Our latest interview has been with Jamie Jordan, who may be better known as Ear Candy. Based in the UK, Ear Candy is known for singles such as ‘Obsessed’, ‘Lovesick’ and ‘Lonely’.
Jamie has been making music for ‘years, and years, and years’ and has tried his hand at a multitude of genres before finding what fits best for him. ‘I’ve always liked pop. And then a few years ago I kind of got into more like guitary bands and these sorts of things. And I thought, boom, smush them together, Indie pop, perfect.’ He relates the sound of his music to Panic! At the Disco and Dayglo, and would describe his sound as fun, bouncy and energetic.
Although as it stands, you won’t find an EP or album just yet. You will find quite a few singles, starting the flow of music with ‘Over You’, Jamie found he wouldn’t put up a song until he’s happy with it. ‘I don’t think that each time a new single came out, I ever had a moment where I was like, I’ve got enough to do more.’ Jamie wants to put something extraordinary out there if he was to release something more, and although couldn’t elaborate on any plans, hinted that ‘that mode could be changing’. For now, we’ll have to be satisfied with singles, such as his latest track ‘Contrary’, which, contrary to popular belief, has nothing to do with lemons!
‘So basically, to announce that was coming out the whole theme of the track is like very yellow. And so, I wanted to do a post about something to announce the song that had yellow in it and the only 2 things I could think of was yellow cardboard and lemons. And so, I took a photo holding some lemons to announce the single.’
How does he write his songs? Well, Jamie has found himself with a writing-routine. Like most creative pieces, it begins with an idea. Here, an idea of a guitar riff, or a sound for the synthesiser. He puts it on a track and builds around it and ‘9 times out of 10’, he’ll have a whole song written. He mostly starts with the melody, then adds the lyrics. Though this comes with exceptions, such as ‘Obsessed’ where he started with a chorus line, put chords to it and built the song around the chorus.
‘People always tweet me a meme where it’s like the light side of a bus and like a dark side of the bus.’
Something sure about Ear Candy songs is that they are all open and honest, and Jamie found himself quite vulnerable with the release of them. Feeling like he has a lot of things to talk about, Jamie finds he also wants listeners to relate to what the song has to say. He has come to find that these songs turn out to sound incredibly happy but have lyrics that are full of anxiety. This is certainly something that people can relate to at one time or another. The songs are genuine, as he holds the belief that songs should be, and he enjoys hearing a room come together and see them relate to the songs as he plays them live. He also finds it somewhat therapeutic, his own form of ventilation, while he always encourages his friends to talk. With that being said, he doesn’t always notice when he’s writing about a situation, ‘sometimes I’ll write a whole song and I’d be like… oh, wait, hang on, this sounds like it’s about this’.
On the cover of Ear Candy’s singles, you normally find a little character. Put them together, and they start to tell a little story.
On the first four singles, we find Cloud Junior. A little cloud with arms and legs, and normally a big smile. The story is loosely connected, but overlaps, nonetheless. He starts off happy with ‘Over You’, but then becomes saddened as he worries his dreams will be taken away. He cheers up, decides he’s ‘Better Alone’ and moves up to the move, but is then taken away to another planet, where he’s a bit like ‘oh, you’re trying to hit me up again’.
For Ear Candy’s latest single you can follow a heart, who very much portrays love. Two singles ‘Obsession’ and ‘Love Sick’ are about being in love, or finding what love is about, whereas ‘Contrary’ is about what it looks like to be anxious.
Aside from his recorded music, Ear Candy loves performing live. According to his official site, he’s had some incredibly big shows this year! His favourite show moments so far include a couple of shows where fans held up paper hearts through selected songs, his latest headline show that he believes was his ‘loudest show yet’ and a show in London where some fans from the Netherlands had travelled to, where they chanted ‘oor snoep’, which is Dutch for Ear Candy.
For future shows, Ear Candy is introducing the Candy Collectibles. Seeing the decline of physical tickets, they’re trying to create a ticket-type collectible for his shows which fans can keep. These will contain QR codes to more exclusive content. As it stands, some ideas for content include the recorded show, photos of the show or audio clips from backstage, as they are preparing for it. The tickets will hold numbers, such as the number of the show that you’d been to, and you’d be able to collect them at the door or by the merch. The plans aren’t fully clear just yet, but it’s something that fans should look forward to!
The final question we asked was what song Jamie had listened to last, which he admitted could´ve been his own. After checking the last song he listened to on Spotify, his answer was ‘High in Brighton’ by FIZZ.
Written by: Vicki Evans
Interviewed by: Vee Deuling
Edited by: Lee Klaver
