Los Angeles-based vocal powerhouse, Jesse Jo Stark, has released her latest track today, “cry on me,” via all digital and streaming platforms. The single is a gritty ode to the anguish and beauty that can come from a devastating love affair. The lyrics are overwhelmingly heart-piercing, because they’re relatable – “it hurts not to kiss you / f**k it I miss you / it’s always been you.”
Watch lyric video here.
Of the song, Stark said, “it’s a story about falling in love at the wrong time.”
An LA songstress with a style and sound that evokes the spirits of midnight movie scream queens and old Hollywood chanteuses. Jesse Jo is the rare force of nature that is just as at home opening for Guns N’ Roses as she is opening for Lizzo. She can chop it up on the radio with Steve Jones of The Sex Pistols or front a collaboration with a French fashion house. However, she lives and dies by the music. After cutting her teeth quietly, she materialized as a buzzing disruptor with the independent Dandelion EP in 2018, piling on millions of streams. She belongs to a vanguard of fellow alternative insurgents a la Angel Olson and Faye Webster, yet she’s on her own trip.
Other singles such as “Mystery” and “Tangerine” fuelled the fire as she earned acclaim from Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, The FADER, Elle, NME, Noisey, C.R. Fashion Book, Flaunt, Spin, and Vogue UK who christened her “A Rock’n’Roll Star For A New Generation.” During 2021, Balmain recruited her to star in its five-part episodic drama Fracture, which spun a fascinating psychological horror story as it touted the line’s 2021 collection. She joined a dynamic cast, including Charles Melton [Riverdale], Tommy Dorfman [13 Reasons Why], and Ajani Russell [Betty]. She also presented the series’ original music as her four-song EP, A Pretty Place To Fall Apart—complete with “Not Your Little Baby Anymore” co-written by Jesse Rutherford of The Neighbourhood and a scorching cover of “My Favourite Game” by The Cardigans.
Following the success of the EP, Jesse Jo is releasing her new single, “cry on me,” as she continues to work on new music for her long-awaited full-length debut, set to be released in early 2022. “cry on me” rolls in like a graveyard tumbleweed with echoes of guitar and simmering percussion. Her vocals immediately transfix as she confesses, “I know that you really want me, I guess I want you too.”
Whether it’s to dance or cry, she will move you. And you will want her to. Jesse Jo Stark is not following the culture. She’s creating it.
