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Jesse Jo Stark on new album 'DOOMED', working with Jesse Rutherford and her love of the UK
Feb 9, 2025
Jesse Jo Stark's long-awaited debut album 'DOOMED' is here. With a now controversial artwork and a sound that spans old-Hollywood balladry, country storytelling and the punk spirit of The Ramones, the LA artist talks to us about making the record, its now-controversial artwork and perfectionism.
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0:00
foreign
0:04
hi I'm Charlie from the 45 and we're
0:06
here today with Jesse J Stark how are
0:08
you doing Jesse
0:09
hello I'm good how are you I'm good
0:12
where are you at right now
0:13
I just got to London today I'm playing a
0:15
show in two days so we came a day early
0:18
to get settled I know I'm excited for
0:21
that I'm actually going to come down on
0:22
Friday
0:24
um but congratulations on the release of
0:28
doomed uh how did you celebrate it
0:31
finally being out
0:33
well we actually had a um official
0:36
release party in La at my studio where
0:39
it was recorded and just invited some
0:41
family and friends and had yummy food
0:44
and I premiered my lipstick video so we
0:49
have this like little sunken couch area
0:51
and we all piled in and watched it and
0:53
it was so much fun ate Candy
0:55
all the Vibes sunken couch is like my
0:58
dream home setup yeah yep Duncan living
1:02
room
1:03
really gotta get one of those
1:05
um the album artwork is so cool did I
1:07
see that there was like some issue with
1:10
like a billboard that people thought it
1:12
was like too raunchy or something
1:15
yeah you know the city got a lot of
1:17
complaints
1:20
I don't know if it was the placement or
1:21
what was going on because I mean half
1:23
the Billboards in LA or everyone naked
1:25
anyway you know it's a painting of me
1:28
and it just had to be taken down which
1:31
was to me quite iconic and funny yeah we
1:35
ended up the the guy that runs the
1:38
Billboards actually listened to the
1:40
album and was like I love it I'm so
1:41
sorry about this so we're gonna give you
1:43
another one and he's been so sweet so it
1:45
was actually fine you know but it was my
1:48
one of my first Billboards so I was kind
1:50
of bummed for two seconds but then it
1:51
ended up being funny so it's quite good
1:54
publicity I think yeah it was cool
1:58
um so congratulations on it finally
1:59
being out the record's been in the works
2:01
for some time as I gather there was sort
2:04
of a version of it that you were ready
2:06
to put out like just before covid
2:09
um these have been like strange times
2:11
for everyone how do you think um the
2:14
last couple of years have impacted you
2:16
and the work that we're hearing now
2:20
I think I just took it as a time to
2:23
reassess you know some songs that I
2:25
recorded before actually made it onto
2:28
the album we produced them in a
2:30
different way but they still
2:32
made sense to me now
2:35
um
2:37
I
2:40
I feel like
2:42
specifically for me during that time I
2:44
learned a lot about myself just like
2:46
life feels
2:48
you know like you can do anything and
2:50
you have time for everything but you
2:51
really don't and so during that time I
2:54
kind of wanted to
2:57
be a bit more Fearless in writing and
3:00
try new things and try writing with new
3:02
people and meeting new people and asking
3:04
people I never had asked to
3:06
work with you know ask to work with and
3:09
so this album
3:13
it's very much me but it sounds new for
3:15
me as well I think I was just a bit less
3:17
uh
3:20
like
3:24
I'm very picky
3:26
and the people that I chose for this we
3:30
all really trusted each other and we
3:32
went for it and I feel that and I'm very
3:34
proud when I sing these songs like they
3:36
mean a lot to me
3:38
well yeah there's a couple of things in
3:40
there um firstly like there's a lot of
3:42
different diverse sounds on this this
3:45
record
3:47
um you know you've got the kind of like
3:48
older like old Hollywood style songs
3:51
like love is a dream sugar high and then
3:53
some like really Rocky like dance here
3:54
numbers too
3:57
um is is that reflective of your taste
4:00
just being really broad or was that kind
4:02
of um like newer sounds for you like
