Jahnah Camille is a singer-songwriter from Birmingham, Alabama. Her new EP, i tried to freeze light but only remember a girl, is out now on Winspear.
Jahnah Camille is a singer-songwriter from Birmingham, Alabama; Benét is a singer-songwriter based in Richmond, Virginia. Jahnah’s new EP, i tried to freeze light but only remember a girl, is out now on Winspear, so to celebrate, the two friends got on a Zoom call to catch up about it.
— Annie Fell, Editor-in-chief, Talkhouse Music
Jahnah Camille: I just had breakfast, so I feel like the best version of myself.
Benét: Oh, good. I had breakfast a little earlier, and it made me feel like the worst.
Jahnah: What did you have?
Benét: I’m in New York staying at a friend’s, and I didn’t go to my deli. You trust other people’s delis and they just don’t satisfy you… But, congratulations on your new EP!
Jahnah: Yes, thank you!
Benét: I really like the title. I’m into long titles right now.
Jahnah: Yeah, I was just like, “It would just be fun if it was long as fuck for no reason.” So I just chose a song that was my favorite, and I chose a line that I thought was the coolest.
Benét: That’s genius. I’m happy “Elliot” made its way onto the EP, too. Just a classic, huh?
Jahnah: Yeah, that’s what I was thinking, I might as well put it on there. Because the EP was supposed to be five songs, and then we cut one, and then I was like, “I want to keep pushing this song,” because I really still believe in it, even though I made it long ago.
Benét: It’s still a banger, dude.
Jahnah: Thanks so much. Are you recording right now?
Benét: Essentially I am. I have a deadline and I’m going to try to meet it, but we will see. I have all the songs written, but I just have to put the pizazz on them.
Jahnah: Do you write with the intention of it being on a project, or is it just songs that were your favorite from a time period?
Benét: Yeah, I mean, I just write whenever I’m extremely traumatized. [Laughs.] And then I pick the bangers out of that.
Jahnah: You write a lot about relationships, I feel like. Is it one relationship that you were like, “Oh, shit, I’m going to have to keep purging about this”? Or is it a lot of experiences?
Benét: On my last record, there’s quite a few songs about a very specific relationship. I guess it’s just whatever time period I’m writing these songs and wanting to put something out. Some of them are really old, about people that I don’t talk to even a little bit anymore. But yeah, I do talk about relationships a lot. I don’t know — what else would I talk about? I don’t care about anything else besides having a boo. [Laughs.]
Jahnah: I’m in the opposite place. I feel like in my earlier teens, I was writing about that all the time because it was all that was on my mind. And then once I started getting in more serious relationships, I was like, This isn’t actually inspiring me anymore. But now, it’s been so long, I want to fall in love again and I want to write about it. I did try writing about it, and I just finished a project; I wrote a song in the middle of recording, and I threw away a different song to make space for it. It’s very, very powerful to write about being in love, and you write about it in such an interesting way. I feel like my perception of you is super fun and just sweet, and the way you write about love is very devastating.
Benét: Well, that’s the thing, they’re not really love songs. They’re just about how it never really works out and how debilitating that can be. It’s rare when I have a love song and it’s really celebrating the love that I’ve found. And not all of the love is super romantic. It’s just, as a human being — I’m not alone in this, but I’ve experienced a lot of heartbreak on every end. I tend to remember the heartbreak more than the love, you know? I think that’s kind of my fault. So a lot of the songs do get a little sad.
Jahnah: Yeah. I totally forgot that happy love songs exist. I don’t listen to songs that are like, “I’m in love and it’s great,” I guess. I listen to songs that are like, “This blew up and it sucks,” because I guess that’s what I resonate with more.
Benét: Yeah, I mean, everyone resonates with heartbreak more than they do love. It’s kind of weird, but I guess that’s the way of the world. So, are you going to play any shows soon?
Jahnah: I have one show in August, one show in September, and then I have a run that I need to announce.
Benét: Ooh. Super secret.
Jahnah: Extreme secret. I try not to do too much with shows because they can just burn you out really fast. Especially when I’m taking off work to do them. But they are my favorite thing in the whole world at the same time.
