Singer-songwriter Jade Morgan Kelly landed herself a spot on the River Stage at this year's Isle of Wight festival after winning the festival's Hot Vox competition. She gets candid about stage fright and the realities of being an unsigned artist, and reveals the inspiration behind her new single Reason to Stay.
Which artists inspire you to make music?
My favourite artist is Anne Marie. She was doing that new kind of pop that came out that had a lot of honesty and a twist to it, and that's what drew me to her. She saved me in times where I've been going through rubbish things. Her music has always just been something that I can turn to.
How would you describe your music style?
I consider myself a pop-dance artist. A lot of people do hate on pop, and yeah, we might be a little bit more commercial and mainstream, but there are so many other genres that are mainstream which are amazing.
I still have to work at the art that I'm creating just as hard as any other genre. I was a little bit nervous to be a pop artist because I didn't want to be basic or anything like that. Bubble gum pop is really cool, but that's not the sort of pop I want to do. That's why it took me ages to find out who I wanted to be.
This year you landed yourself a spot on the River Stage at the Isle of Wight festival after winning the Hot Vox competition. What was that experience like?
Hot Vox collaborated with my uni [BIMM London] for a livestream, and from that I got another opportunity to do another live stream that helps unsigned artists. It was filmed professionally and was live-streamed, and when we were gradually getting out of lockdown, Hot Vox contacted me and asked me if I wanted to do a gig for them.
Because I had that relationship with them, they ran a competition for unsigned artists to compete to play at the Isle of Wight Festival. I said, “Sure, why not? I'll give it a go”. I did not expect what happened!