Jade Bird | |
---|---|
Background information | |
Birth name | Jade Elizabeth Bird |
Born | Hexham, Northumberland, England | 1 October 1997
Origin | Croydon, South London |
Genres | |
Occupations |
|
Instruments |
|
Years active | 2015–present |
Labels | Glassnote |
Website | jade-bird |
Jade Elizabeth Bird (born 1 October 1997) is an English singer, songwriter and musician. Bird's music has been influenced by many folk and Americana artists. The media, when describing Bird's music, have drawn comparisons with pop, Americana, country and folk rock.
Bird's childhood was spent in Hexham, London, Germany and Bridgend, South Wales. It was in Bridgend, living with her mother following the separation of her parents, that Bird began to write songs. In her final year at BRIT School, she recorded a demo that led to a management deal. This, in turn, was followed by her signing to Glassnote Records. In 2017, she released her first extended play (EP) titled Something American. This received a positive reception and she was listed in the BBC Sound of 2018 list at the end of that year.
In 2018, she released the song "Lottery", which topped the Adult Alternative Songs, making her the fifth female solo artist to top that chart since 2010. The release of her eponymous debut studio album, in 2019, was met with a largely positive reception from critics. Her accolades include nominations at the Americana Music Honors & Awards and NME Awards and winning the award for International Breakthrough artist at the AIM Independent Music Awards in 2019. In 2020, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, Bird was the first artist to collaborate with Microsoft in what was named the RE:Surface project, a virtual live-streamed concert. In August 2021, she released her second album Different Kinds of Light .
Jade Elizabeth Bird was born in Hexham, Northumberland. [1] [2] [3] Bird and her family moved to London when she was two years old, and lived on a military base in Germany when she was five. She later moved to Bridgend, South Wales, with her mother, after the divorce of her parents, which occurred when Bird was seven or eight. [4] It was during this time in Wales, living with her mother and grandmother (who had also been through a divorce), that Bird began to write songs. [5] At age 16, Bird began attending the BRIT School in Croydon, which she graduated from in 2016. While at the BRIT School, she performed at concerts several times a week. [4] [6]
While in her final year at BRIT School, Bird recorded a demo of 13 tracks in her friend's bathroom, which would later bring her a management deal. [7] Soon after the management deal, she signed to Glassnote Records. [8] In 2017, she was sent to tour the United States with Brent Cobb. [9] She played a showcase event at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas in March 2017 and later in the year she opened for First Aid Kit, Son Little and London Grammar. [6] [10] [11] In 2017, Bird won the ANCHOR 2017 award of the Reeperbahn Festival in Hamburg. [12]
Also in 2017, Bird recorded her debut extended play (EP), Something American, in Rhinebeck, Boiceville and Palenville, all in New York. It was produced by Simon Felice, of The Felice Brothers and David Baron, and featured guitarist Will Rees, drummer Matt Johnson and guitarist Larry Campbell, and was released that same year. [13] [14] The EP received a positive reception from a number of critics. Stephanie Penman commented that the songs were "musical masterpieces" and Amanda Erwin stated "[it is] no surprise Bird has found a concrete voice of her own so quickly, unafraid to bare her raw emotions on each track." [15] [16] The Line of Best Fit called the EP "a vibrant collection of folk and country-tinged songs". [14] She finished 2017 by appearing as a finalist for the BBC Sound Of award for 2018. [17]
A year after releasing her debut EP, she released her debut single "Lottery", a punk-influenced song with romantic lyrical themes. [18] The song went to the top of the Adult Alternative Songs and remained there for three weeks. This made her only the fifth female solo artist to top that chart since 2010. [19] On 31 July 2018, Bird released her second single from what would be her debut studio album. [20] The song, entitled "Uh Huh", was accompanied by a video directed by Kate Moross. [21] Atwood Magazine noted some lyrical similarities with the previous single "Lottery" but also mentioned that the song demonstrated hard rock influences throughout. [20] In November, she released another single from the album, "Love Has All Been Done Before", and finished off the year with a tour of the UK and Republic of Ireland. [22]
