“I’ll listen to anything that has nerve. Authenticity, no bullshit, and nerve.”
“Don’t have any words, only emotions,” one commenter wrote on the below YouTube video from three years ago. At that time, another fan wrote,”I honestly think that she is the most underrated artist I know. Every song of her’s is phenomenal!” More recently, someone said, “This just holds me in a trance.” (We agree.) “You have an angelic voice,” reads a comment from just a few weeks ago. (Again, we are in agreement.)
On a different video – this time for the song, “Not What You’re Used To” – listeners expressed just as much adoration for the song and artist at hand. “Sometimes, a song comes along, and you start listening to it for the first time, and half way through first verse, you get goosebumps and you tear up as if its one of your all time favorites. This is a song like that,” someone wrote last year. A comment just as passionate, but worth noting due to the truth it holds, is this one: “I feel Janita is still treasure waiting to be found, otherwise this song, among others would be in the TOP!”
Janita is a hypnotizing artist with beautiful tone and evocative tales. There are a slew of comments, messages, statements, and stories just like these that hold weight and prove the connection between the artist, art, and audience. She is not new to the industry, but she is a more recent breath of fresh, melodic air, writing and recording comfortably under the radar in a way that might be considered blasphemy, but is in part due to her mostly independent approach and inward-looking honesty. Really, she may just be ahead of her time with the way she fuses rock, pop, jazz, and more. Janita honed her craft with mainstream success and under a major label before stepping away to become the most authentic Janita we have gotten to know. Defying genres and pushing aside any preconceived notions, the singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist creates with sensuality and a rawness that only a determined, talented, sonically dynamic, and physically striking artist can. We’re mesmerized, but we have been, and like the listeners stumbling upon streams and videos, we think there should be more hype.
(Now is the perfect time for such, as well, since her new single, ‘Real Deal,’ dropped last week, and we talked to her about such, and she is gearing up for a new record come Spring 2025.)
We know that it’s very early, but you do have an album coming out next spring called Mad Equation. No small feat of a record either, as it is your 10th studio LP. Is there anything about the record that you can tell us about or hint at? Can you also share a bit about what the title of the album might mean to you and/or the music?
I think this new record, more than any other I’ve made, is where I’ve put it all together – musically, artistically, lyrically, production-wise. It represents, on some level, what I’ve been after all along. There are echoes of all the different pieces and influences and phases of my career – and I didn’t specifically set out to do that with this record – those pieces just clicked into place. The title, Mad Equation, is about trying to do the math to figure someone out, trying to size someone up. There’s actually a mathematical formula called ‘the mad equation’ which physicists use to measure the unpredictability of something. I think it’s fair to say that over the course of my career, people have been trying to figure me out, too. Am I the long-haired blonde soul singer? Am I the Finnish teenage star? Am I the American alternative rock ’n’ roller? Gosh, I’m just such a problem. So, maybe I’m a mad equation for some, but, with this new record – problem solved.
“Real Deal” is your new single. It’s bold and vibrant and has a sort of levity to it. How did it come about and how did you create that sort of sound?
Thank you! Yes, this track is a hell of a good time, if I may say so. It makes you want to bob your head, smile, or dance. It’s driven by this finger-picked guitar riff I play, which is where the song started. Much like the rest of the record, the production of each track builds on top of my initial guitar parts, and then everything else (the drum parts, bass parts, vocal parts) were layered on top. Making a record is often like a process of discovery rather than invention. Finding those parts that belong in the track, and keeping only those that serve it. It’s almost like you don’t have to invent them – it’s like the pieces already exist – you just have to work to find them. It sounds crazy, but it’s not. Lyrically, the song was inspired by two of my favorite films, The 400 Blows and Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid. I identify with the rebellious nature of the characters in both those movies; they’re living life off the grid, doing something that doesn’t make a lot of ‘traditional’ sense to most. Being an artist can be a mad pursuit, but it’s the work I’ve schooled myself in – and done – all my life. So I find myself living, symbolically, in a permanent shootout like Butch and Sundance and I’m alright with it. More than just ‘alright’ with it – it’s the life I’ve chosen.
