Jackie Paladino

LETS TALK: JACKIE PALADINO
November 9th, 2014 | Published in BILLBOARDS, MUSIC



“TURNING THE

UGLY INTO SOMETHING

BEAUTIFUL, ONE SONG

AT A TIME.”

From Brooklyn to New Jersey and beyond, Jackie Paladino is just trying to find her way and cement her place in the wonderful world of entertainment. This aspiring and extremely talented singer/songwriter is looking to gain relevancy and dominance in a market flooded with one hit wonders and talent deficient lucky one’s. Only in her 20′s, she has already recorded and released a song with Grammy nominated producer Ivan Corraliza titled “Love in War“, and is currently working Grammy award winning producer, Tyrone Corbett. We had a chance to catch up with Jackie to talk about her life, in the business of music and beyond. This is what she shared about her life experience thus far with Kurt Langevine of THETKBREPORT.

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

K.Langevine: Most solo artist represent themselves only, rarely mentioning the other moving parts that go along with being an artist. Is Jackie Paladino a part of a band, or is the band a part of you?

J.Paladino: I like to think that we’re all individual artist that have come together to create a unique musical and theatrical experience. We’re playing the songs that I’ve written presently, I don’t Know if I’d go so far to say that they’re “a part of me.” I spent a lot of time in theatre growing up, so I like to think that we’re all actors delivering our lines- I just happened to write the script.

K.Langevine: Many artist are not savvy with instrumentation. How many instruments can you play, and does that help in your songwriting at all?

J.Paladino: I sing, play piano and a bit of guitar. Piano came first, then voice, then guitar, though I stopped playing piano for a while I was involved in theatre and dance. It definitely helps in terms of being self-sufficient as a songwriter and as an artist. Even though I knew how to sing and how to play piano before I surrendered to the crafts of songwriting, I struggled with combining the music and lyrics. I remember having to rely on instrumentalists to co-write and I HATED that! It’s far less convenient since everyone’s so busy all the time. But I finally conquered that learning curve and look forward to expanding upon that knowledge. Knowledge is Power.

K.Langevine: Do you write your own music, and have you had the opportunity to write for other artist?

J.Paladino: I write and co-write all of my music. I had the opportunity to write tracks for various other artists, but I don’t know that any of them were chosen in the final review. I wrote a song for Kelly Rowland for example, but the producer wanted to work together to finish it and we haven’t gotten a chance yet. I am currently co-writing with artist/producer Ry-Man for his next album, who’s a music tech student at NYU.

K.Langevine: Writing music for yourself, and others sounds to be quite the challenge, and I imagine that you have to be sure of your abilities to do so. To be an artist one must possess an enormous amount of confidence. Who or what do you draw your confidence from?

J.Paladino: Hmm. I’ve never thought about that before. But, you’re right. It takes a lot of confidence and is not for the weak of heart. Kind of like love! Musicians are very sensitive beings, and we’re only human, so self-doubt and fear are natural occurrences. But any teacher or friend or audience member who has ever complimented me on my musical sensibilities…well they help. However, others’ perceptions of you can’t be your everlasting source of confidence. I think true confidence comes from within. It comes from relentless hard work and really knowing yourself. Leonard Cohen said that “there is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in”, and that’s definitely been true for me. The positive side about my times of struggle has been my realization that the only consistent source of joy I’ve had unwavering belief that creating and performing music is what I’m supposed to be doing.

K.Langevine: What was the defining moment where you knew that this was what you wanted to do?

J.Paladino: I think there was a long-term cause followed by a short-term defining moment. The first…well I was in a VERY dark place at the time. Mentally, the darkest place I’ve ever been in my life. I faced a lot of body dysmorphia back then and was wildly insecure with who I was. I deeply hated myself. I contracted an eating disorder and was profoundly depressed… It was a slow, painful, and paralyzing period of my life. I don’t think my family ever truly understood or will ever understand the demons I was battling back then. I cut my hair, I lost and gained and lost and gained weight, spent so much time and money trying to change the way I looked…my process for healing was very long. I took a leave of absence from school and returned to my hometown in New Jersey, which was embarrassing and disappointing to say the least. The song “Breathe” from the musical “In the heights” closely expresses my story and feelings during that time. Then Hurricane Sandy hit, and I remember being huddled with my family in New Jersey on a couch in the freezing cold desperately trying to stay warm since we’d lost all source of power. My grandma’s in Brooklyn was flooded and I remember seeing so much destruction and hearing about all of these poor souls who’d died. I think something about this event in conjunction to what I was experiencing was a wake up call for me. I think I felt a little guilty. All of these people died and here I had been, young and still gifted with life ahead of me and I had been wasting it. Everything became very urgent after that. I asked myself-what do you want to do before you leave this earth? Actually, I think it was “what do you need to do to make your soul content”? I made a list, and singing and creating music that will last forever(even after I’m gone) was at the very top of that list. So I go to it.

