We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jessica Lattman a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Jessica, appreciate you joining us today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

I came to music later in life. I grew up loving music. But I had a dream to become a doctor so the music had to take a backseat for many years during my training. But I sitll was able at times to have some music in my life. As a med student my neighbor taught me how to play the guitar. I leanred 5 basic chords and started writing songs in my dorm room. There are a lot of up and down in medical school so I had a lot of emotions driving my songwriting.

Then for a bunch of years I was busy as a surgical resident, finishing up my training, I got married and had 3 children. When my kids got to the age of starting to learn an instrument, I reached out to a local piano teacher to give them lessons. I decided at the time I also wanted to learn the piano. At that time I met one of my music mentors, Larry Edoff, who taught me piano, music theory and helped me set up a home sudio and learn Logic. I started writing and recording my own songs at hime

During this time I also took classes online with the bearkley school of music in songwiring, music theory, Logic, and voice. I spent about 6 years doing this, writing songs and learning all that I could about music production, songwriting and singing. I also found a local songwriting gourp called the NY Song Writers Collective. Through them I took a summer songriting camp and started and doing open mics in NYC. However, I started to feel furstrated becuse I really wanted to find some commerical success and have people hear my music. I didn’t really understand how to make this happen.

Around this time I met Robbie Rosen, a talented music producer, song writer and singer. He introduced me to the world of top-lining for EDM and I was hooked. I loved collaborating with producers from around the world, writing top-lines and singing over their tracks. I learned how to navigate the world of EDM, meeting producers online to work with and getting to know record labels in Europe and from all over the world. So for about 4 years I pursued this passion and continue to collaborate.

I am also working on a collection of songs that are more in the indi pop genre. This is a more personal collection of songs that explores childhood trauma, difficult relationships, love and other themes. I am releasing my first song from this collection on Februatry 28th. It is called, “It’s Better When We Don’t Talk.” It is a duet with Robbie Rosen about getting to a point in a toxic relationship when you realize that it would be better for both people if they just stopped talking. I am super excited for this release. I plan to release a song a month from this collection of about 15 songs.

I love the process of writing a song, producing the track, recording vocals and putting it out into the world. I love performing my music live and feeling a crowd react to the lyrics and overall feel of the song.

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.

I spoke a lot about how I got into the industry in the last section. I think it might be interesting to know about my song writing process. Usually it begins with a song concept. For me a song concept is an over riding theme of what the song is going to be about and what emotions I want to convey. I would say 100% of my songs come from a personal experience or something I have seen someone close to me go through.

The songs that I find resonate the most with my audience, are those that come from my own personal experiences. The small details of what exaclty went on, or what I felt help to make the song authentic. Usually I also try to make the experience accessable to everyone, so I may change some details about it to make it a more universal experience.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

There are going to be a lot of “NO’s” along the way. The world of music, song writing and performance is subjective. Not everyone is going to connect with your sound. And that is OK. I learned to not be frustrated by the NO’s, but to learn from them.

Now when I get a No from a producer or a label, I take a critial look at the work I am doing and ask myself if it represents my vision of the song in the best way.

I have also had to define my goals, and ask myself if the songs and recordings I am creating help me to achieve those goals. Sometimes I will write a song that is just for me. Meaning that I know it is not “commercially” lenaing, but it is just somehting that I wanted to get out as a theraputic exercise. I often will sit at my piano and just mess around purly for fun.

When I am sitting down to write a song that I am planning to release or get signed by a label, then I need to orient my perspecitve a bit differently. I am Ok with this reality of the music business and I try to embrace all aspects of the process.

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

My biggest hurdle has been believing in myself as a vocalist. As a kid I was told that I didn’t have a good sining voice. In school plays I was always given the part that had one speaking line and stood in the back during group songs and just mouthed the words.

Once at a song writers round where I was sining a song to present to a prominent female songwriter for feedback, she told me that she could not comment on my song because my vocal performance was so bad that it was distracting her. This was heartbreaking, but from then on I had a mission, to become a better singer. I read all I could about the voice and found a wonderful vocal coach who taught me proper technique and also instilled my belief in myself as a singer. I found my own process for learning pitches, staying in tune and conveying emotion. I took this harsh criticsm and channeled it into a determination to become a great vocalist and find my own unique sound.

Contact Info:

• Website: it is in the process of being re-done
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/officialjela/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/itsjelaofficial
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@JessicaLattman
• Soundcloud: https://on.soundcloud.com/nV1wbTrPNQ6MsvtC8
• Other: Spotify Link: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5wiDn420KFBNE820kOUGft?si=CYHO3oxpQjeF7YJIOcILvg 
  Apple Music Link: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/jela/510801429 

Image Credits

Photos by Tiff Pemberton
Makeup/Hair by LINSEY MARMORATO