Rising up out of Brooklyn, NYC, Little Jackie are big-haired frontwoman Imani Coppola and keyboard masher Adam Pallin. After meeting in a studio the duo teamed up, with Pallin providing the soulful beats and Coppola the hip-hop-tinged lyrical nouse to create their poptastic sound; Coppola had some success as a solo artist ten years ago, but Little Jackie is her second attempt at the fame game. Here, they tell RealMusic Blog about wanting to slap Amy Winehouse, the price of stardom, Billy Joel and whether or not there is a god…
Hello Little Jackie, how are you?
Adam: “Very well thanks!”
I’m going to call you Adam and Imani now, for they are your names. I saw your gig last night and you said you were jetlagged - did you get some rest?
Imani: “No, we partied!”
Hurrah for rock and roll! Tell me a bit about the new single - “The World Should Revolve Around me” - it’s got some no-nonsense lyrics about relationships…
Imani: “I was really pissed off when I wrote it, can you tell? (Laughs) So it’s my angry gift to the world. I’m a lot more peaceful now though…”
Pleased to hear it. On your album, no-nonsense and tongue-in-cheek lyrics seem to be the order of the day…
Imani: “That’s true - I have an inner voice in my head at all times, so writing lyrics is like therapy for me. They just tumble out…”
“Crying For The Queen” is about Amy Winehouse - what prompted you to write that?
Imani: “Anger again - and jealousy. She’s really popular on the radio, her face was everywhere, her song was ubiquitous and she was just drunk and fucked up all the time, cancelling shows and shit. At the time I was really struggling as an artist and would have done anything to be in her shoes and have the opportunity to be doing exactly what I wanted. So I wrote about it.”
You’ve been quoted saying that you want to bring back positive soul songs like the Motown era - do you think you’ve achieved that?
Adam: “I do - that whole era had a vibe that I like and I think we’ve captured some of it on the record.”
Neo-soul/eclectic hip-hop & raw - is that a fair description of your sound?
Adam: “Wow, that covers a lot of ground! I’m not going to disagree with that - I think people quite often don’t acknowledge the hip-hop side of our music though. Yes, we draw from Motown and we’re soulful, but what Imani does lyrically has got a hip-hop edge to it.”
The name Little Jackie comes from a Lisa Lisa And Cult Jam song “Little Jackie Wants To Be A Star” - was that a favourite song for both of you?
Imani: “I actually never heard it till recently. My childhood friends used to sing it all the time, but our family was completely cut off and starved of pop culture - we had no TV or radio and my parents only ever played jazz records. So I relied on my friends to fill me in and I made up my own version in my head. The name is also a reference to stardom. When I first emerged ten years ago I didn’t really hit stardom and throughout the years, I always wondered how I’d react to it. I think this is my little experiment…”
The band formed when the two of you met in a studio - tell me a bit about that. Was it love at first sight?
Adam: “We definitely hit it off! The funny thing is that when we met in the studio we were writing for someone else, but after that we just hung out and decided that we’d try to work on some music. At that point we didn’t know it would turn into this - it was just messing around with some ideas and spinning our tyres a little bit before we got into a real rhythm.”
I was at your gig the other night, which was really cool. Do you enjoy playing live?
Imani: “I love it - it’s a great outlet, especially when you’re weird like me!”
Adam: “For me it’s a whole new thing doing live shows because I’m normally a studio rat, so it’s a lot of fun to get out there and try something new.”
Before this Imani, you had initial success as a 19-year-old before being dropped by your label. How are you going to deal with things differently this time around, now you’re again signed to a major?
Imani: “Nobody really remembers me from before, so it’s like a whole new fresh start for the rest of the world, if not for me. So I’d say it’s trying…”
Is it easy to get the fire going again?
“Not at all - I’d rather be doing something else like writing and producing and watch someone else get their hair and make-up done and wear the high heels and be the prostitute.”
That’s unusual for a singer…
Imani: “I just don’t want the attention - I like my privacy.”
Who do you like listening to?
Imani: “I listen to a lot of Billy Joel - he makes me happy!”
Adam: “Lately I’ve been listening to a lot of Jimi Hendrix, but I’m also a big soundtracks guy - I’ve been listening to a lot of stuff from the 60s and early 70s from Italy and France.”
Do you have any dream collaborations?
Imani: “I’d like to collaborate with ghosts - perhaps god and Jesus Christ…”
And would you get them to do anything specific in the band? Backing vocals or play the triangle?
Imani: “I don’t think it’d be to do with music, it’d be more a meeting of the minds…”
And what would you say to Jesus or god?
Imani: “Well, I think Jesus is a myth and I think we’re all god as a collective conscience, so I’d like to say, ‘Hey guys, let’s not use technology for a day and let’s all just think…”
There’d be global meltdown if you did that…
Imani: “You’re probably right…”
Finally, what’s the most played song on your MP3 player at the moment?
Adam: “I have a collection of spy TV show themes that are getting a lot of air time.”
Imani: “Citizen Cope.”
That’s great - thanks for your time and good luck with the album!
Little Jackie: “Thanks!”
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Watch the video to Little Jackie’s “The World Should Revolve Around Me”
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Myspace - www.myspace.com/littlejackiemusic
Free Download - www.parlophone.co.uk/jackie/
(Clare Lydon)
