French-born musician Jain, born Jeanne Galice, has lived all around the world. From her early years in southwest France to her teenage years in the Congo, the singer — whose father traveled for his job in the oil industry, according to The Guardian — has called several countries her home. Those experiences might have been a whirlwind, but they also shaped her music: Jain is truly an international artist, and her music reflects a wide array of influences because of that. “I tried, really, to make a global kind of music,” she tells Teen Vogue. “Pop music, but not only American — French and Arabic and African.”
Jain released her first album in 2015 (and a second, titled Souldier, in 2018), but the 27-year-old has been writing music much longer, starting with her first song “Come” off her Hope EP. She wrote it when she was 16 years old, and years later, began sharing music with her friends through MySpace.
Her biggest hit so far has been an electronica-infused, Afrobeat-tinged pop single called “Makeba,” which was featured in one of the most-watched ads of 2017, Levi’s “Circles” campaign. “Makeba” is named after Miriam Makeba, the famed South African musician and activist who fought against Apartheid, and who is nicknamed “Mama Africa.” A theme of social justice often appears in Jain’s work, including on her most recent album Souldier, the title track of which was written about the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, Florida.
Teen Vogue sat down with Jain before her performance during Coachella’s first weekend to talk about her global perspective on music, the question of cultural appropriation, and how she tackles political subjects in her songwriting.
TV: When did you start really getting into making music?
Jain: I started when I was 16 years old — I'm from the Southwest of France, and when I was little, I was playing the drums a little bit, so I was already interested in the rhythm part of music. At 16 I was living in the Congo, and, you know, it's your teenage time. I really wanted to find a way to express myself, so I started to write songs in the Congo, and I think that's why my music is quite open, with a lot of different influences.
TV: You recently said that English is a language of “pop and rock” and that's part of why you sing in English. Can you talk more about that?__
Jain: Well, the thing is I always listened to American music way more than French music. When I was little, I was listening to the Beatles, Bob Marley, Janis Joplin, and stuff. I had a big soul music culture, and not so much a French one. And when I moved from France, I was nine, and I came back when I was 18. So, there was a part of my life where I didn't feel French in France and I felt French outside of France, so it was really weird for me. And I had some friends that didn't speak French, so, for me, it was natural to write in English just to communicate with people all around the world.
*TV: How do you approach songs that cover political subjects, like “Makeba” and more recently, ‘Souldier,” about the Orlando nightclub shooting?
Jain: I have no particular rule when I write a song, I just write something that moves me, and it can be “Makeba” or the nightclub in Orlando, I don't have any rules about that. I just write about what makes me sad, and then when I write, I hear myself. It's like therapy, where I write something sad and then I make it happier or hopeful.
TV: You incorporate a lot of places into your music, and tie them together with your own experiences. Why are places like Abu Dhabi important for you to name in your songs?
Jain: I don't know if I would have done music if I hadn't traveled. Traveling for me was so inspiring and it really gave me my music; so, for me, it's important to try to pay homage to the city that inspired me and that made myself the person that I am today. And I also want people to be able to travel when they listen to my music, to go to the Congo, to go to Abu Dhabi in one album, I think it's quite cool.
TV: You’ve talked before about cultural appropriation, and how it has come up with your work, especially with new listeners. What have you learned about making music that is inclusive but also respectful, not exploitative?
Jain: It was funny because my album was released in these first moments of [talking about] cultural appropriation, and people were asking a lot of questions. And I thought it was great [that people asked] because I didn't invent my life, I didn't invent the fact that I was living in the Congo, in Abu Dhabi, in Dubai, and in France, so when people were asking me this question, I thought it was really interesting because I could explain to them that there is cultural appropriation. But also, there is a true story and true meaning, and there is globality, it exists with people that live outside of their own country. So, it was a shock that I really liked.
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