Jordan Kristine Seamón, alongside her acting breakout in Luca Guadagnino’s HBO TV series We Are Who We Are with Chloe Sevigny, Kid Cudi with the soundtrack by Dev Hynes, navigates a lot of different areas of culture. The multi-hyphenate artist is an acclaimed actor, singer-songwriter, author, producer and all round entrepreneur and her debut album “Identity Crisis” is a rich and soulful exploration of psyche and self, a perfect blend of R&B and pop which is both timeless and forward-thinking.
There are moments of pure pop like “the one for me” then lo-fi R&B jams like “good & bad” which sound like Syd meets Tinashe, then the likes of “druggin u.” and “CONTROL” which are more experimental – it is a strikingly vivid snapshot of young adulthood in flux, which runs the gamut of emotions from loss and regret to the first bloom of love. It really does feel like she is a very important young queer voice. Jordan has also self-directed a documentary (which features the likes of Kid Cudi and Jack Dylan Grazer ) about making the record – it is candid and quite heartwarming, really drawing back the curtain of the music making process which was done totally independently of any label and all bedroom produced.
33 Q+A WITH JORDAN KRISTINE SEAMÓN
Name? Jordan Kristine Seamón.
Profession? Actor and Musician.
Country of origin? United States of America.
Current living place? Georgia.
Guilty pleasure? Rewatching things that I’ve already watched instead of of trying something new.
Age you identify with? When I have to be professional, 25, once you finally get to know me, 12.
Zodiac sign? Sagittarius.
Culture you are most drawn to? I’m not really sure, still trying to learn more about my own.
First job/career choice? Musician.
Favorite creative outlet? Music and painting.
What is something mundane that inspires you? Rainstorms.
What about your main source of inspiration? It’s cliché, but life.
Real world or fictional world? Fictional.
Something from your cultural heritage that you wish would be noticed more? Everything.
An unpopular opinion? “Long walks on the beach” aren’t that amazing.
Which movie and album had a strong impact on you and you wish more people knew about it? “Monster in Paris”
How would you describe your style? I would say casually comfortable, but my mom says casually cool.
What is your personal “cure” when experiencing a creative burnout? I like to paint my room. I sketch out characters, and paint them on my wall.
What advice would you give someone trying to follow the same career path as you? It’s important to have a good support system…
If you had the opportunity, which person from the past would you want to work with? There are too many, I haven’t decided yet.
Where do you see yourself in 33 years? Living in a house that is a significant ways away from society. Watching the rain pour while reading an old book, with a worn out cover, listening to classical music, with tea and breakfast biscuits.
How can the internet influence creativity? By exposing creatives to knowledge that they didn’t have access to before.
What is the most important part of your creative process? I like to think that every part is important. If I begin to prioritize one part more than the rest, then I will put more effort in to that part and the end product might be disappointing.
Fictional character you relate most to? Penny Proud.
What is your personal philosophy? Treat people with kindness.
You have starred in Luca Guadagnino’s HBO TV series “We Are Who We Are” what can you tell us about the experience of working on this project? WAWWA was an amazing experience. I enjoyed working with such amazing and talented people. As a cast and crew, I feel like we all really bonded. Luca is really amazing and I can’t express enough how awesome it was to have him as one of my first directors. Francesca, Paolo and Luca are all so artistically inclined and Im so honored to have learned from them.
What first got you into wanting to be in music? My Nana, Christine Lewis-Dukes. She was the musically talented person in our family and one day she told me that I was actually a good singer. From that day forward, I wanted to sing.
Following your acting debut you continued in self directing an hour long documentary that serves as an invitation to the “backstage” of working on an album. How was it different being behind the camera compared to starring in front of it? It was so much fun! I loved it, and it’s definitely something that I plan to to do a lot more in the future. I loved taking control of the narrative..
Your debut album “Identity crisis” seems to be created with a very personal sub tone. Can you tell us what first inspired you to write this album? When I was writing the first song, it was never a track I had planned on releasing. It was just something that I was writing to help me go through some personal things. After I let a few people listen to it, and they told me I should, I decided to have it on an album and talk about some of my more personal experiences that I’ve had. This album was going to be different. I was going to show people a new side of me, a side that they might not necessarily agree with.
How did the decision of releasing a companion piece to your album in form of a documentary come along? What helped you balance both the album and the self-directed documentary? I had always been asked by people what my process was like for a song or a collection of songs, and at first that was a tough question to answer. I wanted to show people the different ways I create instead of trying to explain them all. There are multiple processes, and I create a new one all the time. I also wanted to show young people that you don’t have to live an expensive life to create an album.
If you could choose one track from your album “Identity Crisis” that everyone in the world would hear, which one would it be and why? “thnx”. I think it’s a song everyone can relate to. It’s a song that speaks on experiences that we all have had. It’s a song that talks about the bad but also encourages you to be thankful for that experience because it made you grow as a person.
How have the recent events that have been happening affected you as an artist in your music right now? There’s been so many things happening in the world that it’s hard not to be affected by all of them. What I’ve been trying to do is watch as the events unfold, have conversations and learn from the experiences so I can do better next time. I’ve been doing a lot of learning about how I can help with injustices others are experiencing, and how I can improve myself personally, so I can positively affect others.
What is something you would like to tell the people that you collaborated with for these projects? Thank you.
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