How many times have we all said those words? Be it after a bad day, missed bus or final inconvenience in a string of unfortunate events. For Jazmine Flowers, her ‘i’m DONE‘ moment came during lockdown after moving back home to live with her mum. Lucky for us, this particular calamity (no shade to momma Flowers, as you’ll find out later) blossomed into something as beautiful as this rising artist’s name would suggest in the form of her latest release.
A track filled with self-confidence and reflection, Jazmine guides us through her venture on what, for many of us, is a universal experience…visiting our parents and feeling that same childlike vulnerability as the youthful versions of ourselves left behind all those years ago.
Following on from her previous tracks, ‘awkward’ and ‘detached’, the self-taught singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer (who also co-directs her own videos, fyi) has come a long way from the days of performing covers around Oxfordshire. Now having garnered 1.1 million views across TikTok, she’s appealing to Gen-Zers everywhere, and if you’re not already gagging to give her latest track a listen, you will be after getting to know her…
‘I’m DONE’ is your first track of 2023, what have you been doing in the run up to its release?
Yeah! I’ve been doing a bunch of live shows and I had the pleasure of supporting Take That and the Sugababes at BST Hyde Park last month!
You describe your music as something you’d hear in a “R&B lounge of some dystopian club in 3045.” What sets your sound apart from other artists?
I think, because of the music I listen to, my music sits in a really unique place between RnB and electronic music. Sonically and lyrically, I mix raw honest emotions with very poetic visual lines.
Your first ever track was inspired by middle-aged white men trying to push you in a specific direction. Can you give me some insight into your personal views on gender, race, or any other social issues you feel strongly about?
Yeah, it was… I used to do open mic nights in pubs, and I’d always have guys coming up to me afterwards telling me things like “I have a friend whose cousin does something in music, I can hook you both up” or “You should dress more like this…” I hated it hahaha.
I tend to stay away from political things, but I truly believe people should just be their true, unapologetic selves…as long as they’re a good person! We, as humans, are so intricately designed and live such different lives, it only makes sense that people have desires to express themselves differently whether that be their gender, sexuality, political views or anything…we need to practise being more compassionate and understanding of those differences.
How has ‘I’m DONE’ moved your music on from earlier releases such as ‘awkward’ and ‘detached’?
I think there’s more of a mature tone to ‘I’m DONE’. My songwriting has really developed since then too… I wrote ‘awkward’ when I was still a teenager.
You wrote ‘i’m DONE’ with Sacha Skarbek and worked with Nabes to produce it, how did these collaborations come to be?
It felt like such an odd combo, when my manager sent Sacha’s profile to me, I almost didn’t do the session because I saw all of his big pop credits but I’m of course very grateful we actually did it.
I’ve noticed a lot of your tracks are named after strong emotions; would you consider your work a cathartic outlet? If so, how do you decide what lyrics and melodies best dictate your mood at the time of writing?
I hadn’t even noticed! I suppose maybe it is but without me realising? For me, music is sound therapy, it’s the production side which feels very therapeutic to me, more than writing the lyrics. I always start creating and just let whatever comes out of me out, it’ll only be a couple of weeks later when I’ll listen back to a song and think “ahh that’s what I was feeling back then so makes sense I wrote those lyrics or picked those chords”.
Is there anything surprising about you or your music career so far that nobody knows about you yet?
A surprising thing about me…growing up I really never wanted to be a singer or even considered it, my dream was to be a spy.
‘I’m DONE’ was inspired by a moment of vulnerability and feeling child-like after moving back home with your mum during lockdown, can you tell me more about the emotions you were feeling at that time?
I think I’d underestimated the shift in dynamic between us, since I’d moved out when I was 18 and lived by myself for a couple of years, I’d obviously grown up a lot. And so, when it came to living together again, we would often clash with our opinions. We made it work though and I suppose living with my Mum isn’t the absolute worst thing ever (she’s actually very cool).
Can you describe how the idea for ‘I’m DONE’ came to you… Where were you sitting at the time? Was there anything in that moment that triggered your drive to create the track?
I was sitting in Sacha’s studio, we’d met maybe only 10 mins prior and we somehow ended up on the topic of kid/parent relationships and how tricky they can be to navigate…as we were just chatting, Nabes started making the intro you can hear now in the song and I very candidly just thought “only just got home, already stuck in the middle of it” and the song kind of snowballed from there.
You played at Reading, Leeds, and The Great Escape last year, what were those experiences like? Can we expect to hear ‘I’m DONE’ on a festival stage in the near future?
They were so fun! We had a run of 4 festival shows in 3 days, so it was chaotic but some of my favourite shows I’ve ever done. I’d never been to a festival before, so it was cool to see what they’re like and yes! I’ve got some exciting festivals lined up in 2024.
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Words: Lorna May