Country singer/songwriter Jada Vance is exposing herself. Not physically, but with music and lyrics that are deeply personal and brutally honest, on her new EP, "Rear View Revival" (BenSong Entertainment).
Though the intimate details of Vance's life will not be obvious to casual listeners, the
stories behind the songs are compelling. Each of the six tracks is about, or was inspired
by, an experience she might rather forget, from bullying to bad relationships and, most
devastatingly, her father's drug-related suicide. Despite their somber roots, Vance
intends for the songs to be uplifting.
"I consider 'Rear View Revival' a concept album," she said. "Everything is about
overcoming and becoming. I've tried to learn from the negative situations in my life and
move forward, to make my life better and other people's lives better."
If one song on the EP applies to Vance's life overall, it is the title track, which is the first
single being released to country radio. The message is upbeat, and the music is up
tempo, featuring a funky guitar riff and Vance singing about moving on, with a little help from above: "Life can be a long, twisted backroad / Make you lose your way / When you run into a crossroad / Drop to your knees and pray..."
"I've had to hit my knees several times and pray to God that he will help me through a
difficult time," she said.
Raised just outside of Nashville, the 22-year-old Vance had many friends and seemed
popular in school, until she appeared in two episodes of "American Idol" (Season 12) at
age 16. Returning home from Hollywood, she found herself shunned by some people at
school.
"They said because I'm half-black, I'm not really country," she recalled. "They didn't
realize that I grew up with relatives who spent their lives coal mining. I spent a lot of
time gardening and taking care of chicken and goats. People thought I had money
because I dressed nice when in reality I got my clothes from Goodwill. I decided to write a song about just being who I am. That's how 'Straight Shootin' came about."
Similarly, Vance's song "That's Country" grew out of her belief that country culture is
widely misunderstood, because of many contemporary songs that focus on what she
feels are negative stereotypes.
"There are a lot of country songs about jacked-up trucks and getting drunk, but they
don't talk about roots and where you're from," she said. One common country theme that Vance can relate to is that of cheating. After a series of failed relationships, she finally came up with the idea for "Switchin' to Whiskey," after noticing that yet another boyfriend had wandering eyes.
The only song on "Rear View Revival" that Vance did not have a hand in writing is the
heartbreakingly beautiful "There's Always Me." Though sung from the perspective of a
woman whose love for another is unrequited, Vance feels that it has a broader meaning. "When it was pitched to me, I thought, 'Wow, that's really me,'" she said. "Even though it's about a relationship, it can apply to other situations, like where a kid is the last person to get picked for a dodgeball team or just feels like an outsider. It's like saying, when you have run out of other choices, I will still be here." Jada Vance's music is available on iTunes, Amazon, Spotify and other digital platforms.
More information about her is available at www.JadaVance.com.
"Rear View Revival" tracks:
1. Straight Shootin'
2. There's Always Me
3. Rear View Revival
4. That's Country
5. Switchin' to Whiskey
6. Getaway Train
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/rear-view-revival-ep/1437853646
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