K.Langevine: Aside from your life experiences, good and bad, who were some of the artists that you listened to that influenced your decision to pursue a musical career?

J.Paladino: Well there were definitely artists that influenced me at the time when I was first writing songs. I performed in music theatre quite a bit when I was younger and then fell in love with Broadway standards, which are rooted in jazz, so I initially thought I was going to transition to become a jazz singer. Ella Fitzgerald, Etta James, Billie Holiday, Eartha Kitt, Julie London…then I was listening to a lot of Duffy and Melody Gardot and I think reading their biographies and listening to their music was very inspiring and influential.

But their music and biographies weren’t enough to convince me that I could pursue a musical career myself. We often think of celebrities and success stories as unattainable, as if they have some GOD-like qualities and we’re mere mortals…and I didn’t know how to go about pursuing something like music – there’s just no formula for success. Coming from a non-musical family didn’t help since I had no one in my family to serve as a mentor or role model. But there was a girl that I had gone to performing arts school with who was kind of my “talent crush” at the time, and I noticed that she had begun songwriting and singing in bands and seemed to be enjoying herself. I was so inspired by her music, confidence, and tenacity, and I think I thought we shared a lot of similarities so I thought, “Hey, maybe I could do that. Maybe that’s where I belong.”

“THE POSITIVE SIDE ABOUT MY TIMES OF STRUGGLE HAS BEEN MY REALIZATION THAT THE ONLY CONSISTENT SOURCE OF JOY I’VE HAD IN MY LIFE, EVEN THROUGH THOSE TIMES, HAS STEMMED FROM ART AND MUSIC.”

LETS TALK: JACKIE PALADINO CONTINUES PT.2
November 9th, 2014 | Published in BILLBOARDS, MUSIC



“I FEEL LIKE TALENT IS LARGELY CREATED – IF YOU HAVE THE PASSION, DRIVE, AND PUT IN THE TIME, YOU CAN BE PERCIEVED AS HAVING AN INNATE ABILITY AT A SKILL THAT NEVER TRULY EXISTED.”





We continue our conversation with Jackie Paladino as she continues to share her experiences in life and in the entertainment industry, and how those experiences helped to shape her career.

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW CONT’D

K.Langevine: You have had the unique experience and privilege of living in both New York and New Jersey, so which would you prefer? Jersey or Brooklyn?

J.Paladino: Jersey’s cleaner, but Brooklyn’s way more fun. I’m an adventurer by nature so I love the sense of adventure that Brooklyn and New York lends. I’m also not so fond of driving and didn’t have a car growing up, so I definitely feel freer here in Brooklyn. I can go out at any time of the day and find something or somewhere interesting to occupy myself with and that’s very energizing…there’s so much going on and so many interesting people to meet and enjoy..it can be distracting at times, but mostly makes me feel more alive than I ever felt in New Jersey.

K.Langevine: There are many artist out there such as yourself who are extremely talented but don’t get the press. Are there any artist out there who aren’t mainstream that you think are just as talented as those who are?

J.Paladino: Absolutely. There are plenty of artists who aren’t household names who are just as talented as those who are. Even artist who aren’t signed who are equally as talented as signed artists. Their success isn’t due to lack of talent. It’s more so about the business side of things… branding, packaging, marketing, connections, amount of capital to invest, good ‘ol luck…etc. It’s about the art of celebrity vs. the art of…well, art. I think one has to deconstruct “talent” when they ask this question as well… there’s the eternal debate about talent vs. hard work and how hard work can beat talent if talent doesn’t work. I feel like talent is largely created – if you have the passion, drive, and put in the time, you can be perceived as having an innate ability at a skill that never truly existed.

K.Langevine: Which artist and or producers who are not mainstream do you listen to and would like to work with?

J.Paladino: So many! If I had the opportunity to work with my favorite artists and/or their producers, that would be a dream come true. Producers like Mike Elixondo, Brian Kehew who’ve produced for Fiona Apple…especially Andrew Slater who produced one of my favorite songs of hers, “Criminal”. Also Lil Silva who produced new artist Banks’ album “Goddess” and Bjorn Yttling and Lasse Marten who’ve worked with Lykke Li. I’d also really love to collaborate with Regina Spektor, Rumer and Melody Gardot, though the list could be endless really!

K. Langevine: You named quite a few individuals but I’m going to ask you to narrow it down. Who would be on your wish list, your top 3 to work with?

