Indie Rocker America Jayne is Here and She’s Queer

OFM was spellbound while interviewing indie rocker America Jayne. She spilled in detail all about her latest single, “Redecorate,” shared what to look forward to in terms of new music, and revealed with us her song writing process.

How do you find inspiration for writing songs; what provokes thought?
I would say most of my songs are usually written because of something that’s happening to me in that current time, and a lot of times, I will take situations that have or are happening to me currently and use other times I’ve been feeling that way to kind of mix both of those experiences into a song. Other times, I just get sad, and then I’m just like, ‘Well, let me just roll with this.’

What is your new single ‘Redecorate’ about?
‘Redecorate’ is my most recent single; it’s about being in a relationship where you’re the one who’s trying extremely hard to make it work, and you’re basically doing everything you possibly can to be perfect for that person or be exactly what they want, but at the end of the day, you’d like to keep trying, but if they’re not going to be putting in the effort, then it’s never really going to work. That song is about the frustration of really caring about someone and really wanting it to work, but it just doesn’t plan out that way regardless of how hard you try.

Who does your music appeal to? Who’s your target audience?
I think my music definitely appeals to people around my age; I would say, like, anyone in their 20s, I feel. I write a lot about becoming an adult and what that’s like; I think that age range is my main audience. Aside from that, I really hope to appear to a queer audience. I’m queer, and a lot of my music has themes of that, and that’s definitely an audience that I want to focus on.

Do you have any projects in the works you’re excited to share in the near future?
So actually, [I just started] band rehearsal for my EP. We’ve been looking forward to this day for a really long time. [This is our first time actually] getting into the rehearsal space and putting these songs that we wrote into actual music. Right now it’s cool; I know how the guitar goes. and I know what the vocals are like, but I haven’t heard the bass or drums or lead guitar, and I also haven’t seen too many people in a minute, so I’m super super excited. Then, I get into the studio to record it next month, so that’ll be coming soon—I’m so pumped.

Which song of yours resonates with you the most?
I would say “Don’t Worry About Selling Out;” that was my single that came out, I believe in March, and it’s all about being a musician who is not just a musician. I bartend to make money, and it’s all about kind of like balancing work life, music life, and wanting to have all of your money come from music and to just do that, but knowing that you’re not at that place yet. I actually just went back to work at two of my music venues, and I was thinking about it the other day while watching other people on stage. I was like, Yes, ‘Don’t Worry About Selling Out’ still feels true to me.

What message are you trying to send your fans?
I think the message I try to send to my fans the most is just as kind of cliché as it sounds ,just to be true to yourself. A lot of my music, I try to say things that, you know, maybe you would normally try to keep in in fear of being seen as too emotional or too whatever, and I push that boundary. My main thing is to try to be as honest as humanly possible, and I really take a lot of pride in that. 

How can new fans listen to your music and find out more about you?
I would say the best place to listen to music would be on Spotify. I’m there as America Jayne. In terms of getting to know me better, though, my Instagram is @America.Jayne, and I post a lot there, and then I also post a decent amount on TikTok as well, also under America.Jayne; all my social media is under that. I feel like those platforms give you more of an outlet as to who I actually am. 

How does being openly queer influence your music career?
It’s kind of a newer thing. I’ve always been out to friends, but never really felt the need to, you know, make an announcement. And not that I even really have, either, I just keep it on my social media and in my music, especially with my song ‘My Boyfriend’s Roommate’s Girlfriend,’ that was kind of the song where I was like, ‘By the way, if you didn’t know I was queer, here you go,’ like, there’s no way of denying it now. So, I think it definitely is a part of my music, and I’ve especially found that on ‘TikTok, a lot of my followers on there are all queer, and I think that’s really awesome. I love that my music is reaching the kind of audience that I’m looking to reach.

Being a part of the LGBTQ community, how does it feel to be an advocate for your people?
It’s very interesting, I know that I have a platform, and I think it’s important that I use that platform to talk about my queerness and other issues in the LGBTQ community as well as just issues at large. I think that anyone who’s queer has the space and the right to take up that space, have an opinion, and have their voice heard. I’m just really grateful that I have the platform to do so.

What made you want to pursue music and be a mass-media storyteller?
Well, I grew up doing music. I started playing guitar when I was 10 because I really wanted to learn to ‘Wake Me Up When September Ends’ by Green Day, so I got a guitar to play that. And when I was a kid I also really loved writing and creating stories, which led me to do theater in college. I just started writing music, and then through that, it started to fall into place, and I just fell in love with being able to tell my story and being able to tell stories that I think other people would like to say, but maybe don’t have the capacity to do so. Sharing stories, I think, is really what inspired me to want to do music.

Anything else we didn’t cover that you’d like to add?
Just stream my tunes. I have a new single coming out in September that I’m working on right now, and I’m working on the EP!