Munya Vomo
British pop star Jessie J was in the country this past weekend for the I Heart Joburg festival which took place at Ellis Park Stadium on Saturday.
“We landed at 7am in the morning and I haven’t been anywhere yet,” she said on Friday evening.
“I was told that I should go to the zoo and I would really like to visit Nelson Mandela’s home and perhaps have some traditional dishes,” she added.
The pop star joined a very inspired line-up that included rapper B.o.B, T-Pain, Jason Derulo, Fall Out Boy and Panic! At The Disco in the first ever I Heart Joburg festival.
“I am the only girl that made the line-up and so that was fun. The line-up was amazing. I know Jason (Derulo) very well. B.o.B I know through the song “Price Tag” and I have never met T-Pain, but obviously there’s no club I will go to without hearing the lines “all I do is win win win win no matter what”. Fall Out Boy are amazing and it’s an honour to be with all of them,” she said.
The fact that she was the only female on the line-up had Jessie J think of presenting herself in a different way from the others.
“Live performances are one of the things I enjoy the most about this business. I get to know the audience as much as I can in the time that I have. My set for I Heart Joburg was designed to be feminine and perhaps acoustic. I love live music because that’s when I can get to be emotional and have fun as I connect with my fans. I am very close to my band too and that relationship always helps out the way we interpret the music on any given stage,” said the singer.
Currently one of Jessie J’s singles “Bang Bang” is topping the charts and she has said that it will be on her upcoming album, “Sweet Walker”.
“I was in bed at home when I got sent the song and I had a studio session that day. I thought it would be a hit. I changed some of the lyrics and recorded it. When it was done I heard that Ariana Grande want to jump in on a verse and I was excited about that because she is an incredible vocalist. Nicky Minaj heard it too and expressed interest in being on the song and I felt like I was in a girl band which was amazing,” she said.
“The thrilling thing was that Nicky, Ariana and I only later met for the first time at the set to shoot the video. We had never met in the studio so we had to say something like “hi, it’s number one on iTunes, nice to meet you”. It was an amazing moment to share with them, shooting the video and, to top it off, opening the VMAs,” she added.
“Bang Bang” is one of the tracks to look out for from the singer/songwriter, but she also discussed what to expect from her upcoming album.
“The first album was kind of a mixtape. It was seven years of my life crammed in one project. “Alive” was a lot more of a quicker process and it only took me one year, which is like a slice of your life. I think at that time I was a lot calmer and didn’t want to repeat what I had done in the past. On this album I will be showing how I am feeling now. I am in a much more confident and sexier place. I am more emotional because I have been through heartbreak. I feel like this album is really representational to who I am as a 26-year-old woman,” she said.
“Production is a lot heavier and there are some acoustics in there. I have De La Soul, 2Chainz and Tinie Tempah,” she added.
Sweet Talker will be available from October 10.