After announcing the release date for her upcoming album, Bird released "I Get No Joy", the fourth single from that album. [23] The upbeat rock song was described by Bird as being influenced by "the stream of thought that runs through your head at all times as an overthinker". [24] It was accompanied by a music video, directed by Jamie Thraves. [25] Her debut was recorded at Clubhouse Studios in Rhinebeck, NY, Sun Mountain Studios in Boiceville, NY, and Barn Studio in Palenville, NY. Simone Felice and David Baron producing. David Baron and Peter Hanlon engineering. David Baron and Mark “Spike” Stent mixing. [4] [7] [26] In preparation for its release, Bird toured with Irish singer-songwriter Hozier, playing in venues such as the Mahaffey Theater, The Fillmore and Ovens Auditorium, gaining positive attention from American music critics. [27] [28] [29] On 19 April 2019, she released her debut album, Jade Bird . [30] The album received a Metacritic score of 75 based on 14 reviews, indicating generally favourable reviews from several major publications. [31] NME called the entire album "a triumph" while Clash led with labelling Jade Bird as "[an] assured debut from a force to be reckoned with". [32] [33] A review in Paste was slightly more critical of the album, "Jade Bird is an album of loose change, a pocketful of shiny, well-written nuggets that might give off a lot of flash individually but when put together don't equal the sum of their parts." [34] The release of the album was followed by a nomination for Emerging Act Of The Year in the 2019 Americana Music Honors & Awards. [35] On 24 July, it was announced that Bird had been nominated for three awards at the AIM Independent Music Awards. Only Idles were nominated for more awards at this event. [36] She ended up winning the award for International Breakthrough artist. [37]
Nine months after releasing her debut album, the follow-up album was written and completed while Bird was in New York. [38] Following the cancellation of her 2020 tour, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Bird collaborated with Microsoft and was the first artist to take part in their RE:Surface project, a virtual live-streamed concert, [39] on 29 May 2020. [40] Months later, in October, she then headlined another live-streamed concert. This one was called Come Together Mental Health Music Festival and was for the benefit of the National Alliance on Mental Illness. [41] On 4 November, Bird released "Headstart", the first single from her second studio album. [38] The song, produced by Dave Cobb, is an indie song about an infatuation that is not returned. [42] This was followed up by "Houdini" on 26 November, a song based on the disappearance of someone from her life. [43] Bird's first release of 2021 was the single "Open Up The Heavens", from her upcoming second studio album. [44] This song, which ABC Online described as "one of Bird's finest pieces yet", was the last to be recorded for that album. [45] On 16 April, Bird released her second EP, RCA Studio A Sessions. [46] Her second album, Different Kinds of Light , was announced on 20 May and released on 13 August. [47] [48] The album, produced by Dave Cobb, was written in Japan, Mexico, Nashville and New York and contains inspiration from Bird's own life experiences as well as fictional characters from her imagination. [49]
Bird released her third EP, Burn the Hard Drive , on 10 April 2024. [50]
Bird was introduced to American and Canadian singer-songwriters by a family friend; this included Neil Young, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell. She took up guitar herself at this point, a time that also coincided with the separation of her parents. Bird commented, "I needed a vent, so I think that’s ultimately why I got into music so heavily, because of these transitions, so to speak". [51] Also while learning to play guitar as a teenager, she was drawn towards Dolly Parton and The Civil Wars. [52] The Civil Wars was the first Americana artist that Bird listened to. [53] Music Week stated that she regarded Patti Smith and Alanis Morissette highly and, in an interview with Billboard , she opined that Morissette's Jagged Little Pill is her favourite album ever. [54] [55]
Rolling Stone described Bird's vocals as "raw and robust" and called her a "young Londoner’s spin on modern Americana". [9] Quinn Moreland, writing for Pitchfork , states that her greatest asset is her "gigantic and gravelly voice". [52] Bird does not regard herself as a country artist as she finds the term "a little restrictive". Rather, she was said to consider her music to be similar to Keane and Coldplay circa 2006. [8] Laura Snapes, writing in The Guardian , described her music as 'pop-Americana'. [56] Ellen Johnson of Paste complimented Bird's raspy vocals in a review of her debut album and went on to say, "[she] sounds like the adopted child of Joplin and Leslie Feist, or Cat Power and Grace Potter". [34] The magazine Clash likened her to a more radio-friendly version of compatriot Laura Marling. [17] The News & Observer labelled her as an Americana singer while Consequence described her as "folk rock's new star". [57] [58]
