Singing for the better part of her 15-year-old life, Joanna Gabrielle is an up and coming singer/songwriter from Alexandria, Virginia. When Joanna Gabrielle began having classical vocal training at the age of 12, she never imagined that it would turn into something she could pursue until she was discovered by Nashville-based producer, Shannon McArthur (Dashboard Confessional), this past June. In August, Joanna recorded her debut EP and now she releases her brand new single “Maybe”!
“Maybe” is gorgeously easy-going, and drives with a sense of optimism and love for life but at the same time the overall sound and style leans off in its own notably pop-like direction. This artistic choice works beautifully considering the context and the story-line. Joanna Gabrielle lays out the scenes for this one, utilizing detail and imagery to a powerful extent as “Maybe” moves along towards the ultimate resolve of its hook. “Maybe” focuses on the confusion of not knowing whether or not to dive into a relationship when you don’t fully know the other person. Joanna captures the emotion through her heartfelt songwriting and passionate delivery. Beautifully set-up, beautifully written, flawlessly performed. A lovely new single from an artist who rightfully shows no signs of slowing down.
Check out “Maybe” here and read more with Joanna Gabrielle below!
We’re really vibing with your new single! What does your track “Maybe” mean to you? What inspired this song?
Thank you so much! This song is pretty special to me because it really resonates with a common theme that many of us are faced with on a day-to-day basis: commitment. This song goes through all the “what if’s?” and “maybe’s” (haha) that accompany that first decision to jump headfirst into the unknown territory of love. I’m young, fifteen to be exact, so I’ve still yet to experience that Great Love that everyone’s been talking about, but I can definitely relate to the initial anxieties of getting to know someone. I think the hopeless romantic in all of us likes to hope, even for a bit, that everyone we meet might be it, “the one”, and I’m no exception. I wanted to create a song that would talk about the reality and uncertainties of love, rather than the idealized joys of being in love.
Who has had the biggest influence on your life musically thus far? Can you describe the impact this particular individual has had in terms of your new song “Maybe?
I couldn’t say that I’ve had one big musical influence on my life, as I’ve had so many; Ariana Grande, Sara Bareilles, and even Hannah Montana, just to name a few. But if I had to choose one person who continuously inspires my music, I’d have to choose Taylor Swift. I’m proud to say that I was around at the height of her career, and those OG songs straight off of Fearless and Red definitely shaped most of my childhood playlists. Stylistically, I tend to turn more to the modern, R&B tracks of Ariana Grande, Beyoncé, and Sabrina Carpenter, but there’s something about the rawness behind Taylor’s lyrics that really resonate with me. Writing music is relatively new to me, and writing from experience is pretty much all I know. To be able to look up to an artist who not only swears by it but built her career in doing just that is one of my biggest inspirations. In Maybe, and every other song on my EP, I tried to stay authentic, appealing to real emotions and experiences, in the way that Taylor continues to do every day.
You've had such a strong love and passion for music at such a young age! How do you think you and your music have grown since you first started writing, versus now?
Oh gosh, well I may have lied about the “being new to writing” thing. When I think about it, I’ve been writing since I was six. I was a huge Disney Channel kid, and Hannah Montana was basically the only thing I watched. Funnily enough, it was Miley Cyrus’ character that inspired me to first start singing. I wanted to be a pop star, so I would take this little Hello Kitty notebook around with me everywhere and write these songs about things I didn’t really understand, and makeup melodies that I would forget in five minutes. Unfortunately, around age eight, reality started to pour into my ambitions and I vainly attempted to turn my attention towards medicine or something “useful”. But, me being me, when I was twelve, I was plunged straight back into the world of singing through musical theater. Suddenly I was surrounded by these lush scores and creative minds, and soon enough I was bursting with inspiration. I bought my first ukulele and immediately attempted writing songs in a very Dodie Clark-esque fashion. I wrote a few songs, none really being that great, but there was one in particular that I started writing, and eventually didn’t finish until two years later (and it happens to be on this EP :)) I stopped writing for a bit, until this past summer where I surprised myself with just how easily I could write. I guess years of singing and jamming along with my favorite songs paid off, because all of a sudden, I was taking these popular themes and structures and channeling them towards my music. All I can say, I guess, is that fifteen-year-old me did it a whole lot better than six-year-old me and twelve-year-old me ever did.
Thank you so much for chatting with us! What are you working on through the end of 2019?
Of course, it was my pleasure really! Right now I’m back in school just trying to survive tenth grade. But the music definitely isn’t stopping because of that. If anything, I’ve had a considerable amount of inspiration ever since I hopped off the plane from Nashville. So far I’ve just been trying to hone my songwriting skills, while simultaneously teaching myself guitar (writing with the same six chords isn’t really cutting it for me anymore). I’m really looking forward to releasing all of the music off of this first EP, and once that’s done, I’m hoping to jump straight towards my second one, and this time I want to experience with different styles. I’ve already written several songs that I think would take that EP in a completely different direction. This whole experience has been a dream, and I’d hate to think that it ends after my EP’s out into the world.