on collaboration with me for this new tracksuit coming out. And I was like, sick. Send me the silhouettes. Like, I want to see what it like, what it's about, like, if it's my vibe. And he showed me specifically this one, and I was like, that is like me to a tee. It's like cream and a brown. And that's like, what I love. And so I was like, yeah, I'd be super on board. Like, he sent me over through a kind of, like, storyboard and he gave me a brief kind of and he was like, when I add these things. And I was like, okay, bet. And I usually don't write to brief, so I found that quite exciting to just try and write for someone else and write not necessarily in the usual style that I would do. And so it was just like, he gave me keywords and all that stuff and so I just kind of like, went away, got on the keys, just like, wrote a bunch of stuff. And it was just yeah, it was a lot of fun. It's been a long process, but it's been good.

What is the story behind the song?

So it’s called FORE life. And this song, I kind of wanted to create more of a vibe of, like, infinity. So that was one of the strong topics that we were discussing at the start. It's just like, forever infinity. And so that's kind of where I got, like, you and me in this for life, because for life as well. And so, yeah, just trying to pinpoint specific things that resonate with the brand, and I think I'm not used to doing that. So it was, like, a lot of fun. And even, like, the lyrics, like, my favourite sweater, I just wanted to add those things in, but also make it natural and not like, this is a commercial type thing. And so just trying to balance that was a lot of fun to figure out.

What's your favourite part about working with Jordan?

I just think my favourite part is that he's so free and he really appreciates the artist's opinion, and it's a collaboration, even though it's still his brand, but he has full trust in what I was doing, and he just sent me the brief and said, go and do your own. So I think he gave me a lot of room to just be me, and I think that's why, obviously, that's why he picked me. But it's, like, nice to have someone who chooses to work with you and actually appreciates your artistry as well and doesn't constantly impose. It's just, like, nice to have.

What are you looking forward to most coming up in your career?

 Everything. I'm so excited for it. There's so much that I want to do, so many different things I want to explore, and so just shows the world with me. And so, yeah, I'm really excited for it.

And just to round this up, is there any quote that resonates with you that you live by?

Quote that I live by? Lord, I should have a quote that I live by. I don't think I do. I'm just like, live, love, love. That's all I do. But that is a joke. But then it became serious, and then I start saying everything. It's terrible. But I don't know, I just think for me, it's all about authenticity. It's just so long as you're your most authentic self, no matter what you do, no matter where you are, you're of each other. I'd say that lovely.

Lovely. Josi, that's it for today.

Thank you.