According to her bio, Jenna Zablocki began a love affair with music around the age of 5 when she started plunking out "little ditties" on her grandmother's piano. For the next eleven years she studied classical composers, played for friends, family, competitions, recitals, choirs, and for pure enjoyment.Never before dreaming of actually recording her own album, she took a leap of faith and ventured into a whole new world of music. Those years of training in different genres and the love for all things musical, developed into a blend of something all its own. Accompanied by Jenna's flair for interpretation and expression, her voice has been described as 'ethereal', 'light', 'refreshing', and 'unique'. When asked to compare it to a female singer out in the masses already, no one has been able to come up with one. You'll know why the moment you listen for yourself. Her debut country/pop/rock album will be hitting the airwaves this summer and promises to be a real pleasure!
Jenna and I visited about a little bit of everything and had a very enjoyable conversation about her music career.
B: Jenna, thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule, I am excited to get to know you better. Let’s start with the current project what can you tell me about it?
J: The album is coming out at the end of the month or early February. I don’t have an exact date yet. The single “Don’t Underestimate My Heart” has been playing on the radio and Internet airwaves and is doing really well. I started playing some shows in L.A. have a date opening up for Pink, we are planning tours. I am living it!
B: How long have you in the music business?
J: I started first recording about eight years ago, but did not finish a CD. I started singing at about age 11, but it wasn’t until I moved out here that I thought about a career in the music industry.
B: When you were 11 years old, where were you singing?
J: Choirs mostly. My focus then was musicals. I toured doing music theater and Off-Broadway. I went to school for it and thought it was always what I wanted to do. When I moved out to Los Angeles I met producers that heard my voice and they suggested thinking about recording. I never had before because, it had always been musicals or opera; because that is what I grew up doing, but we tried it out with a few songs and that was the start of it!
B: You mentioned you are the opening act for Pink, who else have you gone on tour with or opened for?
J: I haven’t yet! This is the beginning.
B: What have been the hardest and scariest things for you up to this point?
J: The fear that it is not going to happen. I always believed that it would and mom always believed that this is what I was meant to do. My family has always supported me, and my manager fought to the death for me but there is always that fear in the back of my head asking “what if it doesn’t happen? What will I do then?”
B: On the opposite extreme, what has been the most exciting part of it?
J: What we have going on now. I am actually able to get out and perform the songs. Anytime I would see someone performing on a stage I would think to myself “That should be me! I should be doing that!” I knew I had it in me. Now that I am actually doing it, I am proving the people who did not believe in me wrong.
B: Let’s talk a little about your fan base and their reaction? Do you find there is a favorite or one song over another that touches them?
J: People at the shows have really liked many of the songs that are on the album; which was what I hoped from the beginning. Every song that is on the album I picked myself for one reason or another, but I also hoped that they would reach the general population like they touched me, and it is doing that. Realizing that makes me very happy. One person will say “I love that song Powerful Stuff”, one band members favorite song is this one, and someone else has another one. That is exactly what I hope for.
B: Did you write all of the songs on this project?
J: No on this project I only wrote one of them
B: Do you prefer to sing things that you have written or are you just as content singing someone else’s songs?
J: I can go wither way. I am happy to have my songs on my album, but I know I am not the best songwriter out there. There are people in Nashville that do it for a living and they have been doing it for years; I trust their songwriting skills.
B: Is writing something you want to elaborate more on?
J: Of course.
B: Where are you originally from?
J: Pennsylvania outside of Philadelphia and then I spent some time in New York.
B: What are your ties to Nashville? Is it just for the music?
J: I have a cousin in Nashville, but aside from that my producer is Tom Harding who is from there. I spent time there to record the album. All of my songs came out of Nashville and all of the musicians on the album are out of Nashville as well.
B: Are you going on tour with Pink or are you just doing one show?
J: I am just opening for her for one show.
B: Do you have other shows booked to open for other people or are you still doing the independent one person shows trying to get your name out there. How are you promoting it?
J: Both. My manager is doing most of it. I tell him I do not like to know anything until it is set in stone. I do not like to hear “you are probably...” or “you are possibly”. I prefer to not know until it is done. Things change a lot.
B: What do you enjoy the most about performing live?
J: When people sing along to the songs. The album has not been out there that long, but the songs are catchy. People will come up to me days later and say “That song is still in my head!” I love watching people sing along to the songs, and they are smiling and clapping.
B: I assume you are using all of the social networks; Facebook, Twitter etc
J: I do not Tweet, but I do have a Facebook Fan page and Myspace.
B: Is the CD going to be available in stores or digital?
J: Both. I don’t believe it is on CD Baby yet, but it is on iTunes, Rhapsody and Amazon.
B: Have you done anything out of the box as a promotional idea?
J: I have not, however I have people who are working on that. I can not do it all myself. It takes an entire team to get it all out there.
B: Is there a song on the project that is your personal favorite?
J: The one closest to my heart is called “Daddy’s Little Girl”, but it is not necessarily my favorite. I don’t know that I have a favorite on there.
B: What genre do you classify yourself?
J: Country/Pop/ with a little rock
B: Now that you are connected with Nashville, are you planning on a presence at CMA Fest this year or Country Radio Seminar since your music has a country audience?
J: I would love to do Country Radio Seminar I don’t think it s going to happen. I am sure they would love to get me to CMA Fest but they have not mentioned anything yet.
B: Is there anything you would like to add or get out the readers and your fans?
J: I just really hope they like it! I titled the album Powerful Stuff, not just because of the song, but because I believe that each song on there is powerful in its own way. There is a song on the album about getting out of an abusive relationship and finding the strength to move on. There is another song called “Can’t Afford to Fall Apart” about a single mother who’s broke and trying to raise two kids; who has to keep a smile on her face. I hope that those songs will give strength to someone when they hear them. I hope my music speaks to people. A lot of the songs have a deep rooted meaning.
B: I am very excited to get to know you better and when you are back in Nashville I will make it a point to come out and see you!
J: Thank you Bev, I have enjoyed this as well and thank you so much for taking time to do this. I look forward to seeing you.
For more information on Jenna Zablocki visit www.myspace.com/jennazablocki
Transcribed by Vicke Raye
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