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Photo: Cass Meyers

The word percolating always feels applicable to music, maybe because it's part of the process that caffeinates us, but also in that it suggests time, deliberation, and a steadiness this world always seems to actively deny us. When we came across Blessing Jolie, we were ever so glad we got to brew on her amazing work, even more so when we got to sip on her debut album 20nothing, a debut so hot you need to blow on it to properly partake in its affair of gritty perspectives, insightful melodies and warm vocals that just wakes up the best part of your soul.

“20nothing is about growth - I think those early twenties growing pains stick a little more,” Blessing Jolie shares, “I’ve been blessed enough to experience more things, whether they’ve brought joy or hurt. They only provide more context and more wisdom. Through heartbreak and confusion, I always come back with, ‘I needed that to gain this.’”

We just hope you all take the time to let this debut album do what it did to us, impress and then unwind our senses so completely, it was meditative. Desperate to know more about this young star, we spun up the Zoom machine and found her post-coffee in her room, where most of the album came together.

OnesToWatch: My first question is always, why are you an artist? 

Blessing Jolie: Why am I an artist? 

And a damn good one, too. 

Thank you. I genuinely appreciate the compliment. Why am I doing it? I feel as though I’m meant to do this. I think it's the only thing that's ever really challenged me in my life that I've been okay with challenging me. I was good at school. I threw shot put in high school. I was decent at those things, but I didn't really care that I was good at them. But when I did music, and it didn't come easy to me, that was the thing. It was really hard to try and write songs and they didn't come out the way I wanted. I couldn't sing the way I wanted, I didn't play the way I wanted, but it never stopped me from wanting to be better at it. So I feel as though that's why I'm doing it, and that's why I know it's for me. 

So there's no pivot to professional shot putter? 

No, I don't think so. Maybe you'll see me in the stands at the Olympics, but not in the games. 

Okay… what about your studies as a software developer? Where did that come from? 

I went to college for one year at the University of North Texas, and then eventually music became my focus. But before it took off, I saw my friends graduating and people younger than me graduating, and I was like, man, I'm behind. It felt like if I’d stayed in school, I'd probably be graduating by then as well. So it was a question of, is that what I should have done? It was really hard looking back at everyone else starting life and me feeling as though I was a bit behind and I just hadn't started yet. 

Copy that. I work in the music industry. I felt that for 20 years. So I don't know if that fear ever goes away. Was there any world in which you could have been a hybrid professional shotputter, software developer, and musician? 

In a whole new world, in a completely different one. 

Let's get into your process a little bit. How long have you been writing with the intention of putting songs out there? 

I've always written stuff with the intention of putting it out — since I was 19. I've been writing since I was 15, but to put it out, I would say 19 was when I wrote my first good song and felt like the world could hear it. 

Nice. So that's been a minute. What would you say you've learnt about your process? Do you have a process? Do you start with melody, themes, colors, or ideas? Does it change every time? 

No, I just go for it. I feel a little bit of the misconception when it comes to writing is that you have to know what you want to talk about when you go into writing the song. Personally, I feel like you don't go about life knowing exactly what's going to happen in the day. You just have to start doing it. You can have a plan for what you feel and what you want to happen, but you can't stay boxed into it. You have to just allow it to happen. So that's what I do with songwriting. I don’t want to start with the intention of writing the hook or writing the verse, I just start singing over something, whether it's guitar, a track, or anything. I just start. That's really it. 

That's interesting. But that means you have some production usually started then? Or do you just riff off something that already exists? 

At least with a lot of the album, it was just me and the guitar initially. I’d have a chord progression and then improvise over it. 

Let's get into the album. Albums are ambitious. How did you craft yours? 

Oh, it took, it took a minute, honestly. 

How many songs and what eras do these tracks represent? 

Eight out of nine were written here in my room. It was just me and the guitar for most of them, then I took them to Atlanta to go work with Julian Cruz, who executive-produced it. As far as the era it represents, I guess it's in the title 20nothing. It represents my early 20s and how they're just not what I anticipated. Everybody hyped them up to be the best time of your life, and in reality, it was hell a little bit. It's that time of life where you're not really a teenager, but you're not an adult. So, it’s a very deep learning process of not knowing what to do, but you can only learn through experience. 

That sounds like something your audience could probably appreciate. What do you hope your fans take from this album?

I would hope that they would take away from it that there are highs in your 20s, but you also have to kind of go through it. You have to walk through the thick of it in order to get to the other side. I hope they leave the album feeling that they’re not alone in this. We all go through the same things just in different ways because we're all different people. But if you look at the core of it, it's all the same lesson that we’ve learned. I just tell it in a different story because I experienced it in a different way. 

What about for yourself, if you could take something away from this project, what would it be? 

I definitely took clarity away from it. I took a lot of wisdom from it, too, the wisdom that this one thing had to happen in order for others to happen. It was the only way for me to learn to be more patient, or how to scope out how certain guys act and things like that. 

Do you have any goals for this album? 

It's a bit of my introduction. Like, yeah, I've been making music, and there's music out, but this is the project where I feel as though I have a few eyes on me. So, it's a bit of an introduction. That's the goal with it, just to allow people to know who I am with it. 

Beautiful. If you could daydream and imagine your world where everything goes right for the next couple of years, where are you? What are you doing? 

In the next couple years, I would say I'd be making another album. 

Well, that seems very plausible. If some of your friends showed up at your place, starved and hungry, could you whip up a meal? And if so, what would it be?

It would probably be spaghetti. 

Do you do the kind of, what I call “garbage” spaghetti, where you just take everything out of the fridge and put it in there? 

No, I don't. I don't think… I’m a little too organized of a person to do that. 

See, that's why I ask that question is telling. It's personality-revealing. If you could have your perfect concert – where you're performing – who else would be on the lineup? 

I think the lineup would be Limp Bizkit. 

That was not going to be my first guess.

I know. I would also do SZA. The Paradox. I don't know how I'd make this work, but somewhere in there, like a Destiny's Child, you know what I'm saying? I think we can throw Tyler, the Creator in there too. 

When you need to get zen, relax, give yourself flowers. What do you do? 

Coffee. When I start drinking coffee in the day – it's an everyday thing – it's a moment of relaxation. 

What kind of coffee? 

It just has to be sweet, honestly. 

I would love a non-music recommendation. It can be a place to visit, something to do, something to read, something to watch, whatever you want. 

I put everyone onto Charmed.

And then I’d also love a music recommendation. 

I'd probably put you on to "Breathe" by Michelle Branch. 

Classic. I like it. That's your favorite song? 

Yeah, I think I can listen to that song and never get tired of it. 

Wow, that's telling. Lastly, I just want to end on your words, whatever you want to say. It can be advice, affirmations, shoutouts, promo, whatever you want to do. 

My debut album, 20nothing, is out now. I'd appreciate if you listen to it. You may see some of yourself in it. 

Thank you so much.