Photo courtesy of Chase Hanssen

Although finding success in the music industry can be a one-in-a-million chance, Canadian singer/songwriter JESSIA found herself achieving more than she ever anticipated. Her explosive introduction in 2021 with the single, “I’m not Pretty”, garnered attention from millions and assisted in her Breakthrough Artist win at the JUNO Awards.

In the last year, JESSIA has transitioned into releasing music independently. It has been equal parts gratifying and taxing, but has brought forth her most personal set of songs to date.

Okay With Every Part is a six-track EP that shares her journey of loss. In a span of just three months, she said goodbye to a label and a relationship. The emotions from that time ranged from anger to acceptance, and there was no better way to process those emotions than bringing her listeners along for the journey.

“I’m honestly so thankful to my team and my fans for keeping me going and picking me up when I was down,” she said. “They created such a safe space for me to reflect, and they also showed me that stopping just wasn’t an option.”

The challenging moments of writing and recording these songs made the reward that much sweeter. JESSIA particularly remembers recording “Care About Me” and the amount of changes it went through before ultimately landing on the final version.

When comparing this EP to her first, How Are You?, she was able to take the lessons she learned during its creation process and keep them in mind during the creation of Okay With Every Part. The biggest lesson for her was finding peace with the idea that not every song is going to make it to the final cut.

“I think just not having any judgment and realizing that some songs we create just aren’t going to make it onto the EP,” she said. “Sometimes you just need to write those songs and flush out those ideas to get to the good stuff! It’s important to have the studio feel like a safe space with my producer too - that’s really the key to writing any project.”

Reflecting back now that the six songs have been released into the world, she admits that she looks at them differently than she did while she was writing and recording them.

“When writing these songs, they’re fully coming from my perspective and my experiences,” she said. “Once the song is out in the world, I love that everyone can share their own stories that relate to it. I think it gives the songs a new light, and I love that!”

While these songs are deeply personal to her and her journey, JESSIA hopes listeners will be able to recognize that they were written for anyone to scream along to: in the car, with friends, in the mirror. They were written for those exact moments where it just needs to be let out.