Jaclyn Kenyon- 22 year old Artist/Songwriter from Canada. Working and living in Nashville “When We Love” available 6/21. Pre Order has began.
Interview conducted on Dec. 10, 2020
by Dan Locke
Dan Locke: Let’s talk about your upbringing. You are from Hamilton Ontario. How is the country music scene there?
Jaclyn Kenyon: It’s getting pretty big! There’s a lot of country music fans here in Ontario. It’s growing rapidly and I’m excited about it!
You are self-taught. How many instruments do you play?
My dad is a musician and he taught me a lot of piano and guitar growing up. I never took music lessons other than vocal lessons! I do love to play drums but my main instruments for writing music and playing live are piano and guitar
What were your musical influences growing up?
I grew up loving and listening to Shania Twain, She was a huge role model for me when I was little. I always listened to her records and would play shows for my family and sing and dance until the album was over. I also listened to Michael Jackson and I loved his dance moves, style and music, I would always try and mimic him.
In the spring of 2017, you went to Nashville and started to work with major multi-platinum producer Mike Compass (Nelly Furtado, Smashmouth, David Archuleta) as well as top billboard writers Steve Diamond (Faith Hill, Reba McEntire) Clay Mills (Darius Rucker) and Robbie Nevil (Miley Cyrus, Jonas Brothers, High School Musical). Can you tell me about that time period?
Yes, I did! It was the most amazing experience. I grew up listening to the songs many of these songwriters wrote so to be in a room working with them on my own songs was honestly unbelievable. There were some nights I would just write everything in my diary just to relive the moment because it was so crazy to me. I learned so much from them and studied how they came up with melodies and ideas to better my own writing as well. It was like going to school on your hero’s. 2017 still to this day was one of my favorite years
What made you start your own record company?
Right now it makes the most sense to me. I have a 12-song completed album, a team of people who love my music as much as I do and truly care about me and my career, music videos that are finalized and have all the ownership of my songs. Right now, it doesn’t make sense to me to give parts of my career away to people when we’ve already done most of the heavy-duty work & have the relationships to continue moving it forward.
I like your version of Phil Collins “In the Air”. Its rocks. Was it ever release as a single?
I never released it as a single it was only on Youtube! Thank you so much, that was one of my favorite songs as well! Maybe I should release that one as a single one day 😉
I listened to “Daddy got a Shotgun” It has a real young Taylor Swift sound. Were you going for that?
Haha, Thank you! I wasn’t but I’ll take it!! Thank you so much. That song was fun and young and I wanted to come out with a song to tell girls that no matter what age you are you are always going to be your daddy’s little girl.
Where did you shoot the video? You picked Jordan Davies who went to school with you to direct the video. How was it working with him? Any family members in the video?
I shot the music video in Paris, Ontario, and Waterdown. Jordan Davies is such a talented producer and videographer, he always used to make skateboarding videos when I went to school with him. I always knew he would do something in film because of how naturally gifted he was with the camera. I loved working with him and it made It special to do a project together in our same hometown. My uncle is in the music video as the dad and my boyfriend of 6 years is the boyfriend in the music video.
You just released Mama Said. Tell me about the making of the video?
I wanted Mama Said to be rebellious. Even though her Mama told her she shouldn’t go for a guy I wanted her to be the one to make the choice at the end of the day. I wanted mama said to show that her mom didn’t like this guy and she proceeded anyways but as she got to know him more it was her that saw the red flags her mama was talking. She then ended the relationship and admitted that Mama was right this time.
How do you see yourself in five years?
Touring, writing and making a living doing what I love to do. All I want is to make music and sing it makes me feel most like myself and I cannot wait to see where that will bring me