Bird avoids the use of co-writers. She once explained that "[wanting] to write a song all by myself is a statement. I want to follow in the footsteps of the songwriters I love, and I want the songs to come from me." [5] Her lyrics are based upon a combination of real life experiences and words and concepts that she finds aesthetically pleasing. [59] In an interview with Spotify, Bird compared her songwriting process to that of David Bowie and explains the love that she has for the way certain words sound when sung "I love the way a word sounds and looks: ‘Cathedral’ and ‘Lottery,’ They're almost quite consonant heavy words—if you want to get geeky." [60]
Bird has described herself as a feminist and has said "I've always wanted to be a role model in the feminist movement". [53] She is a fan of reading, in particular the works of Patti Smith, which she has used as inspiration for titles of her songs. [61] From 2018, she was in a relationship with Luke Prosser, who is her touring guitarist. [62] [63] Bird and Prosser moved to Austin, Texas in November 2020. [64] The following November, Bird announced on her Twitter page that she was engaged with Prosser. [65] Bird was critical of the UK government's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic for musicians, stating "I can never understand why the arts are just the first thing to go and the last thing to be thought of when it comes to politics." [38]
Title | Details | Peak chart positions | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
UK [66] | UK Indie [67] | UK Americana [68] | SCO [69] | SWI [70] | US Folk [71] | US Heat. [72] | ||
Jade Bird | 10 | 2 | 1 | 10 | 91 | 14 | 1 | |
Different Kinds of Light |
| 27 | — | — | 9 | — | — | — |
Title | Details |
---|---|
Something American |
|
RCA Studio A Sessions |
|
Burn The Hard Drive |
|
Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Album | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
US AAA [75] | US Adult [76] | US Alt [77] | ||||||||||
"Lottery" [78] | 2018 | 1 | 34 | — | Jade Bird | |||||||
"Furious" [79] | — | — | — | Non-album single | ||||||||
"Uh Huh" [80] | 3 | — | 38 | Jade Bird | ||||||||
"Love Has All Been Done Before" [81] | — | — | — | |||||||||
"I Get No Joy" [24] | 2019 | 12 | — | — | ||||||||
"My Motto" [82] | — | — | — | |||||||||
"Headstart" [83] | 2020 | 5 | — | — | Different Kinds of Light | |||||||
"Houdini" | — | — | — | |||||||||
"Open up the Heavens" | 2021 | 19 | — | — | ||||||||
"Different Kinds of Light" | — | — | — | |||||||||
"Now is the Time" | 27 | — | — | |||||||||
"Burn the Hard Drive" (featuring Mura Masa) | 2024 | 34 | — | — | Burn the Hard Drive | |||||||
"—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory. |
Title | Year | Album |
---|---|---|
"Don't Stop" [84] | 2018 | Vanity Fair |
Year | Organization | Award | Work | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|
2017 | ANCHOR | — | Herself | Won [12] |
BBC | Sound of 2018 | Included [85] [86] [87] [88] | ||
Ticketweb | Ones To Watch 2018 | |||
2018 | Radio X | Best Songs Of 2018 | "Love Has All Been Done Before" | |
Great X-Pectations 2019 | Herself | |||
2019 | MTV Push | Ones To Watch 2019 | Nominated [89] | |
Radio X | Best of British 2019 | "Uh-Huh" | #84 [90] | |
Americana Music Honors & Awards | Emerging Act of the Year | Herself | Nominated [91] [92] | |
AIM Independent Music Awards | Best Independent Album | Jade Bird | ||
UK Independent Breakthrough | Herself | |||
International Breakthrough | Won [93] | |||
2020 | NME Awards | Best New Act in the World | Nominated [94] | |
Best New British Act |
Lucinda Gayl Williams is an American singer-songwriter and a solo guitarist. She recorded her first two albums, Ramblin' on My Mind (1979) and Happy Woman Blues (1980), in a traditional country and blues style that received critical praise but little public or radio attention. In 1988, she released her third album, Lucinda Williams, to widespread critical acclaim. Regarded as "an Americana classic", the album also features "Passionate Kisses", a song later recorded by Mary Chapin Carpenter for her 1992 album Come On Come On, which garnered Williams her first Grammy Award for Best Country Song in 1994. Known for working slowly, Williams released her fourth album, Sweet Old World, four years later in 1992. Sweet Old World was met with further critical acclaim and was voted the 11th best album of 1992 in The Village Voice's Pazz & Jop, an annual poll of prominent music critics. Robert Christgau, the poll's creator, ranked it 6th on his own year-end list, later writing that the album as well as Lucinda Williams were "gorgeous, flawless, brilliant".
