Interview with Singer-Songwriter Jaden Larue

Photography by Anna Demarco



                California native Jaden Larue opens up about her songwriting process and abiding inspirations, about making fear our ally rather than foe, our capacity  "to create and generate love, art, friendships and all good things in spite of the fear" and learning to know things by knowing their opposite. 


AHC: What has this journey in music, so far, been like for you, the highs and the lows, and what sort of life lessons do you feel you've picked up along the way?

Overall the journey has been truly incredible with many highs and low lows.  Choosing to live life as an artist means consciously choosing a life of uncertainty and being asked to make fear your ally rather than enemy. In learning to be with the uncertainty and having to consistently brave the unknown, I've found that life feels fuller, richer, more joyous and has more depth to it.  I guess what I'm learning every day is to make fear my friend --that the greatest suffering comes from trying to "make sense of" or "outsmart" the fear.  That the best thing I can do is to pay attention to what makes every part of me feel alive and that the more I honor and respect that part of myself, the better I am at acknowledging fear as a tool that provides forward momentum rather than something that can paralyze.  And let me tell you, it's not easy but damn, it's exhilarating to live this way.  

AHC: What first drew you to music and what was your early musical environment like growing up? Were there pivotal songs for you then that just floored you the moment you heard them?

When I was 3 my parents bought me one of those toy xylophone things.  That was the beginning of it.  They saw how much I loved it and put me in classical piano lessons immediately.  (thanks mom and dad!) I grew up in a pretty strict and conservative household for the first 14 years of my life so classical music was what I was most exposed to.  I fell in love with Chopin's Waltzes, Bach's choral pieces, Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, and I would lie around listening to that music getting lost in my own thoughts for hours.  When I finally started to develop my own musical tastes outside of that, I fell in love with the likes of Radiohead, T-Bone Burnett, Patsy Cline, Regina Spektor, Jon Brion, Glen Hansard and bands like Deftones and The Mars Volta. The list could go on and on.  I won't even get in to naming songs, haha. 

AHC: Do you remember the first song that you ever wrote? Or that first moment when you picked up a pen and realized that you could create whole worlds just by putting it to paper? 

YEP.  I was 15 and picked up guitar for the first time.  I can't remember exactly what possessed me to say, "Hey, today I'm going to pick up the guitar and learn a song," but I did and that was the beginning of a life of songwriting.  I'd heard "Foolish Games" by Jewel played on the piano by some kid in my high school choir class and some part of me decided to go home and learn it on the guitar that night. Keep in mind that up until that point in my life, I wasn't a fan of guitar.  I was a piano kid.  I learned the song and it came easily for me so I immediately started making up my own chords and writing songs.  I still remember the first song I wrote and every once in a while, I'll share it with a close friend.  

AHC: Which musicians have you learned the most from? Or writers, artists, filmmakers etc?

Alan Watts and everything he's ever written/spoken.  T-Bone Burnett for the way he adds rich texture to music.  Glen Hansard for the way he wears his whole heart on his sleeve and writes/performs so authentically.  Chopin for the way he infused every note of music with such beautiful emotion.  ALL the romantic black & white movies of the 1930's and 1940's.  And most importantly, all of my fellow artists, songwriters, filmmakers, musicians and creatives that I call my friends.  They inspire me most of all.  

AHC: What do you think makes for a good song, as you're writing and composing, is there a sudden moment when you know you've found the right mix, that perfect angle of light, so to speak?

This is gonna sound weird but, I typically know when a song I'm writing is a good one if it makes me cry.  Doesn't matter if it's a happy or sad song or anything else on the spectrum.  If it's a good song, it hits me in an instant and I can feel it in my body and it moves me to tears.  What I look to create in my music and in the music of others is silence and space.  That's counterintuitive I know.  It's the moments where nothing is being said or played that a song is it's loudest, most truest self.  It's as if the sound in a piece of music is simply there to remind us of the beauty of silence and calm.  

AHC: Do you consider music to be a type of healing art, the perfect vehicle through which to translate a feeling, a state of rupture, hope lost and regained? Does the writing and creating of the song save you in the kinds of ways that it saves us, the listener?

Yes.  My songs save my life and enrich it while hopefully doing the same for others.  We all have the opportunity to be a "filter" of sorts.  My job is to take what is occurring in the world or happening directly to me or to those that I love --whether it be good or bad --and then to absorb it, process it, put it through my own unique, internal filter and then put it back out into the world as something that brings light to others.  We all have the opportunity to do that.  To take what life hands us and then spin it in a way that can do something good and heal others.  Many great artists have done that for me and I hope that I can do the same for others.  Bring me your highs and lows, best day or worst tragedy, and I promise you we can spin it into something that inspires others instead of adding more weight to the world.  

AHC: What are your fondest musical memories? In your house? In your neighborhood or town? On-tour, on-the-road?

I have so many but I'd have to say writing music with friends is taking the cake these days.  Seeing a symphony orchestra.  Sitting in the passenger seat of the car writing a song about that very moment in time while laughing my ass off with friends. All the little moments add up to make for a very rich, musical life. :)  

AHC: With the traditional ways that we listen to music rapidly changing, does it affect how you write and put together an album? Too often people are downloading and engaging with singular songs rather than albums as on ordered and thematic canvas, do you regret that your work may not be received in the way it was intended or created?

Lately I'm writing and recording from a more song-based approach.  Two reasons:  one being that it's cheaper to do it song-by-song and the other because I find it more fulfilling creatively.  When I write a song I ask, "what production does this song deserve and need?"  As opposed to, "how can I produce this in a way where it will fit as a package with the others?"  Of course, as I write and record I find that some naturally package nicely together and with those, I"ll release EP's.  The song based approach allows me to jump genres a bit.  I have the gritty Americana song I'm working on, the trip hop one, the anthemic, orchestral piece, the indie-folk singer-songwriter one, etc.  

AHC: When you set out to write an album of songs, how much does 'where the world is' in its current moment, culturally, politically, otherwise, influence the kinds of stories you set out to tell?

"Where the world is" filters into everything I do whether I realize it or not.  As I've gotten older, I've been finding that I'm much more tied into current events and have more of myself invested in writing songs that reflect the times.  Overall, regardless of what I'm feeling or what the song's message is, one thing I will never change is the way I infuse everything I do with an underlying tone of hopefulness, longingness and love.  

AHC: Do you have any words of advice for other musicians and singer-songwriters or anyone who is struggling to create something of value out there, who are just starting out and trying to find their voice and their way in this world? What are the kinds of things that you tell yourself when you begin to have doubts or are struggling with the creative process?

My entire life is one of doubt and struggle.  What changes is our ability to be more graceful in how we react to the doubt and struggle.  I suppose the only advice I can offer is:  get comfortable with the notion that the doubt and fear are never going to go away.  Remember that your magical power lies in your ability to create and generate love, art, friendships and all good things in spite of the fear.  I once read that to truly know something, you have to know its opposite.  To know creative fulfillment, love, happiness, etc., you must first know its opposite. So make friends with the opposite so you can make better love to the good things to come.  Oh...and in life...my general rule of thumb in all things:  if it's not a 100% yes, it's a no.  

AHC: Do you have any new projects you'd like to mention?

I'm working on a series of singles and an EP to be released this year.  To be in-the-know about all future shows, visit my website and sign up for the mailing list at  www.jadenlarue.com.  Oh, and guess what!?  ALL of my music is available for free download, here:  noisetrade.com/jadenlarue