We were lucky to catch up with Jesse Taylor recently and have shared our conversation below.

Jesse, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

In 2014, I sort of spontaneously applied for a dental hygiene program at a local technical college. It wasn’t something I was passionate about, but I felt an immense pressure to “figure things out” as a lot peers my age were graduating from college and getting jobs. I got in to the program and decided to give it a try. I had no idea what else I was going to do. I learned pretty quickly that it wasn’t for me. I enjoyed learning, but I despised the clinical part of the courses and started dreading school. One of my professors pulled my sleep-deprived, depressed self aside, as I could barely set up my station, and she asked what I was doing there. She could tell I had no passion for the field/work and wondered what my intention was. I needed that conversation to realize for myself that I couldn’t keep doing things that I thought I “should” do for the sake of pleasing other people in my life or to live up to some sort of whack expectations I had put on myself. I left the program after about a month into the second semester and that’s when I started writing songs and putting myself out there creatively.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

My name is Jesse Taylor Cinque, I am a singer/songwriter from Gray, Maine and currently reside in Colchester, Vermont. My stage name is my first and middle name- Jesse Taylor.

I have always been a singer, but songwriting came to fruition in my early twenties after leaving dental hygiene school and craving a more expressive outlet. A few months before I started seriously songwriting, I had a couple of nodules on my thyroid gland which were removed via throat surgery and in retrospect, that was a big turning point for me in terms of wanting to use my voice as a form of expression and healing.

Growing up, I was always singing- along to the radio, on our house phone answering machine, at church, eventually in chorus at school, etc. My parents always had music playing, went to concerts, and encouraged me to sing. My father is a great guitar player, although he probably wouldn’t tell you that himself. He’s pretty introverted and humble. He was always pushing me to learn guitar which I simply wasn’t having as a kid/teen. I did take piano lessons in elementary school, but eventually stopped wanting to practice. Same with the alto saxophone that I briefly played in middle school band. Of course now, adult me to younger me is like “why?????” but it all happened how it was meant to I believe. I wasn’t ready to commit to playing an instrument or writing songs until my early twenties and that’s okay. I’m right on time.

My teenage years were a complete chaotic disaster. I switched schools a lot and never felt a sense of belonging. I was diagnosed with clinical depression, generalized anxiety disorder, and ADHD at 13. A couple years later, I started experimenting with alcohol, drugs, s*x, self-harm, and anything else I could find to get away from myself. At 16, I was sexually assaulted and I never told anyone which led to a mental breakdown that landed me in the psych ward the following year. I was transferred to a crisis unit for kids, and I didn’t last very long, calling my mother as often as they’d let me, begging and pleading to let me come home and promising to make changes to try and get better.

And I did. I started taking care of myself and realized I couldn’t self-destruct anymore if I wanted to keep living.

I still didn’t tell anyone about the assault until 2020- a decade after it happened. I read Chanel Miller’s book, “Know My Name” which gave me the courage, hope, and inspiration to finally tell my own story and give sixteen year old me the love, respect, and healing she deserves.

Through music, yoga, years of therapy, introspection, meditation, at times medication, and meaningful connections, I have grown to see my sensitivity as a superpower. What I once thought made me weak, actually makes me really strong and able to connect with other humans on a deeper level. I am proud of how far I’ve come and how I am able to use my voice to express in ways I never thought I could. I spent those teenage years feeling alone, misunderstood, and like I couldn’t talk to anyone about anything and now I honor the importance of vulnerability and talking about hard things.

I pride myself in showing up wholeheartedly in all of my endeavors. I am open about my struggles with mental health because I struggled in silence for many years. I write songs that encompass the vulnerable nature of being a human and I strive to create spaces where people can open themselves up to feel without judgment. Music has always been very important and comforting to me and it feels full circle to be able to create it and find beautiful, meaningful connections through it.

Being on stage and sharing my songs gives me a feeling of fullness; aliveness. I do it for little me, for teenage me, for current me. By taking the time to fill my own cup, I am able to help others fill theirs. As cliche as it sounds, the more I am able to express tender love for myself, the more I am able to express tender love to all of those around me. I write and express for myself and in turn for others. We are never alone in our humanness. We are constantly riding the waves of juxtaposition. Ebbing and flowing from joy to terror, from doubt and fear to courage and calmness, from heartbreak to all-encompassing love, from destruction to creation, death to countless rebirths, and so on.

If I can make one person feel less alone by sharing my words, or songs, or whole self, then I feel I am living out my purpose.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being an artist is the sense of community that is formed through sharing. One of the best feelings is having a song resonate with someone so deeply that they have to tell you how it made them feel. So often we feel alone, misunderstood, or like we don’t belong and sometimes all it takes is expressing that to realize we are not actually alone in that at all.

Whether it’s making a vulnerable post on social media, sharing a new personal song, or expressing a raw feeling with an audience, I am always met with kindness, resonance, and connection, even though in the moments before sharing any of those experiences, I am oftentimes met with fear and doubt. It’s a nice reminder that there is so much value in showing up in all of our messy humanness because it is relatable.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

The idea of “readiness” is something I am constantly unlearning. Are we ever actually ready for anything? I think it’s more about showing up, whether we feel ready or not.

Sure, it is beneficial to practice and make progress and even prepare, but I think the idea of being “ready” for something can be harmful because as humans we tend to put things off that way. By saying, once I take that extra course I’ll be ready, or if I practice the song five more times I’ll be ready, or if I take that vocal lesson, then I’ll be ready.

We’re as ready as we’re going to be and I think it’s important to take the leap even if it feels scary and like we need to do more to prepare.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/jessetaylorband
• Instagram: @jessetayl0r and @jessetaylor.band
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/jessetaylorband
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@jessetaylorband

Image Credits
Mike Reilly (3) Michael Rork (cover photo, outside with acoustic) Jakee Zaccor (1,2,6) Brian LaClair (4) Luke Awtry(8) Colette Kulig (7) Mae Alger (5)