Jessia is a new pop artist from BC that quickly emerged after her hit, “I’m Not Pretty”, and she’s now in full control of her career after becoming an independent artist.

She grew up in Vancouver, where she wrote songs since she was ten. She calls her first song rough, but she continued to practice her creative writing for herself, which is therapeutic for her. When you listen to her lyrics, it feels like you’re reading out of her diary.

She then spent five years in Edmonton studying vocal performance and spent time during the pandemic focusing on her priorities, and she concluded on becoming a songwriter and a musician.

She has a song about empowerment called “I’m Not Gonna Cry”, that gets listeners to push through moments where they feel like having a breakdown. In moments of high pressure, there’s different ways of handling them like putting up a fake smile, or you push through in the case of this song.

I’m Not Gonna Cry

What makes Jessia resonate so well with her fans is through her openness. She’s so used to being open in her songwriting that she looks for honesty when she listens to other singers. She can easily tell when someone isn’t fully expressing their voice and their story, so she wants authenticity from singers. If she ever feels like something she creates doesn’t feel like her, she wouldn’t post it. 

Social media is pretty important to her because it allows her to connect with her fans and help them feel seen and loved the same way they help her get seen and loved. 

For her EP, “Okay With Every Part”, Jessia had many fans support her work when she became an independent artist. In that EP, she’s worked through her recent struggles, and the songs are reflecting back once she got through her frustrations. She didn’t want her songs to have a projection of anger because the point was to look back on those experiences and say that she got through all of it.

This can also apply to people who are studying or working to become who they want to be, but for anyone thinking of becoming an independent artist, Jessica suggests to stop calling yourself “aspiring”. She says you’re an artist as soon as you write songs or play an instrument, and that gives an element of confidence in yourself that others would believe.