Benét: Yeah. I mean, the duality of man: You have a day job and you’re like, “Oh, I need to be gone for a month. Is that OK?” They’re like, “Uh, no.” So it’s just like, “Oh, maybe I won’t do my dream forever…” But then when you do do the shows, it also doesn’t even feel that great after you’re playing, like, three shows in a row. I mean, at the end of the day, you’re like, Oh, I miss it so bad. But when you’re in it, it can kind of scare you for a bit. Or at least me.
Jahnah: I’m curious, do you see music as something that you just happened to start doing and that you’re doing now? Or do you see it as the path for your whole life?
Benét: It’s definitely something that I started doing, but I’m like, Oh, this makes so much sense. I should have always been doing it. I graduated high school in 2017 and I was like, Oh, god, what now? I was just super down. I’m a huge YouTuber, so I would watch all these people do covers, and so I started doing them, and then I started writing shit. I was like, Oh, this is awesome. I can express myself finally. It’s been great ever since. What about you?
Jahnah: It’s kind of always been the path. It’s given me a lot of unnecessary — or, not unnecessary, because it’s definitely benefited me — but maybe too much of a sense of urgency. I started making music really, really young. Like, I’ve always my whole life played guitar, and I’ve always my whole life written. And when I was 12 — I call it hippie camp, because I don’t know what else to call it — I was at hippie camp and we had a guy there who was in charge of music, and he would perform for us every day. He wanted to mentor me, and he got me in the studio and it just turned into a more serious thing really young, which made me feel like I need to be as big as possible, as early as possible so that this can be a career. But now I’m at a place where I think I just need to appreciate how far this has come and leave space for however it wants to change.
Benét: Oh, that’s really cool. I mean, what are you, 21?
Jahnah: I’m 20.
Benét: You’re not even 21. When we met, I was in shock. I was like, “Oh, you can’t even come to my show, it’s 21 and up.” [Laughs.] So you’re doing great. You’re locked in, to be 20 years old. I mean, I’m only 24, but still, that’s four years.
Jahnah: No, it’s so real. I feel like I didn’t gain consciousness until, like, six months ago. I don’t know if everyone feels that way, but I don’t think I was a real person before six months ago.
Benét: That’s so real. I mean, me at 21 — you didn’t know me, but I’m glad. I was absolutely insane. And you don’t give that. You’re definitely not like how I was at 21.
Jahnah: I need to get crazier. That has been something on my mind. I haven’t lost my mind fully yet. And that’s my problem. That’s in my way.
Benét: It’ll come after you do this tour. You’ll talk to so many people every night, and you’ll just be a little bit crazier.
Jahnah: Oh, I can’t wait.
Benét: It’ll be great. It’s good for your development.
Jahnah: I was talking to someone a month ago about this — this goes back to the urgency thing — I feel like I have to do all of the emotional work in the world so that my brain is fully primed for when it starts being fully developed. But actually, that’s so stupid. I don’t have to do all of the work before I turned 25. That’s such a small fraction of my life that I’ll have even lived.
Benét: I mean, it’s always good to be prepared, but I guess life will do the work for you. No matter how much you prepare, something will come and — I don’t mean to be like, “No matter what you do, you’re gonna live a life that you can’t expect or predict!” But it kind of is true.
Jahnah: I hope so.
Benét: Life has humbled me in ways that I’m so grateful for. I think back to when I first started doing music and I was like, “Oh, yeah, I’m king of the world. Literally no one in the world is cooler than me in this four song EP I’m putting out on Bayonet Records.” And that’s just simply not true. Which is good, because it’s putting a lot of pressure on yourself as an artist, and especially as a Black artist trying to be in this indie lane and being like, “Oh, yeah, I’m so different and so cool.” Then life will humble you in a way that just makes you chill and be like, Yeah, I am cool still, but a lot of people are and I get to connect with so many people and it’s awesome.
Jahnah: Yeah. I feel like everyone around me is so cool and so amazing, and I love it when I get to meet people through my music. I’ve lived in Alabama for a little bit over 10 years now, and I feel like I’m starting to meet a lot of the same types of people and have a lot of the same experiences over and over. And music has been such a gift, letting me see what life can be and what life is for other people in other places.
Benét: Yeah, it’s great writing material, too, to experience all these different people. What are you listening to right now?
