“It’s gonna be the Winter summer,” declares Jessica Winter. Although it might not have the horsepower to properly dethrone Charli XCX’s ‘Brat’ phenomenon, when Winter’s debut album lands on July 11, it will showcase the most complete, fully fledged gateway into the mind of the future alt-pop sensation that we’ve had to date.
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Since swapping her Portsmouth upbringing for London at the age of 16, Winter’s grand, ultra-danceable sound has placed her firmly within the city’s key underground pop disruptors, such as Lynks, Bimini and Rose Gray, and earned her a spot on this year’s NME 100. Tracks like 2022’s exaggerated ‘Choreograph’ and the following year’s club-tastic, gritty ‘Funk This Up’ helped earn her a record deal with Lucky Number, while she’s also toured with Rebecca Black and Death Grips.
Besides her individual output, Winter has been grafting harder than you might realise if you take her journey so far at face value. Fat White Family, The Big Moon, Jazmin Bean and The Horrors (“a fangirl, pinch-me moment!”) have all enlisted her songwriting capabilities in recent years, while she cut her teeth in bands spanning punk (Rotten Luck) and artful disco (Pregoblin). The breadth of her songwriting has all fed into what makes Jessica Winter such a cutting-edge solo artist: she’s quite literally lived and breathed this megamix of genres.
“I was into psychedelia, punk and indie before I became the pop version of that,” she ponders. “I wouldn’t be able to include all of the different sounds and sonics if I hadn’t experienced them all. I think because I’ve actually lived it, that adds substance.”
Part of the allure of Winter is her over-the-top live show, which – like much of her music – takes vivid inspiration from musical theatre. “I used to get so bored watching gigs and seeing people trying to just pose behind an instrument,” she sighs. “I love big performers – Freddie Mercury, Siouxsie And The Banshees. You want to give people something to watch, don’t you?”
On stage, Winter’s persona is utterly transfixing, simultaneously retaining that combination of intention and spontaneity. Her brand of pop music may come across as pristine, but she ensures it carries that impulsive edge. “I’ve had hip dysplasia and operations. My movements are stiff; the way I move to music [serves to] accentuate what I am,” she says. “That’s the beauty of being an artist. You create, accentuate and exaggerate all of the unique bits about you… It’s extreme and flamboyant. Being part of musical theatre growing up, and also having an entirely gay family, it’s just very camp – I think it makes sense for me.”
All of those experiences combine on ‘My First Album’ – the deadpan, does-what-it-says-on-the-tin title of her forthcoming debut LP that Winter announced yesterday (April 8). “I’ve been around the block and written for so many different people, so people need to know that this is actually my first album!” Deliberately composed of two acts, which will delight any vinyl heads, the album is a constant push-and-pull between juxtaposed emotions, where a bleak sentiment can be soundtracked by pure euphoria (and vice versa).
“I’ve always had the light and the shade,” she explains. “I tried to push that further by actually trying to really go in on different tones and messages… let’s see how sad I can make something sound, but still make you feel uplifted.” New single ‘All I Ever Really Wanted’ exemplifies this approach, its lush melody coexisting with the vicious circle of its messaging: “It’s [about] that hopeless desperation, an amalgamation of those failed attempts of trying to chase or capture a feeling.”
“ “I love big performers… You want to give people something to watch, don’t you?”
Underpinned by the dreamlike aura of her vocals, ‘My First Album’ zigzags between the genres that have shaped Winter, while simultaneously retaining those core sensibilities for addictive melodies throughout. ‘Wannabe’ evokes memories of 4 Non Blondes’ mega ’90s hit ‘What’s Up?’, while Grimes and Poppy have an industrial lovechild on ‘Got Something Good’. Meanwhile, ‘Worst Person In The World’ and ‘Big Star’ wouldn’t feel out of place in a coming-of-age musical.
That sense of discovery doesn’t just show up in the album’s eclectic sonics, but is the crux of its lyrical sentiment, influenced by the artist’s own reflections on herself. “I had a dysfunctional family life, and it took me a long time to realise right from wrong,” she tells NME. “When you get taught things in your childhood, you just believe them to be gospel. As an adult, I’ve had to unlearn so many different things, all the bad traits that I’ve picked up along the way. It’s really nice to be in an era where we can look at ourselves and really try and grow, rather than just be stuck and repeat the same stuff that your parents do.”
The album’s opening lyrics feed into this narrative of how your perceptions and dreams shift with added maturity and lived experience, as the protagonist (who Jessica refers to in the third person throughout this interview) declares: “I’m ambitious / I’ve seen visions / Destiny calling me”. “She’s sitting in her bedroom, smoking a joint and trying to conjure up a better life for herself. By the end of the album, she’s in the same kind of state, but she realises that all she needs is the simple things.”
The pitfalls of fame and glory are a music industry tale as old as time – but one that Winter has experienced, through both herself and her peers. “Usually, a lot of artists have experienced some kind of emptiness, so they have the need to go and be something bigger than themselves. ‘I need to be a star, I need fame, I need to live my dream.’ But are you happier after that?”
‘My First Album’ follows that narrative of its main character’s lofty aspirations and desire to “fill that void”, plus “all of the various distractions and side quests along the way”. “She’s thinking she’s on a pathway to stardom, leaving her small town to make it big, and then ultimately it ends up with her doing a lot of reflecting [and] realising what she really needs is what she had all along,” Winter explains.
Invigorated by the “confidence” of being trusted by much bigger artists as a songwriter, the road to Winter’s debut album is the mark of an artist doing things the old-fashioned way, honing her craft through hands-on experience. In an age where industry pressures and the attention economy continue to hamper creative totality, Winter can rest assured that she’s created something that will stand the test of time.
“You want to conceive it in the best way possible, because it’s going to outlive me,” she says. “I’m not going to rush something for capitalism… if I was more consumer capitalist-minded, then I would not have made this album. But I really don’t want to adhere to that mentality when making art. Whatever you need to express, whatever you’re feeling at the time – it’s right.”
Jessica Winter’s ‘My First Album’ is out July 11 via Lucky Number