There is a timeless sort of rock and roll quality to much of what you do. It’s found in even your most folksy or pop-leaning songs. What did you grow up listening to and what do you listen to now to harness that rock authenticity?
I like that you said “rock and roll.” Artists sometimes struggle with the right terms to describe their music (and like many, I’ve been influenced by a wide range of music), but I’ve come to the conclusion that ‘rock and roll’ is a good way (and the right way) to sum it up. It speaks to everything: Stevie Wonder, The Beatles, Radiohead, Beastie Boys, Blonde Redhead, Patty Griffin, The Smile, Elliott Smith, The Prodigy, Beck, and so many of the artists who have influenced me. I grew up listening to a lot of R&B and hip hop, and later moved towards alternative and rock. I also listen to a lot of Django Reinhardt and Mel Torme! And very recently, I’ve gotten into a Brooklyn rock band named Hello Mary. I’ll listen to anything that has nerve. Authenticity, no bullshit, and nerve.
Why is now, November 2024, toward the end of the year, a good time for this track to be put out into the world?
We’ve just gone through an enormous emotional upheaval here in the States with the election. There’s a transformation ahead for this country – and for the whole world – and we don’t yet know the full extent of all the damage we’ll be witnessing, and experiencing. All our lives are about to change, but there are those among us who will fight to preserve our democracy, our decency, our reproductive rights, and our humanity. “Real Deal” would have been fitting in its message if Kamala Harris had won the Presidency, but perhaps it’s even more fitting now. As I mentioned earlier, it was originally inspired by the camaraderie of rebels, a á Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid, but now it also feels like a rallying call to fight for what’s important: to not give into despair. In its essence, the song is a defiant, good time. I think we could use some of that right now.
You have some pretty top-notch accolades and career moments to your name, including being part of not one, but two Billboard chart-toppers. What kind of influence or momentum does that have on you when going into your next project?
I love a quote from the wonderful French actor Jeanne Moreau: “I don’t think success is harmful, as so many people say. Rather, I believe it is indispensable to talent, if for nothing else than to increase the talent.” I agree with her. Success builds confidence and excitement for what you’re doing when you’re an artist. It’s an upward spiral. The success that I’ve experienced in recent years has made me believe even more steadfastly in what I’m doing, and it makes me want to be even better at my craft. I’m motivated to reach farther and push harder when it comes to each aspect of my artistry. I’ve wanted to write better songs and better lyrics, and I’ve wanted to be a better singer and guitar player. I’ve worked hard to get better, and getting better is exciting. I think you can hear that excitement on this new record. The life of an artist is volatile, so the validation of success – that you’re doing something meaningful and important to others – is essential. Success gives that to you, whatever form that success takes.
You’ve worked closely with Blake Morgan as both a producer/mixer, but also sharing a stage with him. How striking are those sessions and events with him? Being that he is a truly passionate, open-minded professional and musician himself, it must be wonderful collaborative experiences.
I love working with Blake! I have so much respect for him as an artist, and it’s a privilege to work and collaborate with him. He’s also my partner in life, we’ve been together for 14 wonderful and artistic years. It’s actually pretty extraordinary that we can work together in so many areas: making records, performing together in my band, and running ECR Music Group, the record label we co-own here in New York City. We bring out the best in each other, and always keep pushing one another to reach just a little higher. There have been other New York City musician couples like this, who we look up to – Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson, Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore are two examples – so we very much like the path we’ve set out on, one where we can be individuals, together. This new single begins with the lyric, “Catch me if you can, catch me here I am. It’s not a wisecrack, race you to the moon and back.” That’s us. Out in the world, and sometimes up against it – catch us if you can.
DOWNLOAD, STREAM, & ENJOY THE NEW SINGLE FROM JANITA, ‘REAL DEAL,’ HERE!
KEEP UP WITH JANITA ON INSTAGRAM!