Joshua Hayes Carll, known professionally as Hayes Carll, is a singer-songwriter. A native of The Woodlands, Texas, his style of roots-oriented songwriting has been noted for its plainspoken poetry and sarcastic humor.
Brandi Marie Carlile is an American singer-songwriter and producer. Her music spans different genres, including folk rock, alternative country, Americana, and classic rock.
Anaïs Mitchell is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and playwright. Mitchell has released eight studio albums, including Hadestown (2010), Young Man in America (2012), Child Ballads (2013), and Anaïs Mitchell (2022).
Taylor Alison Swift is an American singer-songwriter. Known for her biographical songwriting, artistic reinventions, and cultural impact, Swift is a leading figure in popular music and the subject of widespread public interest.
Samantha Jade Gibbs is an Australian singer and songwriter. She has written tracks for artists including JoJo and Ashley Tisdale. In 2012, Jade won the fourth season of The X Factor Australia, the first woman to win the Australian series. She subsequently signed with Sony Music Australia and released her winner's single "What You've Done to Me", which debuted at number one on the ARIA Singles Chart. On 16 August 2024, Jade released her new EP, Love.Sick. Vol 2, debuting at #5 on the Australian iTunes Album Charts.
Sarah Ellen Jarosz is an American singer-songwriter from Wimberley, Texas. Her debut studio album, Song Up in Her Head, was released in 2009 and the song "Mansinneedof" was nominated for a Grammy Award in the category of Best Country Instrumental Performance. Her second studio album, Follow Me Down, released in 2011, received a Song of the Year nomination from the Americana Music Association's 2012 Honors and Awards. Her third studio album, Build Me Up from Bones, was released on September 24, 2013 through Sugar Hill Records. Build Me Up from Bones was nominated for Best Folk Album at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards, and its title track was nominated for Best American Roots Song. In 2016, Jarosz released her fourth studio album, Undercurrent. The album won two Grammy Awards.
Jade Amelia Thirlwall is an English singer. When aged 15, she auditioned for The X Factor UK on three occasions before rising to prominence as a member of the girl group Little Mix. The group was formed and won the eighth series in 2011, and released six studio albums together, and amassed nineteen UK top-ten singles, five of which reached number one. Before going on hiatus in 2022, they became the first girl band to win the Brit Award for British Group. Her music is inspired by pop and R&B music, with elements of electronica and electroclash sounds, and has been described as one of Britain's next biggest pop stars.
Brittany Amber Howard is an American musician from Athens, Alabama. She rose to prominence in the early 2010s for being the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist, and the primary songwriter of Alabama Shakes. Her work with Alabama Shakes garnered her four Grammy Awards from nine nominations. Later in the decade, Howard played bass in the side project Thunderbitch as well as both acoustic guitar and double bass for the trio Bermuda Triangle.
