Miami based Singer/Songwriter and Producer Jessica Morale release an empowering single on self-love titled, "Love Me Better."
Known to be an advocate for mental health and female empowerment, Jessica Morale has taken this new sonic turn towards dark electro-pop and continues to wow her audience with stories of pain and imperfect beauty.
With her latest release "Love Me Better," Jessica Morale sings a powerful message of loving yourself better than anyone else can and overcoming pain to finally live freely. With brilliant pop production, the track belts out intense synths and intricate drum patterns all to become one with Jessica Morale's sultry vocals.
"Love Me Better" opens with Jessica Morale's vocals at a softer tone, establishing that dream-like state where pain and pleasure seamlessly fit together. As the beat begins to grow with celestial pads, filtered kicks, and subtle keys, Jessica Morale leads the song into the fire with the scorching beat drop at the hook. Heavy electronic brass instrumentation takes the drop by storm and shifts the track into this empowering anthem of self-love and confidence. The dynamic shifts from verse to hook create an intensely deep and contemplative space where we can think over what's bringing us down.
Jessica Morale does an immaculate job portraying the journey of self-love with "Love Me Better," and we're patiently waiting to see what else she has in store for us.
Hello Jessica and thank you for sitting down with us at BuzzMusic. "Love Me Better" portrays a tedious journey of self-love. Could you share the tipping point where you realized that you needed to create an empowering single about loving oneself?
I'm someone who has depression and anxiety, and I often tend to wallow in it. I won't answer messages for days, stay up till the wee hours of the morning, and sleep through most of the day. I'll pick myself apart and often overthink past and present situations over and over like a broken record on repeat. When you're depressed you become accustomed to the feeling of sadness, like a warm blanket that both makes you feel safe and suffocated at the same time. It's almost as if I'm afraid of the power happiness would bring me, because I know it's only for a fleeting moment before sadness takes over again. I wrote "Love Me Better" as a way of acknowledging that happiness is not a destination I'll just arrive at one day, it's a constant journey and process of reassuring myself every day in the mirror that I am worthy. I usually write empowering songs when I'm feeling this way, but I wanted to acknowledge my self deprecating habits and the need to be kinder to myself for a change. It's a nice change of pace, and I want to be much more vulnerable in my music rather than hiding behind these empowering songs all the time. My demons will always be a part of me, but it's about not letting them control me.
Do you usually create songs that incorporate such hi-fi production elements like "Love Me Better"? Why did you choose to make the track so vibrant and powerful?
I always want my songs to feel cinematically captivating and to lay the best bed for the story, lyrics, and melody. I first started writing "Love Me Better" at the piano, and I always knew I wanted the production to feel booming. The chorus is more like a repetitive chant, which differs from much of my previous writings. I wanted that chorus to have an alarming booming electronic brass, almost like a siren or a booming newsflash to myself that I need to get a grip and start being kinder to myself. That brass definitely highlights the chant of "Got to love me better, love me better" in the chorus. The verses are a lot more ambient and underwater which is a nice contrast to the booming chorus.
Seeing as you're also a producer, did you produce "Love Me Better" yourself? Or did you have a team help tweak the production to suit the atmosphere you were going for?
I wrote the song and produced the demo myself in Logic Pro, which included all of the ideas and elements you hear in the final track, but my friends Uma Beats and Alex Athanasaw really helped me bring it to the next level. I'm not the best at sound design, especially for a booming electronic pop track, so I took it to my friend Jared, aka Uma Beats who makes electronic music to really give it that booming energy sound design-wise. The song wouldn't be what it is now without the help of collaborating with my friends.
We've heard that "Love Me Better" is the first single off your upcoming album dropping in 2021. Why did you choose this track to represent what we should expect from your album?
I chose "Love Me Better" as the first single because it perfectly sums up the concept for the upcoming record. This album is a coming of age record and a culmination of the past few years of my life, and the trials and tribulations we all have to go through to become who we're destined to be. Listeners can expect cinematic percussion, sparkling synths, gritty vocals, and everything in between indie to electro and alternative pop music. I always want to experiment and want to be more than a one-trick pony. I'm so excited to get this new music out there.
What has been keeping you inspired throughout 2020? What can we expect to see next from you?
Lady Gaga, Halsey, and Taylor Swift have all released really dope vulnerable and experimental albums in 2020. I think all of these records have inspired me to sonically experiment a lot more in my music. I've also been painting a lot. At the very end of 2019 and the first half of 2020, I had a health issue with my vocal cords that caused me to go on vocal rest for a few months at a time. It was extremely debilitating not being able to sing and rarely speak for a few months and do what I love. I was in the midst of writing most of these songs and had to put the recording on pause for a while. Since healing, I've been back in the studio recording a bunch of records, so it's safe to say that you can expect lots of new music coming from me! I'm so excited to show the world what I've been working on!