Tell us about yourself and your music
I’m a kid from Markham who always wanted to be great at what I do, and always wanted to inspire people to be leaders, but always looked at as the shy big kid who wasn’t going to make it anywhere and I didn’t have a father and my mom didn’t have a lot of money to buy me what I wanted because she was the only parent that went through her ups and downs but came back to raise me into the man I am today but through my music I try to display that sadness and depression through life I went through and that we all experience before but keep inside and don’t want to show because it’s a sign of weakness but it’s not, but at the same time my music is just about having fun and realize that yes I go through a lot of anxiety and depression but it’s more to life and I’m not here to be inspired by others I’m here to inspire people to live out their dream and to overcome obstacles.
Talk to us more about your latest release
My latest release was called “Heartbroken”, that I made with another artist LC2CRAZY from where I’m from but in the single where I’m just the person singing the hook, it’s about a relationship between a man and a woman who thought they loved each other and was ready for commitment but turns out she lied about really loving him and now he was heartbroken and wanted to let her know.
What inspired you to write this release?
I wouldn’t say she inspired me to write this but at the time I was dealing with someone who was now that I look back at it toxic and I remember listening to this beat by this producer called Kayanne on Instagram and I loved how it sounded so I hit him up got the beat then the next day she posted something on Snapchat that just brought back all those hurtful feelings but I thought we were passed all that but I guess not so I started thinking of some stuff while listening to the beat and that’s how the hook was made.
Describe the writing and recording process
The writing was easy but the recording of how I wanted the song to go was pretty simple but thanks to my engineer Pedro who works at Enviyon Studio’s a great place in the suburbs, he helped me out with some of the Cadence of the song but I knew in my mind what I wanted to do but you always need that second honest opinion when you are trying to better your craft and shape your career, so after that, we went through it again got the hook done and then Lc2crazy who also is a rising artist from where I’m from who is older than me who probably experience more relationships than me, hit him up on Instagram got his number we start talking about ideas sent him the beat and boom “heartbroken”, was created.
Any plans to release a video?
Any plans to hit the road?
Yea that’s a goal of mine but right now I want to like better my craft and work on me and the quality of my music before I start going on tours and or just doing a lot of shows right now the most important thing to me is growing my fan base because without them it’s not going to be any shows to perform at if nobody shows so showing people me hopefully they stick with me through this journey and inspire people who listen to me to start living out their dreams
As an indie artist, how do you brand yourself and your music to stand out from the rest of the artists out there?
One thing is just being relatable to a lot of people I’m not rich, also never been the cool kid in school but I had friends but I was never the let’s act wild kid you know I was always was the sit back and observe how people move and reacted to things said and my parents are not together my father left me and only comes around when he feels like it, and my mom went through some stuff but realize she had me to raise so she came back to her senses and raised me to the person I am today to always show love and respect to people but don’t let people take advantage of you, we don’t have a lot of money but that’s something I fight for every day to make something out of myself so I can look back at my life and say you inspired people to be great leaders and you made great music that can help people get through obstacles in life that they probably never knew they had and I’m down to earth so I want them to know they can come to me for anything. That’s the most important thing I want people to know me as and remember me as the one who always been there for people who feel depress and needs someone or if a person is not depressed but just need someone to talk to let them know that one of the artists they listen to is here to help.
Who have you been listening to lately?
I listen to a lot of drake, J Cole , Kendrick Lamar, Justin Bieber, kehlani and new artist like Giveon, Khalid, Snoh aalegra , pink sweat, Billie Eilish, Iv Jay and so many others but that’s just a few.
Who are your biggest influences?
I would have to say J Cole and Justin Bieber because they have something that showed me that music is something I should be doing because instead of hiding what they feel they express that through their music which is like a big impact on how creative I want to get with my music while I’m keeping it original and I always loved music and I love to dance but my thing was how can I make people dance to my music and fall in love with it to the point it inspires them to grow their brand and push through whatever challenge in life they have and just enjoy that you are still alive and able to be the best you at the end of the day.
Tell us about your passions
Music is my number one passion but I’m also passionate about my nephew and niece helping them navigate through life obstacles and overcoming whatever they feel like they can’t handle, and also I’m passionate about helping others who are living in fear of people always putting them down no matter what they do I’m very passionate about helping them live for themselves instead of trying to please everybody else because your never going to archive that, but we all are smart and creative we just have to find that path and make our weaknesses our strengths when we find what we good at.
What else is happening next in your world?
Right now I’m working on my first big project called, “The Depression”, which is letting people into who I am and just taking people into another world where you should not be afraid to talk about depression and anxiety to each other without worry of them betraying you and relationships I experience and seen through my nineteen years of life so far let’s just have fun enjoy that we still here but letting people into who j-rich is and wants to become.
Thanks for an awesome interview, J-Rich
Connect with J-Rich
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/official_jrich/Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/jermel-richardson-323603257Reverbnation: https://www.reverbnation.com/jrich34
