Jillian Jacqueline Keeps It Honest In Her Songwriting

Jillian Jacqueline’s single “Reasons,” came from the place of a woman realizing a relationship was ending. Singing “We feel like roommates, standing at the same sink / We don’t even kiss goodnight / I don’t wanna be a quitter, don’t wanna have to answer / When everybody asks me why,” the song was drawn from Jacqueline’s own personal experience, but she’s careful in how she portrays details of her own life, and the lives of others.

“I’m too much of a self-aware perfectionist to just off the cuff write a song and not think about, ‘OK, is this being objective? Am I being smart about this? Is this true?’” Jacqueline shared with PopCulture.com at a recent media event. “Most of the time the truth takes time to process, so for me, it’s definitely more of a – I’ll journal about it for a couple of weeks, and then I’ll pick out the most poignant, important parts of the situation, and bring those into the writing room.

“There’s been a couple times where songs have just come out from a conversation, and it’s very conversational,” she continues. “‘Hate Me’ is that way, but ‘Reasons’ was definitely more of a, OK, don’t come from the angry ex-girlfriend. It came from, what does this mean when two people have a story to tell, and we both have to be honest about it? Nobody’s the bad guy. It takes two. ‘[Reasons]’ was a process for sure, to be able to write.”

The song, along with the rest of the tunes on her Side A EP have earned Jacqueline plenty of attention as one of the rising acts in country music right now.

“I feel very excited to be here right now, just because a lot of things are happening that I’ve always wanted, and that’s amazing,” she shares. “I’m really happy that this has all sort of happened on the coattails of a record that I’m proud of. I feel like I made songs that were the most true to me, and I found a sound that I feel like I can carry for the rest of my career, which I’m proud of. So, I’m here and just taking it all in stride, but I don’t feel like I’m here [and] I deserve this, I worked really hard. It just sort of feels like, this is awesome, [and] it’s good to be here.”

Jacqueline will hit the road next week to serve as the opening act on the White Wine & Whiskey Tour with headliner Jordan Davis. Dates are available on her website.

Download Side A on iTunes.

Photo Credit: Instagram/JillianJacqueline