Hi all! Back with another post from another press conference. This week, 1824 was able to put together a meeting with Sacramento, California native hip-hop artist, Kendra Jae! Kendra Jae is not only a singer, but also a songwriter, dancer, AND choreographer. She is definitely excelling at what she does and has even previously worked with Beyonce, Drake, Dua Lipa and Saweetie.
This press conference was fun and vibrant with her amazing personality. Her most recent single, “Big”, was just released on October 22, 2021. This press conference started out with a showing of her music video for her newest single, “Big” in which everyone was entertained and pleased, I think the music video was great and had a lot of fun scenes to watch! Here are some of the highlighted questions that I thought were interesting.
The first question was asked by the moderator and she asked how long did it take to make the music video and if she is involved with making it creativity wise. Kendra responded by letting us know that she is always a part of how her music videos are put together and coming up with the creative, even as just a rough idea to her team to take in internally. Everything she does stimulates from when she is recording in the studio, from when she invisions the record, and to what the video looks like. She explains that she is very hands-on with everything and that comes from her background. She has seen all of the pieces that goes into making a masterpiece, including her music video of course and the way they created their own little world.
Nicholas from Unrivaled Hip-Hop asked, “What collaboration have you found most valuable in terms of what you as an artist have gained from the expertise of your collaborator?” Kendra Jae responds and explains that she is new with collaborating with people. Saweetie is the only feature she has right now. She wants to be very specific with who she collaborates with as a newer artist. The impact that features and collaborations can have are getting her the push that she needs. Right now, her main focus is taking the experience that she had as a dancer, putting her real life experiences into the music, and trying to build a name. Her collaboration with Saweetie came very organic which is how she tends to like things. I think that is absolutely great and if I was an artist I would be doing that too for sure, very nice!
When I Make It To LA asked, Bailey Meyers asked, “How did you navigate that switch from dancing to professional singing? What was going through your head at that time?” She said that she honestly knew she was going to be here and it wasn’t necessarily something she had to come to terms with. It wasn’t a matter of ‘if’, it was a matter of ‘when’. Kendra explained that it all happened when the pandemic hit. She was in the dance industry, being “booked and blessed” as they call it in the dance industry and dancing 24/7, paying her bills with dancing, and wanting to become a singer but not having “the guts” to. Once the pandemic hot, she was kind of forced to stop that and pursue her dreams of becoming a singer. Music had always been a part of what she was doing, so she had records that she had already been working on. She would be dancing with artists and no one would know that after rehearsals she would go to the recording studio and work with a few people. She explains because this is an industry that you have to make relationships with people and have to move strategics, so she didn’t tell a lot of people that she was doing music as well. Except for her close friends knowing that she wanted to pursue music of course. So, once the pandemic hit she was like ‘you know what I have music’ and she put it out and bet on herself. Well, it definitely paid off for her, that is great!
Sarah from Rarepeace asked, “Who are the artists that definitely, when you were a kid, made you understand that’s what you wanted to do, the artists that mean everything to you?” Aaliyah and Janet Jackson, along with Chris Brown were big influences on her and her love for music. Usher was another one, she said. His videos really inspired her and had her in the living room trying to learn the dances, ha relatable! Of course Beyoncé. Young B was a huge inspiration to her as well, which is why going on tour with her was on her bucket list! That is an amazing goal to check off on the list for sure, great job! Her love for music and inspiration for her to pursue it really came from her dad. I love that! Her dad happens to be a music head and would just have her in the car seat just be listening Tupac and so many legendary artists. It really came from her dad and then transpired into being inspired by those artists that she named as well.
All in all, this was a great press conference to have been a part of. I love her personality and all of her answers she was abl to share with us. It gave us a little more insight on Kendra Jae and her background and story. I feel like I could be her friend! Don’t forget to check out her music and video to, “Big” along with her many other hit songs. I love her journey and passions. Definitely something to be proud of.
I hope you all enjoyed as much as I did and thank you soo much for reading along with me!:) Until next time, peace!
– Andie:)
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Oh Andie 
great
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thank you so much!!:)
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