Natalie Jane is all about being honest—even when the feelings she’s plunging into are murky and unsettled. On her Capitol Music Group / 10K Projects debut EP Where Am I?, the 19-year-old singer-songwriter lets her instincts and emotions guide her as she pursues life's truths. The larger-than-life accusation “AVA,” which vibrates with envy from its scream-along opening line—“Who the fuck is Ava?”—helped establish Natalie Jane as a galvanizing force in pop, amassing more than 730 million TikTok views, landing on the charts in four countries since its release, and inspiring concertgoers who saw her open for Bishop Briggs and Misterwives to get into a frenzy where they yelled the lyrics at top volume. “Bloody murder in there,” she says of the pandemonium her live sets inspired.
Where Am I? signals that no matter where Natalie Jane goes next, she’ll be guided by her deep-seated emotions and formidable voice, which ranges from a sullen whisper to a world-devouring roar. The EP's 10 tracks—including the crushing relationship post mortem “Seven” and the stirring ballad “Intrusive Thoughts,” which Natalie Jane calls “the sound of a panic attack or a mental breakdown”—are already huge streaming hits, receiving placement on playlists like Pop Sauce and soundtracking hundreds of thousands of TikToks. “It’s a matter of saying things exactly how I’m feeling them, and not sugarcoating them,” she says.
Take the smoldering “Mentally Cheating,” Natalie Jane’s major-label debut single, where she wrestles with how her desires clash with her existing relationships. “A lot of the time, if you're mentally cheating, it’s frowned upon,” she says. “I understand that—but it’s something that I feel everyone feels. So I was like, ‘Let me just say it. So many people will be able to relate to it.’ And that’s what happened.”
The powerful, raw ballad “seeing you with other girls'' came from a session with Cian Ducrot, who co-wrote Lauren Spencer Smith’s “Flowers.” Natalie Jane recalls thinking, “Dang, I would not be happy if I saw a picture of my ex with another girl.” In the studio she channeled that uncomfortable feeling into a song that seethes and soars, its ethereal production highlighting the way its lyrics pick at her wounds: “Oh, oh-oh, oh-oh, it burns / Seein’ you move on with her / Oh, oh-oh, I wish you hurt / Like I do, like I do,” she wails on its chorus.
The New Jersey native began studying music at a young age, performing in musicals and learning piano. She was inspired to lean into her vocal prowess by the strong women she listened to growing up. “My influences vocally were Adele, Amy Winehouse, Whitney Houston—all the big, powerful vocalists,” she says. “Those were the songs that I would be singing along to, and it just evolved.”
In high school, Natalie Jane became more immersed in writing and performing, traveling from New Jersey to sessions in New York City. “When I used to go to the studios after school, I didn't really know what I had to be doing,” she recalls. “I was always worried, too, about how much time I spent there. I had to go back home and do homework. I was also always thinking, ‘What is my mom going to think? What are my teachers going to think?’”
After graduating high school and turning down the Berklee College of Music to pursue her pop career full time, Natalie Jane realized that her raw honesty was one of her greatest strengths. Songs like the storming, accusatory “AVA,” which she worked on with producers Pink Slip (FLETCHER, Royal & the Serpent) and Doc Daniel (Bankrol Hayden, Chloe Lilac), and the swirling, questioning intro to the EP, which she brainstormed with producer Boy Blue (Bryce Vine, MAX), show her commitment to being true to her life experiences from their very first note.
In Natalie Jane’s eyes, that willingness to be completely open is why she’s gained such a fervent audience: “I’m saying exactly what I’m feeling, and I think people can resonate with that.”
