Q: I love your aesthetic on “Only Want Me!” Who are some of the influences behind the song?
JESS STOKES: Well I would say I have lots of musical and vocal influences that I’ve learnt from ranging from Ariana Grande to Adele and Lady Gaga.
Q: Can you tell us more about the inspiration behind the song?
STOKES: Yea! I wrote this song in a time of self-hatred and looked myself in the mirror and said “I just wanna love my body. I only want me.” And right there my song was born! I wanted to write a song that helped me love myself and feel more comfortable in my body, and so I wrote the song around that sentence and it really came to life!
Q: What motivated me to pursue music in the first place?
STOKES: I’ve always known I wanted to have a career in music, ever since I was little. I don’t really know what the motivation was, I just knew that it felt right for me. I had some singing lessons, piano, and drum lessons when I was young and then when I became an adult I went to university for a bachelor of music. I just love to learn and music has always felt like my calling in life. I always wanted to be a music creator and write stories!
Q: Has your creative journey been smooth? What are some challenges you faced?
STOKES: Sometimes it is smooth and other times it is not at all! Some challenges I have is getting stuck on a song and being unsure where to move forward with it or trying to force creativity when it’s not naturally happening, which makes me not want to create, so I have had to learn to allow for writing to flow when it’s the right time for me and not force anything.
Q: What do you love most about making music?
STOKES: I love how it makes me feel after writing something I’m proud of and love myself. You gotta love what you create and I the rush when something just clicks musically and your entire body and mind just rush with dopamine.
Q: What are you currently working on?
STOKES: I am currently working on writing my debut EP and more singles. I’m in the studio every week this winter and I got lots of music coming!
Interviewed by Katrina Yang
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