-
Charese Fruge’ (@MCMediaonline) Talks To Jax
August 16, 2022
Have an opinion? Add your comment below. -
Singer-songwriter Jax’s latest single “Victoria’s Secret” is just one of a few songs she’s released which have gone viral on TikTok and it now has over twenty-five million views. The empowering body-positive track was inspired by a kid she used to babysit who was at an age where she was becoming a woman. Her body was changing, and she was comparing herself to a lot of other people and experiencing criticism from friends. This bothered Jax when she heard it because it reminded her of when she was that age and when there was only one body type to look up to because of the media.
“I felt like it was my responsibility as a songwriter to talk about this kind of thing,” says Jax. “And hope that the next generation of kids…young CEO’s…don’t have to go through what I went through. It was never about me vs. a brand. It was something I felt like I needed to talk about, and something I needed to heal myself. So hopefully that will be a good thing.”
Raised in New Jersey by way of New York, Jax got her start by performing a wide variety of genres in bands growing up. At the age of eighteen, she developed cancer above her vocal cords, which returned following a couple of months of remission right as she relocated to Los Angeles in pursuit of her music career. Left unable to sing herself, Jax turned to songwriting for others and found industry success behind-the-scenes. Fast forward to now and she’s signed to Atlantic records and “Victoria’s Secret” is blowing up the charts and the digital world.
“Every day for me feels like a different type of success,” says Jax, “I felt it most this week when parents started sending me messages that my music has helped their child through something traumatic. But I did always know I was supposed to be on stage, and I was supposed to be a songwriter. I just didn’t know that there would be so many people that would be down to listen to my music. And that all happened over the course of the last two years,” explains Jax. “The rest has been a major hustle. Some days I couldn’t afford groceries and some days I could, and now I feel like this is the most impact I have ever been able to have. So, the biggest dream come true is when kids come up to me and their mom’s come up to me now to talk about the impact of my songs.”
“What I love most about my fans is that they come from a time in history where everybody was very ‘DIY’ and at an all-time low on the internet,” says Jax. “So, everything they do is super real and raw, and my fans specifically, tell me ‘How it is,’ and they speak the truth with no filter, especially during the pandemic when everybody was running without one. So, my fans are cool, and they are the most honest fans.”
While Jax’s success as an artist has been a whirlwind thanks to TikTok, she’s managed to make a few of her career dreams come true this year. “A huge accomplishment for me was getting to write songs in a studio and make videos with Natasha Bedingfield who’s always been an inspiration for me,” she says. “I also just recently got to play ‘The Governor’s Ball’ which was a festival I grew up going to and I was invited to play this time around. And then one of the coolest moments of my life was winning an iHeart Radio Award for songwriting. That was an actual ‘dream come true.’ So, it’s been a big crazy year!”
Jax’s success hasn’t come without its challenges, the charmingly self-deprecating artist has no problem admitting she’s human. “One of the biggest challenges I face in my career personally is knowing whether or not my gut instinct is right in the creative space,” she says. “Like if I feel like I wrote a great song but a bunch of people on the outside don’t think it was great, before I put it out, I have to take their experience in music into consideration and also my gut instinct as a ‘creative’ and try to find that balance. Even after that, I do have a hard time going back into the studio and questioning whether my skill set is really that great. I go through a lot of ‘Imposter Syndrome’ in the studio. So, owning my skills has been my biggest challenge, and being confident that I have a natural talent.”
So, for other women who struggle with “Imposter Syndrome,” Jax has great advice. “The kind of advice I’d love to give to women is to know how BADASS you are!” She says. “I think in the music industry we all have a really hard time because it can get super intimidating. It is predominantly an industry full of men, and especially male CEO’s (men at the top). So as women we’ve always kind of had to claw our way past all the noise to get past the guys to get our voices heard. So, stick to it! Keep flopping, even though it's not really a flop, because I feel like I have written so many songs that live in outer space. But stay confident in how awesome and amazing you are.”
Jax’s songwriting style has been influenced over time by some of the strongest women in the industry or female BADASS’ as she likes to refer to them. She grew up loving Janis Joplin, Joan Jett, Pat Benatar, and Alanis Morissette. Some of her current favorites include Julia Michaels, Ed Sheeran and Bonnie McKee. But hands down, her favorite songwriter of all time is Billy Joel.
Jax is currently on a whirlwind promo tour across the country, so I asked her what her “Promo Tour Must Haves” were. “Not to seem like a daytime alcoholic here, but I literally love ‘Hot Toddy’s,’ so tea and whiskey are always on a rider for me,” she says laughingly. “Also, I LOVE Dunkin Donuts! I have Dunkin Donuts in my hands at all times. And I always need to have a Dunkin Donuts large, iced coffee in my hands as well,” she adds.
As for a fake rider (no holds barred), Jax got pretty creative. “I would have to start with a giant platter of Sushi,” she says. “I would also like to have a hot tub full of Cadbury Chocolate Eggs. That seems pretty realistic right? And I would like to have my dog with me everywhere I go, that would be really cool,” she says. “And…. Oh! Pickles, lots of pickles! The Giant Ones! The giant pickles need to be everywhere at all times!”
Fun fact about Jax. She collects spoons. “I have little spoons,” she says. “I have about seventy of them. And I actually only use the little spoons in my collection. I don’t actually use my real silverware set. And each spoon has sentimental value of where I was at the time I got the spoon.”
When Jax does have free time to herself. She likes to eat junk food, binge ‘Love Island’ and do Hot Yoga. But what keeps her up at night are things that are similar to most young women these days. “What keeps me up at night are things I have said in the past,” she explains. “For example, when a waiter says, ‘Enjoy your meal.’ And I say, ‘You too!’ The really awkward, socially weird things that come out of my mouth because I have a hard time picking up on social que’s,” she says as she bursts into laughter.
As far as what we have to look forward to from Jax, she is bursting at the seams to get out and enjoy her success. “I have a lot of music that I have not put out yet, so you have new music to look forward to for sure. And I have not even been able to tour because of the pandemic. I haven’t even gotten to leave the country since the pandemic began, so I am definitely looking forward to meeting everyone in person for the first time. And I’ll continue to play and write music, but that’s all I am really good at right now. If I decide to pick up another skill, you’ll be the first to know, and I’ll happily share that with you too.”
Follow Jax on Twitter & Instagram: @Jax, @Jaxwritessongs on TikTok & Jax on YouTube
-
-