Jennifer Klein aims to create music that speaks to the soul. She bases her songwriting on real-life experiences of everyday life, making her original songs completely captivating as well as relatable. Jennifer spent a large portion of her childhood with musicians and artists in a communal setting. This allowed her to discover her true passion for music and begin developing it along the way. Jennifer released three full-length albums years ago to kick start her musical momentum in Nashville. Her most recent album “Lean into Joy” was released in February of 2019 and is a dive into the heart and soul of Jennifer Klein. It provides a comforting wave of escapism and nourishment for any listener.
Jennifer Klein’s “Lean Into Joy” album is on the first-round ballot for the GRAMMYs for Best Pop Vocal Album and is making waves throughout the US. With the intro and title track kicking things off to a powerful start, we can already recommend you check out this project in full before Jennifer Klein’s upcoming album, “Looking for Comfort” releases October 10, 2019!
“Lean into Joy” the single is a beautiful song, a classic feeling piece yet with a mildly alternative to the melodic development. There’s a captivating style to the verses, and this leads well towards the ultimately simple and memorable resolve of the hook. In the meantime, the classic and organic musicality that is Jennifer Klein’s musical style fills the room in a quickly soothing and likable way. A great start to an album that consistently gets you pondering the intricacies of life in a new and refreshing manner.
As things progress, Jennifer delves into a number of topics, showcasing an artist with a broad range of interests and inspirations, as well as a notably clever and artistic way with expression. “Move” is all of this, gorgeous again and building up beautifully around you. Then “Passing You By” afterward is quite stunning. The blissful acoustic guitar work and piano lays out a gentle Americana ambiance, which supports the sudden passion and detailed imagery of Jennifer’s performance perfectly well. A definite early highlight and a personal favorite.
Arrangement wise, this playlist holds your attention and affection brilliantly. “Waste of Time” sees Jennifer get somewhat candid and personal in a more specific way than seemed to show itself before. The delicacy of the stripped-down piano set-up suits this moment well, and again highlights the artist’s understanding of the importance of arrangement. Her voice progresses to captivate wonderfully here. Another highlight, slowly but surely enveloping the listener in a powerful moment of emotion and painfully relevant poetic observations.
“You Are Truth” adds a touch of story-telling that feels immediately nostalgic – the arrangments, the imagery, the harmonies. Then “What If Anything Was Possible” works to reignite a spark of optimism, musically, and overcomes that melancholic moment with something a little fuller and warmer.
Bringing things to a decidedly thoughtful finish, ending the album in a similar manner to which it began, “Little Things” is a sensational piece of music and writing. Gentle and mellow by nature, but decidedly big seeming overall. The sentiment and the way the chords and the melody unite helps build a sense of togetherness, of vastness and possibility. A song well worth hearing a few times over, it brings through a classically impressive and immersive style of songwriting that seems all but gone from much of modern mainstream music.
Jennifer Klein writes and performs because it’s simply a part of who she is. You can hear this, and you can feel it, throughout “Lean into Joy” and indeed throughout all of her music to date. Always an artist worthy of a listener’s trust. A lovely new album, a pleasure to feature on BuzzMusic.
Listen to “Lean into Joy” here
Welcome to BuzzMusic Jennifer Klein! We're completely captivated by your sound--you have such a strong and warming presence throughout your tracks. Can you tell us more about your intentions when you first began to curate your recent album "Lean into Joy”?
Thank you for those kind words about my music! I never plan on writing my songs - they come out of me when they are ready, and I am always surprised when they do! With that said, "Lean into Joy” as an album came together during a time when I was doing a lot of souls searching. I have gone through some beautiful and hard life lessons in marriage and in raising my three daughters, and when I experience strong emotions whether they are joyful or painful, I feel the need to let them out through song. Songwriting is how I feel I express myself best, and I also figure out what I am actually feeling in the process. I truly hope that my songs will resonate with people, and touch their hearts.
You've had such a strong love and passion for music for many years! How do you think you and your music have grown since you first started writing, versus now?
Yes - I fell first fell in love with singing when I was four years old - I remember the moment walking on the beach in Santa Monica:-) I taught myself how to play guitar at the age of 12 just so I could sing, but had no idea I would someday actually write songs. When I was young, there were not nearly as many singer/songwriters around like there are now. I wrote my first song in my early twenties, and when I listen or sing it now, it takes me back to before I learned so many life lessons - I was so innocent and naive! My songwriting has grown over the years for tangible reasons like studying songwriting in college courses, studying music theory and practicing my guitar daily, but also my life experiences have made my songwriting more interesting and expressive. I will continue to work on evolving as a human, and as an artist.
"Lean Into Joy" is the perfect track to open up your recent album. Where did you draw inspiration for this particular track?
Thank you! The inspiration for this track was when my youngest daughter was around 10 years old, she was dancing in our living room with so much freedom and joy. I realized that I had almost missed the moment doing unimportant tasks and chores, and was so grateful that I was aware enough to stop, and just witness this beautiful girl who I love so much, as she was showing me what being in the moment truly looked like. I remember that I consciously "leaned" into the Joy I was feeling and was so grateful.
We’re so looking forward to your upcoming album “Looking for Comfort”! What can you tell us about this project?
The songs on "Looking for Comfort" are a mix of old and new, so it's been interesting for me to toggle back and forth with where I was in my life when I wrote them. Many of the songs on this album are more about love relationships. The more recent songs tend to have a happier, more hopeful theme, while the older ones have more of searching, heartache feel to them. These songs show a very vulnerable side to me, so that can be scary, but I do feel people will recognize and relate to them because of this.
Thank you for sharing your music with us and congratulations on “Lean into Joy” being on the first-round ballot for the GRAMMYs for Best Pop Vocal Album!! How does this achievement feel?
It is so exciting to be on the GRAMMYs ballot!! Obviously, the GRAMMY's are my favorite time of the year! I always look forward to them- I am in awe of the amazing musicians every year, so to get a nomination is wonderful, and I am beyond grateful to be considered.