4:05
reflect because of the people that you
4:06
were working with
4:08
no I think I have such a crazy weird
4:11
Chase
4:13
box like I I grew up on country I love
4:16
rock and roll you know I when I met
4:20
Jesse who produced some of the album you
4:23
know he works a lot with 808s and I just
4:24
wanted to incorporate all these
4:26
different things love is a dream I
4:27
actually wrote
4:28
um at one of my favorite Studios Vox
4:30
before the pandemic and we had this like
4:32
live stream section and that really you
4:35
know
4:36
is one part of me and then you know
4:38
you've got like patterns which is kind
4:40
of just like I wrote that song in 10
4:42
minutes I was just in a bad mood and I
4:44
wanted to feel like
4:46
raw and and and just like
4:50
not really
4:52
overproduced at all you know we ended up
4:54
using one the vocal tape the first vocal
4:56
tape I did but then I really wanted a
4:59
dance song and that kind of just slipped
5:02
in it wasn't like we tried to find
5:04
anything or make make try to make sure
5:06
that there were all these different
5:07
things they really it just really
5:09
happened organically with all of us and
5:11
when I wrote pussycat with Jesse that
5:13
was just like
5:15
I was so excited about that one you know
5:17
I was I referenced Blondie a bit and and
5:20
just wanted one that I could like really
5:22
if I wanted to do this whole like
5:24
routine too and so I feel like I've been
5:27
explaining all the songs on the album
5:29
quite like my moods in the day because
5:31
you know I think we wake up one way and
5:32
we go to bed another so I wanted to be
5:35
like this little Moody
5:37
um mix
5:39
yeah that's cool I guess like putting
5:41
together an album is so different from
5:43
an EP because you want it to feel like
5:46
it's of you know a body of work that
5:48
that kind of tells a story but that's
5:49
cool that you say it's like a journey
5:51
through your different like elements of
5:53
your psyche different different moods
5:56
um
5:57
you mentioned Jesse uh Rutherford
6:01
um why did that collaboration work like
6:03
why was he the right guy for this
6:06
you know
6:07
we'd known each other for a minute I'm
6:11
shy
6:12
he's shy and then one day I was like do
6:15
you want to write and he was like yeah
6:17
and then I was quite shocked because
6:19
we're so like testy as artists and then
6:22
we got together and we kind of just
6:23
spoke and we really liked the same
6:25
things and he really understood my sound
6:27
and when he explained my sound it wasn't
6:30
like he said I was a one fit into one
6:32
genre like we were just vamping off
6:34
different artists we liked and I just
6:36
really felt like he understood and then
6:37
we started writing and
6:39
and then one day I called him and was
6:42
like you know I need to you know 40 or
6:44
50 of them have been done you know a lot
6:46
of the songs have been picked but I
6:47
called him and was like I just want you
6:49
to produce the rest of this with me and
6:51
when he came in we ended up writing more
6:53
and it just
6:54
it just worked he really pushed me you
6:58
know I had to he pushed me to fall
7:01
behind the beat and we experimented with
7:03
different sounds and he he spoke to me
7:06
and wanted to understand me as a person
7:09
and I think you know it's really hard
7:11
for us to understand ourselves sometimes
7:14
we're not looking at us um so his
7:17
observations of me really led to the
7:19
lyrics and we spent so much time on the
7:21
lyrics and
7:22
it just it wasn't like I had picked
7:26
someone and was like he's going to give
7:27
me this it's just like we really over
7:29
time organically we're drawn to each
7:32
other and it was it was just such an
7:34
amazing experience him and my my friend
7:36
who's an engineer Michael and my guitar
7:38
player it was like this little family
7:39
and it was a safe space which I love and
7:42
we were in La it was it was just cool
7:45
yeah we just really clicked
7:49
I've heard people say
7:51
um some other artists that like when
7:53
collaborating it feels like really
7:56
different working with another artist as
7:58
opposed to like a songwriter because
8:00
teachers come from it like from a really
8:02
different mindset like I guess maybe
8:04
that fed into to things or did you did