Jahnah: I have been talking to everyone about Whip-Smart by Liz Phair, because I started listening to it at the beginning of this year. And the beginning of this year was really crazy for me mentally because I was just like, I need to transform my life in every possible way. I ended a lot of relationships at once that weren’t serving me, and I started listening to this album over and over, and it’s just it’s amazing. What have you been listening to?
Benét: I’m listening to a lot of Alex G. I just never had, but I recently heard a song and I was like “Oh, wow, that’s really good.” So I’m now tapping into my Alex G era.
Jahnah: Rocket is one of my favorite albums ever. He’s crazy. He’s so cool, I love him.
Benét: He’s so cool. I really like House of Sugar, and I like the newest one.
Jahnah: “Taking” off of House of Sugar was a big influence for me with recording “Elliot,” actually.
Benét: Oh, my god, you’re so cool. How old were you when you wrote “Elliot”?
Jahnah: I was 15, 16 when I wrote it.
Benét: You know what the fuck I was listening to at 15? Glee cast. I was fully obsessed with the Glee cast soundtracks. I was like, “The original songs aren’t as good as the Glee covers.” That was what I was listening to, and Fifth Harmony.
Jahnah: That is very cool, in my opinion. I think it’s sweet. It’s cool for people to have their own things.
Benét: Absolutely, absolutely.
Jahnah: Do you feel inspired by other forms of media?
Benét: Oh, yeah. TV is also something I write about — I pull from shows and episodes that are my favorites all the time. The way I even started listening to other music is because of the songs that I would hear in the background of my favorite TV shows as a kid. I grew up really loving the So Jealous record by Tegan and Sara because it played in the background of Grey’s Anatomy, like, every week. So TV has really shaped pretty much most of my creativity with music.
Jahnah: That’s so interesting. I didn’t start religiously watching TV until this year.
Benét: Really? What are you watching?
Jahnah: I love a good escapist moment. I love anything that’s super leisure and girly so I don’t have to think super hard. I tried to watch Gilmore Girls, like, three times, but I wasn’t able to get into it until this year. I love Sex and the City.
Benét: I just started watching that.
Jahnah: It’s kind of crazy. It’s definitely dated in some areas, and some of it is hard to watch. But I think the interesting thing about it is how much is the same in dating and how it kind of never really changes, it just reinvents itself. Which is horrible, because they all have horrible relationships.
Benét: What else? One more.
Jahnah: I love Girlfriends so much. I love Tracee Ellis Ross — she is the most beautiful woman ever.
Benét: And she’s so funny. My mom and I, we used to watch Girlfriends all the time. Everyone’s so beautiful, but they’re all so different. That’s the real Sex and the City, if we’re being real. Girlfriends should have been what Sex and the City is to people culturally, I think
Jahnah: Totally. It’s definitely like night and day, but also very much the same. I did want to talk about more about touring and what that’s been like. What fraction of the past year have you spent on the road?
Benét: I’m bad at math, but I was on tour in May for a month. I opened up Faye [Webster]’s full Europe run. And that was my first ever tour, dude.
Jahnah: Oh, OK!
Benét: I did it solo and before this month, I actually had only played a solo set one other time, just opening up for a friend. So I was kind of like, How am I going to do this? It was freaking me out so bad to be in front of all these young teenage girls and having to make whatever I’m trying to convey make sense to them, especially with a language barrier. I’m like, Are my jokes going to land? Because I’m, like, 50% stand up, 50% songs — maybe even more a percent of stand up, because I was really nervous to sing these songs solo. But, you know, I did it.
Jahnah: You are so brave.
Benét: I really had to be brave. I was grateful — I got to be on her tour bus, so I wasn’t super alone. Faye Webster’s crew is the sweetest group of people you’ll ever meet, so I had my home dogs with me. But it’s definitely weird playing more than one show a week.
Jahnah: I’m trying to familiarize myself with the idea. I’m trying to wrap my head around what that would look like for me every day.
Benét: So you’ve never done a tour?
Jahnah: No, absolutely not.
Benét: OK, well, this will be the first for us both this year. So congratulations to you! When are you in New York next?
Jahnah: I’ll be in New York in October! I think I’ll see you then.
Benét: OK, perfect. Let’s wrap it up with a plan to meet up.
Jahnah: OK, well, come to my show.
Benét: Oh, I will. I’m there.