J. Paladino: There are so many! It’s so difficult to narrow down because my musical tastes are so diverse…but if I did have to narrow it down…hmm…probably Leonard Cohen, Fiona Apple, and Jack White. I’ve spent a considerable amount of time listening to all of their records and their music has impacted significant events in my life, serving as my oxygen when the walls around me were caving in. They’re not formally educated musicians, but they’re poets and storytellers, and more than that-they’re humanitarians. They’re not afraid of exposing the ugly or revealing their stance on the art of being human. They know themselves deeply, they have attitude, style, and exude an undeniable sexiness. Leonard Cohen is 80 years old and I’d still do him…am I allowed to say that? It’s obvious too that they’re nourished by songwriting…it’s an essential component in their means for survival. Water, food, songwriting, shelter, clothing, getting laid, songwriting, water, songwriting, songwriting, getting laid, repeat, less food, less shelter, less clothes…songwriting, repeat…etc… I feel like that’s what their DNA for survival list might look like if they had one. I can’t imagine that it’s a very comforting or practical way to live but it’s certainly sacrificial and romantic in an artistic sense.

K. Langevine: Although he didn’t make the cut, no disrespect, tell us what was your experience working with a Grammy nominated producer Ivan Corraliza on a song that I have personally taken a liking to? What is the story behind how the two of you came to work together?

J. Paladino: Amazing. Ivan is sickly talented and so humble about all of his success. He’s very down to earth and hardworking. My manager, Hakim and him are friends and thought that we’d hit it off, so he connected the two of us via Skype and then we scheduled studio time in Miami shortly after. Ivan works fast – we wrote three tracks in three days and chose to release the best out of three.

K.Langevine: The song that emerged from the three was your most recent release titled “Love in War”. How did that song come about?

J. Paladino: Oh boy. I’m almost nervous about giving away too much information because I don’t want to give the guy that inspired it the satisfaction of knowing I wrote it about him. Let’s just say that it was inspired by a passionate relationship that turned sour, and how the battle to keep that relationship afloat related to war. It’s about love vs. hate and how there’s a fine line between the two… the silver lining is that you care either way. The opposite of love isn’t hate – it’s indifference. I explored this contradiction in the second verse of the song, when I sung “gonna beat you down hard/then nurse you back to health/let all those other women/grow dusty on the shelf.” It’s masochistic, but in situations like this, you don’t really hate the person at all. You might hate the situation, you definitely hate being hurt, but you still want to mend the relationship and fight for what you once had. It was also inspired by the song The Crystals sung in 1962 entitled “He Hit Me (and it Felt Like a Kiss)” that spurred a lot of controversy. One of the lyrics in the song is “if he didn’t care for me/I could have never made him mad/But he hit me and I was glad.” Again, most would label this is masochistic, abusive, and unhealthy. But it does expose and challenge a topic that’s as old as time: Why do we hurt the people we love?

K.Langevine: Well said. You have quite a perspective on life and relationships for a person in their early 20′s. Where would you like to see your career in 3 years?

J.Paladino: In 3 years, I’d like to be a signed artist with a successful album to my name and plenty of collaborations with various artists and producers, touring the world. Turning the ugly into something beautiful, one song at a time.

K.Langevine: You are well on your way to doing just that. What can the world of entertainment expect from Jackie Paladino in the near future?

J.Paladino: I’m currently recording a song I wrote with Grammy award winning producer Tyrone Corbett. It’s brutally honest, empowering, and a bit haunting…sonically unlike anything I’ve ever released before, so stay tuned! If you’re in New York City anytime soon, you can catch me live at the following gigs:

The Shrine, Harlem

November 11,2014

Pianos, New York

December 14,2014

Branded Saloon, Brooklyn

January 16,2015

Desmond’s Tavern, New York

February 7, 2015

“WE OFTEN THINK OF CELEBRITIES AND SUCCESS STORIES AS UNATTAINABLE, AS IF THEY HAVE SOME GOD-LIKE QUALITIES AND WE’RE MERE MORTALS…AND I DIDN’T KNOW HOW TO GO ABOUT PURSUING SOMETHING LIKE MUSIC- THERE’S JUST NO FORMULA FOR SUCCESS.” - TKB Report

I was introduced to Jackie Paladino’s music through a Facebook friend and really liked her stuff. She is very talented singer/songwriter with an original sound and a very old school soulful voice. I am happy to have had the chance to interview her and will be doing a more in depth segment for the podcast in the future when our schedules match up. Well, mainly her schedule because my schedule is clear once I press pause on Netflix. Read the interview and check Jackie out at:

jackiepaladino.com

https://www.youtube.com/user/JacquelinePaladino

https://www.facebook.com/JackiePaladinoMusic

And check out her newest song recorded with Grammy nominated producer Ivan Corraliza


How long have you been playing? Are you originally from NYC or did you move there to pursue music?