8:06
you find that to be the case
8:09
I don't know I just think that you know
8:10
Jesse doesn't typically produce he
8:12
produces for him in the neighborhood
8:14
like
8:15
so it was kind of like he was dipping
8:18
his toes into lava and going can I do
8:20
this and he was actually quite brilliant
8:22
um because you as as an artist it's like
8:24
tends to be about you
8:26
so he's like you know you don't really
8:28
want to give your songs away you don't
8:29
really want to like even give anyone a
8:30
lyric and then it was like they just we
8:33
we really
8:37
it was just meant to be so for him to be
8:39
able to step down from his job at being
8:42
like a frontman and then focus on me I
8:44
think was
8:46
um
8:48
a really beautiful experience for him
8:49
and then also like inspiring his hell
8:52
for me and
8:54
it just worked
8:56
and one thing I really love about your
8:58
music is that it's so evocative and I
9:00
feel like you're not only creating
9:02
this song or the album like you're
9:04
creating this kind of like world around
9:06
it
9:07
um how do visuals like pie into your
9:10
sort of creative process
9:14
I'm just such a visual person I didn't
9:16
even understand that until later you
9:17
know I I love words but I don't remember
9:20
that well I see things I see colors and
9:23
so on and every time I write before I
9:26
write even I can see the music video or
9:28
I can see how this other world that I
9:31
really want to be in I want to be in
9:33
that and so
9:35
I don't know that's like the the cherry
9:37
on top you know it's like the song is
9:39
one thing you feel like such a release
9:41
from writing and telling the story but
9:43
then to create a world around it you
9:45
know whether it's from like just picking
9:47
a color that you like whether it's black
9:49
or red or whatever and then all of a
9:52
sudden you know I've got this like
9:53
gargoyle that I bought and his name's
9:56
Garg we've named him guard I bought him
10:00
at a Halloween store the other day and
10:01
he just like is so he's so
10:04
in fits the world of doomed and
10:09
so I just like everything that comes
10:12
with it I'm so like cheeky like that
10:14
talk to me about the title doomed it's
10:16
kind of depressing is that how you were
10:18
feeling about the world right now
10:20
well
10:24
the world's definitely [ __ ] up and
10:26
dark
10:27
um
10:28
I always think it's getting worse but I
10:30
actually think we just know more now
10:32
I think
10:34
it's hard to stay positive you know even
10:36
releasing a project you're like what is
10:38
this doing is this doing anything you
10:40
know and I you have to remember like it
10:42
is it's art is inspiring
10:45
um
10:46
it's something to discuss it's it's
10:49
important you know because that's the
10:51
lightness I think to this to the
10:53
darkness but doomed for me is like even
10:57
though it has a very negative
10:58
connotation it's it's it's almost
11:00
accepting that it's it's
11:03
it has optimism in the word I I just
11:06
feel like it really represented the
11:08
album but if you listen to the album on
11:11
the end song You Know tripping it's this
11:14
quite like juvenile upbeat kind of like
11:16
ramonzi song and the end it ends with
11:19
doom from the start or this really
11:20
pretty you know melodic moment
11:25
it's accepting the chaos and the
11:27
Darkness and like it's just really the
11:30
start of something new so even though it
11:32
sounds negative and depressing which
11:34
life can be it's not to me it's like
11:38
it's
11:39
it doesn't mean that it doesn't mean
11:41
giving up but I also love spooky [ __ ] I
11:44
love dark words I like the underbelly I
11:47
like all that stuff so it just it was
11:50
fitting
11:51
I guess yeah we're all doomed so may as
11:53
well make the best of it you know I
11:55
think we're born and like we're
11:58
criticized for being ourselves and it's
12:01
really hard to exist in your body I
12:02
don't care who you are you go through
12:05
so much like we're never good enough for
12:08
somebody and it's about like really
12:11
lending yourself because if you think
12:13
about how simple that is it's like I can
12:15
only be me
12:17
um
12:17
I think with the internet and just
12:19
everything it's like there's just like
