We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jessica Hoover. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jessica below.

Jessica, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

As a ghostwriter, my career was primarily for Billboard Hot 100 artists and placements. Now I also have the joy of working with independent artists whose passion is palpable and contagious. I’m working on a handful of projects at the moment with incredibly talented artists, but there’s one that’s a first for me. With new artist Parker Kay, I ended up mentoring him through the art of songwriting as we were working on the project. He had such raw talent- but his team and I knew we could elevate it. We did songwriting briefs at The Getty, Santa Monica pier, concerts, sports games, Malibu, overlooking the city in the hills- you name it. Surrounded by people and immersing yourself in different experiences is excellent fuel for meaningful songwriting as it not only brings out what you observe in others, it brings out what you’re feeling and processing through experiencing it. We did this for several months while writing and producing the album. Then when I came back into town about a month ago, he flipped the script on me: Parker observed what I was saying during a conversation to fellow music friends and wrote a song about it and played it for us an hour later. It was the first time I’d experienced someone writing a song about me using my songwriting methods, but seeing the growth there too in making it his own? I cried. I couldn’t be more proud of the artist he’s becoming and of my first true protégé. I feel like the big sister cheering him on and telling him to spread his songwriting wings. Just wait until you hear his project (expected release late spring) but make sure to catch him around town playing shows if you can. I’m so proud of what we created.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Hi! I’m Jessica Hoover and I’m a Music Producer & Singer-Songwriter, and the way you’d know me best without knowing my name at all is a ghostwriter. I’m originally from Santa Clarita, California, but my family moved to Traverse City, Michigan in junior high and I’ve been between Los Angeles and Michigan ever since. I’ve always been singing since I was a kid, but I wrote my first (terrible) song in 8th grade and fell in love with it. A few years later I’d go on to sign with a management company and touring as an artist, but I loved songwriting the most. This is where I was first introduced to ghostwriting, hearing songs I’d written in sessions or by myself being played on the radio by artists I loved and freaking out. My ghostwriting career really took off through Westlake Recording Studios and I had the pleasure of working with many artists’ teams including Sam Smith, Timbaland, and The Weeknd. My last official ghostwriting project was in 2020, and now I ask for my name to be on projects with proper credits and percentages. Since doing so, it has been so much fun and feels like a whole new journey in my career. I shifted into Music Production about 10 years ago and that bug caught me hard as well. I now produce and write for so many talented independent artists along with artists at major labels. I’m often hired as a vocal producer as well, because of my extensive classical training through Lynne Giacalone Church (Phantom of the Opera on Broadway), The Master’s University, and Berklee College of Music. I love elevating raw ideas. I love getting into the heart and soul of why an artist is choosing to create and share what they want to share. I feel so grateful to be trusted by artists to share their heart with me and what they’re going through so we can create an incredible experience for the listener, along with the artist being able to move through what they’re going through. Then I love just having fun in the studio, creating something that makes you want to move, makes you laugh, something people fall in love or make love to. It always keeps what I do interesting. Throw in creating each of those things in several different genres and you’ll see that I’m never bored. For example too: for a new artist I’m working with, Tiffany Howig, we put a kitten purring in different spots of one of her songs because the song is all about comfort and what brings her comfort like so many others? Kitten purrs! It’s so much fun to create and sneak things into songs that maybe the listener wouldn’t even necessarily recognize but it’s deeply meaningful to the artist. Tiffany’s EP I produced will be releasing early December, so make sure to keep an eye out for it. Her voice and lyrics are soothing to the soul- think Norah Jones and Julia Michaels. I feel like the luckiest producer to work with these artists.
While I’m so proud of the artists that I’ve worked with and continue to work with, I also recently started releasing songs myself. I’m such a perfectionist and so comfortable with being behind the scenes that this was difficult for me and brought up a lot of insecurities, but isn’t that great? It’s helping me move through so many things and is a cathartic release of sorts. Over the next few months, I’ll be releasing unreleased songs that were previously meant for other artists. It’s really exciting to work with incredible people in the industry to make this happen. My writing partner, Dustin Belt (Big Time Rush, Heffron Drive, Andy Grammar) produced my next single I’m dropping called “two”, releasing Friday November 10th but pre-saves are available now. With this song- think what if Sweater Weather had a part two?
I know so many artists are looking to have that one song go viral or break into the Billboard Hot 100, and that’s where I come in. Whether someone has something written or we’re writing it together, you’ll leave the studio with a phenomenal Billboard ready record. I can’t wait to add your name to the list of incredible artists I’ve had the honor of working with.
I provide services for music production, songwriting, vocal production, mixing, and mastering. Then on the other side of working with artists, I also provide artist development services.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I think being in the music industry in any capacity, you have to have resilience. There are constantly obstacles that come in every shape and form and even if you love what you do wholeheartedly, our spirits can still be broken from time to time. We just have to choose to heal from it and move forward. I’d like to offer a trigger warning here but without going into detail, I had an experience where I was drugged in a session from someone I thought I could trust. My story is not unique, unfortunately, while there still remain to be no checks & balances system in place within our industry. After that experience, I left music for a while. I let what that person did to me consume me and keep me from what I love doing for way too long. Thankfully, I now have a team of incredible people I surround myself with where I can do what I love and be vulnerable in doing so. But because of that experience and how long I let it remove me from doing what I love even after physically recovering, I’m very passionate about creating spaces for artists where they feel safe to create and be themselves while creating. Mental health is so important to focus on in the music industry- we’re passionate people who need to make sure we’re taking care of ourselves not just physically but mentally as well. My hope is to create more of these safer spaces for artists in the future and be a part of the larger call for accountability within our industry. I never want someone to experience what I’ve been through but if you have, just know that you’re loved and not alone, and please don’t let what happened prevent you from bringing your beautiful creations into the world.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

I was recently chatting with a friend who is a CEO of a Music Tech company in LA and I’ll tell you what I told him: I think we all have creativity in us. Just because you’re not looking to have it play on a global scale doesn’t mean that it’s any less valid. Our days are hard as we hustle out here, no matter the industry. It’s expensive, it’s frustrating when opportunities are dangled in front of our faces but don’t quite come through, or when we face career setbacks. What helps me and my executive and service industry and self-employed to unemployed friends alike sane: daily ten-minute writes. So I’d encourage you to let your creativity out in this way to start (and see where it takes you, you never know!)

Jess’s 10 Min Writercise:
First thing in the morning (if you can), grab your notes app or a pen and paper. Set the timer on your phone to 10 minutes. The first word that pops into your head, write it down. If you need inspiration, look around the room. Some examples: coffee, candle, laptop, blinds, fan, Pringles, etc. Then start your timer and write anything that pops into your head around the word in freeform. Maybe you start with that word and you move away from it, venting about how coffee reminded you of your ex and right now you can’t stand the smell of it. Just like you can’t stand the smell of dill from your time overseas with your brother who drives you crazy but what if you called him today? What would you say if there was no filter?
Do you see how I just let my mind wander to wherever it was taking me? Or if you’d rather use your word poetically by all means, write your stanzas away! Now here’s the most important thing: STOP when the timer stops. Put that phone or pen down. Take a deep breath in and out, and then start your day.
You’ll find the more you do this, the quicker things will come rushing out of you. And who knows- you may want to write a song from one of these, and I may even produce it for you. :)

Contact Info:

• Website: https://jessicahoover.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jessicahoovermusic/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jessicahooversings
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessica-hoover-265067159/
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0SpZl3gckFPv8yeii1aTpc?si=jwH1YF1DS2KadYXi-tmvhw https://music.apple.com/us/artist/jessica-hoover/556980568

Image Credits
ES Images