Kristopher Thomas Campbell, known professionally as K Camp is an American rapper. Hailing from Atlanta, Georgia, he first garnered attention following the release of his 2013 single "Money Baby", which led him to sign with Interscope Records. Released in December of that year, his single "Cut Her Off" became his first and highest-charting entry—at number 49—on the Billboard Hot 100. Both songs received platinum certifications by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and preceded the release of his debut extended play (EP), In Due Time (2014).
Kelsea Nicole Ballerini is an American country pop singer and songwriter. A four-time Grammy Award nominee, she has gained success since the 2010s, being honored with the Gene Weed Milestone Award at the Academy of Country Music Awards and the Rising Star Award at the Billboard Women in Music.
Ashley Nicolette Frangipane, known professionally as Halsey, is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Noted for her distinctive singing voice, she has received several accolades including three Billboard Music Awards, a Billboard Women in Music Award, an American Music Award and nominations for three Grammy Awards. She was included on Time's annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2020.
Lucy Elizabeth Dacus is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. Originally from Richmond, Virginia, Dacus first gained fame following the release of her debut album, No Burden (2016), which led to a deal with Matador Records. Historian, her second album, was released in 2018 to critical acclaim. Home Video, her third studio album, was released in 2021.
Caitlyn Elizabeth Smith is an American singer-songwriter and musician. She was raised in Cannon Falls, Minnesota. Smith's debut album Starfire was released on Monument Records on January 19, 2018. Her second studio album, Supernova, was released on March 13, 2020. Her third album High & Low was released on April 14, 2023.
Carolina Giraldo Navarro, known professionally as Karol G, is a Colombian singer and songwriter. Considered one of the most influential reggaeton and urban pop artists, she has received awards including a Grammy, five Latin Grammy Awards and four Billboard Music Awards. She was recognized as Woman of the Year and with a Rulebreaker Award at Billboard Women in Music, with the Spirit of Hope Award at the Billboard Latin Music Awards, and has five Guinness World Records.
Golden Hour is the fourth studio album by American country music singer and songwriter Kacey Musgraves, released on March 30, 2018, through MCA Nashville. Musgraves co-wrote all 13 tracks and co-produced the album with Daniel Tashian and Ian Fitchuk. A country pop record, Golden Hour also contains elements of disco, electropop, electronica, and yacht rock.
Beatrice Kristi Ilejay Laus, known professionally as Beabadoobee, is a Filipino English singer and songwriter. From 2018 to 2021, she released five extended plays (EPs) under the independent label Dirty Hit: Lice (2018), Patched Up (2018), Loveworm (2019), Space Cadet (2019) and Our Extended Play (2021). Her debut studio album Fake It Flowers was released in October 2020, and received critical acclaim. Her second studio album Beatopia was released on 15 July 2022, which spawned the hit "The Perfect Pair." Her third studio album This Is How Tomorrow Moves was released on 9 August 2024; it became her first album to peak atop the UK Albums Chart.
Ashton Nicole Casey, known professionally as Ashnikko, is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. Her 2019 single "Stupid" featuring Yung Baby Tate gained viral popularity on the video-sharing platform TikTok and was certified platinum in the United States and Canada. Ashnikko's debut mixtape, Demidevil, was released in January 2021, and spawned the singles "Daisy" and "Slumber Party". Her studio album, Weedkiller, came in 2023.
Tenille Jade Dakota Arts is a Canadian country music singer from Weyburn, Saskatchewan. She released a self-titled extended play and her debut studio album Rebel Child with 19th & Grand Records. In 2020, Arts released the album Love, Heartbreak, & Everything in Between and won the Rising Star Award from the Canadian Country Music Association. She released her third studio album Girl to Girl in October 2021. In 2022, Arts signed to Dreamcatcher Artists. She released her fourth album To Be Honest in 2024.
Jade Eagleson is a Canadian country singer and songwriter from Bailieboro, Ontario. He has released three albums: Jade Eagleson (2020), Honkytonk Revival (2021), and Do It Anyway (2023). He has also released nine singles, achieving four number one Canada Country hits with "Lucky", "All Night to Figure It Out", "More Drinkin' Than Fishin'" and "She Don't Know".