12:23
so many
12:24
you see all the same [ __ ] you can get
12:26
everything now nothing is like that
12:28
special
12:30
um so
12:34
I don't know it's just like being
12:36
yourself and owning who you are and all
12:38
that jazz
12:40
is a good message
12:42
um definitely I it's hard to pinpoint
12:45
why exactly and maybe you know I'm
12:48
coming from London but like to me this
12:50
album just sounds like LA or certainly
12:52
what I like expect LA to sound like how
12:55
much do you think like your city and the
12:57
environment around you influences your
12:59
sound
13:00
I mean I wrote two of these songs in
13:03
London okay also I also
13:08
a lot of these songs are about my
13:10
experiences in the UK so listen I'm a
13:13
Cali girl like I grew up by the beach
13:15
and I grew up by the beach when it was
13:16
cool and like not modernized it was like
13:19
no shoes and everybody knew each other
13:21
and it was just a small town but
13:24
yeah I would say it definitely you know
13:26
my studio most Studios like people are
13:28
working until 5am in the darkness and I
13:31
was working with the sun and I like the
13:34
light I like to go outside I
13:37
I like to work in the day sometimes I so
13:40
I think it really of course the city led
13:42
to the sound you know I love being in my
13:44
car so a lot of these Tunes are like
13:46
driving
13:48
um but I think
13:50
I travel a lot and I'm never home and I
13:53
think that I do also think that being in
13:56
the UK with like you know you you barely
13:58
I mean I'm getting a little glimpse of
14:00
the sun now but it's very gloomy and and
14:02
dark and cold for me and so that lent to
14:06
the album as well so I think there's
14:08
different influences for sure
14:10
have you picked up any
14:12
British lingo since you've been hanging
14:15
out here I think so I try not to
14:17
embarrass my friends here like they get
14:20
mad when I'm like can I get a beer
14:21
they're like like little things I have
14:23
to say like pint or like
14:27
sometimes I'll pull Madonna Like
14:29
honestly not
14:31
so embarrassed by this but I'll say one
14:34
word accidentally a bit British when I
14:37
get home and everyone's just like you
14:39
can't do that you need to clean it up
14:40
and I'm sorry I really like am not
14:43
trying to but I spend so much time here
14:45
so yeah I'm I think I'm
14:48
I feel at home now here so
14:51
I try to stick with the good lingo
14:53
um I've had to say that you grew up
14:55
around a lot of really artistically
14:57
talented and hard-working people like
15:00
that must be a great driver but does it
15:02
ever add like pressure to be surrounded
15:05
by so many like excellent High achievers
15:09
yeah well
15:12
you know I think growing up with I was
15:15
around a lot of adults
15:17
that
15:18
went after what they wanted and and
15:20
we're struggling artists honestly when I
15:22
was little
15:23
and try to make a name for themselves
15:24
and I would you know
15:26
I think watching that it's like I was
15:28
like [ __ ] how am I gonna
15:30
pave my own way how am I gonna earn
15:32
their respect how am I gonna do a good
15:34
job how am I going to be proud of myself
15:36
and
15:38
my mom to this day is like you are so
15:40
hard on yourself but I don't know how
15:42
it's to be because it drives me I'm a
15:44
workaholic and I want to be proud of
15:47
what I have to offer
15:50
um
15:51
so it definitely influenced me and I
15:54
wouldn't have it any other way I
15:55
my dad to this day like
15:58
is one of the hardest my mom and
16:00
daughter the hardest working people I
16:01
know and it's it's we're chaotic like we
16:05
don't stop but
16:07
it's fun and
16:11
I'm
16:12
I think I'm better for it you know so
16:17
the pressure comes from me I think they
16:19
wanted me to do good but they were they
16:20
wanted me to do what I wanted and I and
16:22
I'm
16:23
yeah the pressure comes from me for sure
16:25
I've heard you say in your like fashion
16:30
um kind of creativity you can like
16:32
really like obsess over like little
16:33
details for ages is that the same when
16:35
your music was it hard to like really go
16:38
okay this album is finished and let it
16:40
go
16:42
it wasn't hard when the songs were there
16:45
it was like they're just there and it's
