Exposed Vocals just sat down to an exclusive interview with Jennifer Juan

Jennifer Juan is a cultural melting pot of an artist. She is a writer, a musician, a producer, a film maker and a podcast host, currently residing in the Kent countryside, but dreaming of the ocean. A tornado of darkness and delicacy, Juan creates engaging and powerful projects, using a variety of mediums and platforms, each dripping with her signature playful, yet powerful style of writing.

Beginning her journey as an artist as a teenager, Juan graduated from The University of Greenwich in 2013, and began sharing her work on her personal website, as well as through social media, posting written poetry and video projects.

In 2017, Juan began producing a weekly podcast, sharing her poetry, insights into her writing techniques, and released several printed volumes of poetry, including the critically acclaimed “Home Wrecker”. 2017 also saw Juan’s first venture into music, with her releasing her debut single “Past Preston”, a haunting instrumental track that would begin the first step into her immersive cross media project “Drowning In Us” that will be unveiled in full in 2018. Juan released the second teaser of the “Drowning In Us” project in February 2018, with her second single 2AM, an evocative and atmospheric narration of star crossed lovers.

Exposed Vocals: So tell us your story. Where did you grow up? What made you decide to become an artist?

I grew up mainly in a small village in Kent, and it’s very picturesque, but it feels kind of isolated sometimes, so I went to London to study creative writing at The University Of Greenwich. I really discovered a lot of creativity there. I was interested in creating art before, but I had so many moments of pure inspiration that really opened my eyes to the possibility of expanding what I created, and putting together bigger projects that could combine many mediums of art, such as writing, music and film. I wanted to be an artist, because I watched way too many old movies as a kid, and couldn’t quite overcome the desire to be a part of them. I yearned to be able to live a creative life like they did.

Exposed Vocals: Since everyone was a start-up once, can you give any smaller or local bands or artists looking to get gigs and airplay some tips?

I’m not sure how qualified I am to give advice, but I think the most useful thing I could say is to remember to be patient with yourself. I think sometimes, people look around at others in their field and feel upset that they aren’t doing the same things as them, or worry that they are running out of time to be who they really want to be, but you have to give yourself time, and keep working at being the best version of you that you can be, and you’ll get where you want to go eventually. Trying to live up to other people, or comparing yourself to them is just going to hurt you.

Exposed Vocals: Do you ever make mistakes during performances? How do you handle that?

I’m very clumsy, so I trip on wires a lot. I just try and laugh it off, because I’m sure the audience can relate to things not going according to plan sometimes, so they’ll understand.

Exposed Vocals: Do you tour? Anything interesting happen on tour that you think our readers would enjoy hearing about?

Not with my music, these days, no, but I have done tours for poetry readings, and I do plan to do some shows with my music in the future. When I was younger, I was actually in a short lived, and sadly ill fated band called The Overtones. Our first problem was, of course, that another band had the name, but we were just kids, mainly doing covers, so it wasn’t a huge problem really. The second, was that I had completely different musical tastes to everyone else in the band. I was obsessed with The Beach Boys, and The Kinks, but pretty much everyone else in the band was into metal, which I was clueless about, so we often had heated discussions backstage, but we always managed to pulled it together in the end. Sometimes, opposites can work out.

Exposed Vocals: Any planned studio upgrades? What are you working with now?

I make a lot of my music electronically. I was fascinated by the possibilities of it when I was studying music at school, and it allows me to utilise so many instruments at once, and create whatever I feel like doing. I’d like to try working with other artists and finding a more acoustic sound in the future.

Exposed Vocals: How do you find ways to promote your music? What works best for you?

I think social media is invaluable for promotion these days, you can potentially reach people all over the world, and you get to be a part of their lives. When you connect with people on social media, you’re not just offering a product, you’re getting an insight into who they are, and it feels really cool to get to know them.

Exposed Vocals: If you could perform anywhere and with any artists (Dead or Alive) where and who would it be with? Why?

I would travel basically anywhere in the world to perform with Selena Quintanilla. She was such an incredible performer, and she had a heart of gold, which is why so many people loved her.

Exposed Vocals: So, what’s next? Any new upcoming projects that you want to talk about?

My latest single “2AM” is available right now, on Apple Music, Spotify and all major digital platforms. I just released the music video too, which I directed myself. I wanted to display the urgency of the longing, and the confusion and fear love can cause, so it was really fun to work on, and I really enjoyed creating it. I’m putting the last few pieces together on the upcoming soundtrack to my film “Drowning In Us”, which will be available as a free download on my website in May. There will be a film, album and book available, telling the story of Marina and Grant, as they struggle with forbidden love in the modern world. The soundtrack album will be a new way of experiencing the story, and will shed new light on the perspective of both characters, and I think it really adds to the immersive nature of the project.

Exposed Vocals: If you weren’t making music, what would you be doing?

Probably writing in some capacity. I’m a very creativity orientated person, so I’d want to be doing something like that.

Exposed Vocals: What should fans look forward to in the next year or so?

I have two book releases planned for this year. One is the film tie in for Drowning With Us, which will also coincide with the soundtrack album release, and the other is a poetry collection, that will be released in the winter. I’m also working on a few tracks for a separate album, so I’m really excited to share those soon.

Exposed Vocals: Any Shout-outs?

I’d like to send some love to all the people who have been so sweet and supportive. They really make me smile, every day.