I started playing piano when I was six and singing in my early teens…I became obsessed with singing in high school once I was old enough to work to pay for singing lessons, but most of my energy was directed towards musical theatre when I was younger. That’s why I initially moved to New York from New Jersey – to study musical theatre at NYU, but I’ve since redirected my creative energies to creating and performing music.

What is your instrument of choice?

I like being able to have a variety to choose from…piano when I want to act like a classy lady, guitar when I feel laid back, and singing…all the time. I love love love to sing… I even sing when I’m sick even though I know I’m not supposed to. That’s about as rebellious as I get – ha!

You have a very soulful voice. What artists are your influences?

I initially started out falling in love with music theatre standards which are rooted in jazz…then discovered the jazz greats like Ella Fitzgerald, Etta James, Julie London, Billie Holiday, Eartha Kitt…I started listening to contemporary soul artists like Duffy, Melody Gardot, Amy Winehouse… and I think their biographies combined with their music was the most inspiring to me. The artists who I crush on the most have experienced something very sorrowful…either a parent died at a young age or they were in a car crash…something of that nature. They never chose music, music chose them because music became necessary for their survival. That resonates with me.

Where do you find your inspiration for most of your songs?

We write what we know! All of my songs are autobiographical. Romance is a strong source of inspiration as it is with most writers, so naturally I find myself writing about various types of love, however unrequited, unhealthy, lustful, or hopeless it might be. I don’t want to be one of those singer-songwriters that only writes about romance, though, because there are so many other facets of life worth talking about. My song “Who’s Gonna Love Me” for example is about how we all have to love ourselves before we can love anything or anyone in our life, and my song “We All Make Mistakes” is both an apology for doing wrong and a cry for compassion and forgiveness. Mostly, I like to use songwriting as a source to say what I need to say to someone when the door is closed and I have no other way of communicating with them. We can’t always win in real life, but we can win in our songs.

I really like your stuff, but I think You Should Have Known is my favorite. Who or what is that about?

That’s funny you say that because that was the first song I ever wrote! Beginner’s luck I guess, ha. Gosh I was so young, so impressionable…it was about this boy who I was playing music with at the time…there was a mystery about him and he wrote lovely songs and I wanted to know him better…I could tell he was a sad soul and for whatever reason, cared enough to try to help him feel better. But it was a small tragedy – our conversation ended before it could begin. I later learned that he had recently experienced a breakup and wasn’t ready to move on, but what appeared to be his rejection at the time was hurtful nonetheless. Now he’s just some boy though…there’s always another boy. It’s when there isn’t that I’ll really have something to write about.

Where do you draw most of your inspiration for your lyrics from?

I don’t know that I draw my lyrics from any specific place. I like how Leonard Cohen and Fiona Apple’s lyrics are poetic and I might draw from them a bit, but I think our styles are entirely different. I like to experiment with simple lyrics and heightened vocabulary and sometimes draw inspiration from quotes from poets or writers that I’m fond of. Maybe some from the personalities of friends or people I’ve fallen for. I’ve been reading a good amount of Maya Angelou’s quotes recently and would love to add music to her wisdom, but I don’t think I could release it as my own for copyright purposes.

You worked with Ivan Corraliza who has worked with big names like Cher, Matisyahu, and Sean Kingston, what was that like? How did you hook up with him?
Amazing! I would love to work with Ivan again. I was really impressed with how fast he works – we made three tracks in three days and chose the best out of three. I’m especially grateful that he made time to collaborate with me, since the majority of artists he collaborates with are signed to major labels. I have to thank my manager, Hakim Bell, for connecting the two of us and for believing in my talent and vision.

The song that emerged from your collaborate was your most recent release titled “Love in War.” How did that song come about?

Oh boy. I’m almost nervous about giving away too much information because I don’t want to give the guy that inspired it the satisfaction of knowing I wrote it about him. Let’s just say that it was inspired by a passionate relationship that turned sour, and how the battle to keep that relationship afloat related to war. It’s about love vs. hate and how there’s a fine line between the two… the silver lining is that you care either way. The opposite of love isn’t hate – it’s indifference. I explored this contradiction in the second verse of the song, when I sung “gonna beat you down hard/then nurse you back to health/let all those other women/grow dusty on the shelf.” It’s masochistic, but in situations like this, you don’t really hate the person at all. You might hate the situation, you definitely hate being hurt, but you still want to mend the relationship and fight for what you once had. It was also inspired by the song The Crystals sung in 1962 entitled “He Hit Me (and it Felt Like a Kiss)” that spurred a lot of controversy. One of the lyrics in the song is “if he didn’t care for me/I could have never made him mad/But he hit me and I was glad.” