As far as musical CVs go, Jessie Reid’s is pretty impressive.
With 6 million Spotify streams under her belt, a BBC Introducing Artist of the Year accolade and sync placements on both ‘Made In Chelsea’ and ‘Love Island’, the 29-year-old University of Leicester student is certainly making her mark in the competitive world of music.
This summer she achieved the dream of many aspiring musicians – playing Glastonbury in front of legions of enthusiastic music lovers.
Picture: Jessie Reid
Standing on the festival’s huge acoustic stage, Jessie performed a selection of heartfelt, original songs, which have been described as “achingly beautiful” by Folk Radio. She has been compared to the likes of Ben Howard, Lucy Rose and Nick Mulvey and many people are drawn to Jessie’s hushed, confessional vocals and her innovative, folk-influenced percussive guitar style. However, when it comes to her talent and success she remains remarkable humble.
“I don’t know why people like my songs – it’s a strange thing to think about really. Perhaps it’s because it’s quite vulnerable I suppose – quite heartfelt,” she offers when prompted by Pukaar. “People want to know that they’re not alone in feeling things, you know?”
“ My music usually does quite well in the winter – in the colder, sadder months. That’s when I get the most plays, so I guess people like that sort of relaxed, chilled contemplative vibe I suppose…“
It was Jessie’s song ‘Whole Heart’ which caught the attention of music supervisors for ITV, who wanted it as part of the soundtrack to this year’s ’Love Island’.
“People just started tagging me and I thought ‘oh it must be someone else’,” she admits. “But then it was on ‘Made in Chelsea’ about two weeks later, so it was a good few weeks!
“Because I’d been on some quite big Spotify playlists, I think the show’s music supervisors just picked it out from there and said ‘oh this will be a good fit’. So they messaged and said can we use your song and obviously I said ‘yes please!’.”
Jessie has recently finished studying a PhD at the University of Leicester, specialising on the works of F. Scott Fitzgerald and Virginia Woolf. She also has a Masters Degree in English and Psychology. Although she has plenty to fall back on career- wise, she admits that her heart is in music. It’s a pursuit which forms an intrinsic and hugely cathartic part of her life.
Picture: Jessie Reid
She has a new album on the horizon and is set to play De Montfort Hall in October as well as Birmingham’s impressive Symphony Hall.
“The successes I’ve had are lovely – getting to play in all these big venues and getting all these streams and stuff is really good, but ultimately I’d probably do it anyway even without any success,” she explains.
“I’d still sit and write so that’s a bonus really. Music is my passion – just something I do and the fact that people resonate with it is mind-blowing. It makes me want to write more, release more songs and just keep going.”
Follow Jessie Reid on Instagram: @jessiereidmusic
By Louise Steel