16:47
done you don't want to add you know I
16:49
wanted 13 songs at one point because I
16:51
love the number 13 but it was like it
16:53
was 11. that was it but I mean it took
16:56
me my whole life to release this project
16:58
which now that it's out I'm like
17:00
probably gonna release a [ __ ] album
17:01
once a year now because I'm um it's like
17:05
getting over that hump but
17:07
details are important to me that's
17:08
another thing I feel
17:10
with
17:12
you know I was there every step of the
17:14
way we were all there but I I trusted my
17:18
P my collaborators more this time and
17:20
and was open I I I didn't fight myself
17:24
you know that that voice in your head
17:25
and you're fighting it like I just
17:27
didn't do that as much on this album and
17:30
I arrived at a place where I was like oh
17:32
okay cool I can do I can do this now I
17:35
can do that and so
17:37
but you know I I
17:39
with my merch brand deadly doll I made
17:42
this pair of sweats the other day and
17:45
there's
17:46
I accidentally like approved this deadly
17:49
doll X I forgot to remove a letter and I
17:54
cannot let it go I mean they came out
17:57
six months ago and I can't stop thinking
17:59
I'm just like I can't believe I did that
18:01
and so I'm a detail freak but you know
18:04
things slip
18:06
yeah that must be hard maybe it could be
18:09
like I know like Kanye released that
18:11
record and then he was like tinkering
18:12
with it like for ages afterwards like no
18:15
I'm not gonna suggest you do that I
18:16
think yeah yeah yeah
18:18
the terrible idea
18:20
um so I'm psyched for the show on Friday
18:23
what can people expect from from your
18:25
live live shows
18:28
I kind of
18:31
I kind of think I'm different when I
18:33
perform now I didn't realize but I'm
18:35
actually I'm so shy regularly but on
18:37
stage I'm just like the the hands and
18:40
the boots and everything's all over the
18:42
place
18:43
I really want to tell a story with the
18:45
show you know I really am playing the
18:46
album I'm hoping people aren't mad
18:48
because you know my my people that have
18:51
been with me since the beginning like
18:53
are requesting songs that are not being
18:55
played so I'm nervous they'll be upset
18:56
but I really wanted to offer the album
18:59
at these shows you know their album
19:01
release shows so you can expect that and
19:04
hopefully some cool lights and just a
19:07
moment of like us really just sharing
19:09
one thing I think that's what music is
19:11
like I love going to see artists that I
19:13
went to show the other day and
19:15
the fact that we were all there enjoying
19:17
the same thing was really cool to me
19:18
because there's just it's it's so
19:21
chaotic and you just like go in this
19:23
little venue and enjoy one thing and
19:24
then you go about your lives when you
19:25
leave so I'm excited to just like share
19:27
the night with people that like the
19:29
music
19:31
awesome and
19:33
um now the album is out in the world
19:35
what do you want this record to say
19:37
about you as an artist
19:46
I just it's such a hard question
19:50
I don't know I don't like committing to
19:53
a genre I don't really
19:55
care I just this music is who I am right
20:00
now and
20:01
and then there will be more like doomed
20:03
is just
20:05
[Music]
20:07
it's just like everything that's made me
20:09
me up until now and it's so it's I hope
20:11
that it inspires people I hope it I hope
20:14
I hope people hear the fearlessness in
20:17
it and also the the heavy insecurities
20:19
and and and kind of like really coming
20:22
too and and I hope that it
20:25
just inspires people to be like badass
20:28
and sexy or
20:30
anything they want to be I hope they
20:32
take different things from each song and
20:34
that's it
20:36
well that's awesome thank you so much
20:38
Jesse what are you have you got any fun
20:39
London plans for the next couple of days
20:42
going to dinner seeing my band and then
20:45
playing a killer show can't wait either
20:49
all right well I'll see you on Friday I
20:52
can't wait to see you thank you for
20:53
having me thank you so much
20:56
cheers good night bye
20:58
[Music]
20:58
[Applause]
20:59
[Music]
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