JACOTÉNE’s not just dropping tracks, she’s building little worlds where messy feelings, quiet wins, and full-blown chaos all hang out together. We talked about which song from her EP «Untitled (Read My Mind)» could break a heartbreak time loop, why “Stop Calling” is basically a high school bully, her low-key One Direction phase, and how she’d turn the EP into a moody A24 flick. Oh, and there’s also a marching band, an abandoned high school, and a cemetery gig in the mix.
Andriy Zozulya: Let’s say you’re stuck in a time loop of heartbreak and self-discovery, only one song from your EP can break the cycle. Which one’s your sonic escape key?
Jacoténe: If there’s any song on Untitled (Read My Mind) that acts as a reset button and helps me feel the most free, it’s most probably “Stronger’. Even though I usually find comfort in moodier, sad songs, Stronger has this quiet kind of power. It’s the song you blast in the car windows-down after a couple of heavy days, not because everything’s fixed, but because you’re finally ready to feel okay again.
If “Stop Calling” had to fight “Stronger” in an emotional boxing ring, who’d win and why?
I’m a strong believer that “Stop Calling” would win in any fight between “Stronger” and the rest of the EP. ‘Stop Calling’ is the most toxic, so there’s no contest. If “Stronger” is the quiet strength after the storm, “Stop Calling” is the storm itself. It’s bold and blunt. Kind of a high school bully if it were a song – loud and WAYYY too dramatic.
You grew up on Etta, Aretha, and MJ, what’s one completely unexpected artist your teenage self would’ve secretly obsessed over but never admitted out loud?
One Direction, I was lowkey proud then and forever will be LOL !!
You collaborated with GhostNote and the Czech Film Orchestra, if you had to perform one of your tracks live with either a marching band or a string quartet… which one, and how weird would you get with it?
I’d perform ‘What Did I Do?’ with a marching band, anything like Beyonce’s 2018 Coachella performance or her 2016 performance of ‘Freedom’ at the BET awards.
If your EP were turned into a moody, slow-burning A24 film, what would be the opening scene?
The opening scene of this A24 film would probably be a slow motion of some friends who’ve just had the worst night out. No water, no food, no service. It’s turning to dusk and they’ve ended up far, far away from home and it only goes downhill from there.
You mentioned craving a “silent miracle” to be understood, if you could send one lyric from the EP telepathically into someone’s head without explanation, which one would it be?
«No I’m not tryna be your friend,
There ain’t no chemistry, this isn’t rocket science
Stop Calling!»
Your voice feels like it could seduce a ghost, what’s the most haunted place you’d love to perform in?
The Hollywood Forever Cemetery would be pretty cool and spooky at the same time or an abandoned high school.
Photography by Machine Operated.
