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With a voice that wraps around you slowly, warmly like a hug in moment of need, JÁNA is an artist that feels custom built for autumn reflection. On "Orbit," a succulent collection of downtempo, Nordic R&B, this Swedish sonic-artisan crafts a debut album that stuns in its brilliant composition. We couldn’t stop listening to it, letting it play to its entirely as our inbox drowned in more submissions. Wanting to know more about the gravity that pulled us into her orbit, we reached out to dig into its roots, her approach and much more here:

OnesToWatch: Why are you an artist? 

Jana: I've always been writing – even just journaling. It came to me naturally, I think. When I started playing guitar, I automatically started writing songs. So that’s how it happened. But the why… I would still do it no matter how much money I make, which is not a lot right now. I’m not doing it for that. I feel like it’s something that I have to do. 

For whatever reason, if your musical ability was removed from you, what else would you potentially be doing with your life? 

I would be a cook, for sure. I love to cook and I love to eat food. When I was little, I wanted to become a soccer player. 

What a trilogy. A musical, cooking, soccer player. 
So how long have you been writing with the intent to perform or play music in front of other people? 

There was this competition when I was 12 that I signed up for, and you had to write your own song. That was probably the first time I wrote something that other people would hear. 

Do you have a songwriting process? 

Usually, I'd start by myself, and then bring the demo to a producer. 


And is that demo usually a top line or an outline of a song? 

Yes, a sketch. Usually, it’s a rough demo so guitar, maybe some drums. If I bring the song to somebody else, then I already have a theme or some type of lyrical direction. But I don’t really do sessions from scratch very much, apart from the people that I routinely work with. But I do sometimes spend time in LA doing the session thing, so I’m getting into that as well. 

Since you were 12 when you began writing, what would you say has changed most in your songwriting?

I think the first songs were not good at all, and I probably just wanted to sound like somebody else. Sometimes I can still find myself, you know, being really inspired by an artist and then I'm like, whoa, now I'm just trying to do what they're doing and that's not the goal. Then I usually stop and do something completely different. 

When you’re writing a song, do you have moments where something sounds like you? 

I feel it quickly. 
And that's the problem for me with sessions with people that I don't know, is that sometimes I feel like I'm hearing where we're going and it's in my world, and then they are feeling something else and I don't want to be a mood killer. But then maybe it'll be a good song for somebody else. 

I always love how no matter who I hear it from, sessions, especially when you don't know the other writers, they always sound like first dates. You know what I mean? 

Yeah, yeah, it is.. And it's so weird because you're opening yourself up. Even the things I haven't told my friends or family, I tell this new person, because I want to write about it. 

Getting into sort of your upcoming music, do you have themes for when you release? Or do you more so capture moments in time? 

I definitely wanted a theme for the album Orbit – it’s the motion of an orbit. It’s about feeling like you’re stuck doing the same things and nothing’s changing. A lot of the songs had that underlying theme. 

How do you self edit? I often hear that's like the hardest thing for artists to do.
So how do you decide what does or doesn’t make the album?

Yeah, this one took a lot of time. I started writing one of the songs in like, 2021, and obviously I wrote new songs all the time. So it was difficult to pick what went on this album and what I kept for the next – or which I shouldn’t release at all. It’s a tough decision, but I went with the ones I felt the most, hoping that others would feel them, too. 

If you could design a perfect way for a fan to listen to this album, what would that look like? Where would it be? 


Obviously a space ride. A trip to the Moon to get out of orbit. I honestly love listening to music when I’m moving though, so on a plane, driving, riding a bike. It’s a free music video. So I would suggest that. 

If this album does everything you want it to do, what does that look like? Where does that take you? 


It’d get me to play more shows.

In that case, what’s your dream show? Who would be in your dream lineup at your dream venue? 

Oh, that feels like I couldn't even say me as a headliner.

You’re being humble. 

Erikah Badu has always been an inspiration, so playing at any festival where she is will be super cool. 

Let’s say your friends all come over after a long day, what food do you whip up for them? 

Well, definitely pasta, for sure. Some seafood pasta. Clams, garlic, olive oil, white wine, maybe a little chili. The dish is complete. Plus parsley. 

What about a recommendation that's not music? Do you have anything that you’d suggest to people – a book, show, movie, place, activity? 

I read this book, “Klara and the Sun” by Kazuo Ishiguro. It was about the future, with kids needing robots to have friends or something. It was cool. 


Okay, how about a music recommendation? At OnesToWatch, we love when artists put us on to other artists. 

Saya Gray. I have to stop myself from trying to sound like her.

Two more questions. If everything works out for you, and you're at the end of your career and you look back on it, what would be some advice you’d give to your younger self? 

Maybe do more and think less. Or that I shouldn’t criticize myself so much while writing. Just write and then see what comes of it. I'm trying to do that right now. 

Do you have any advice you’d like to sign off with?

Hmm… advice. I'm not in a place to give it.

Thank you so much for talking with us. 

Thank you!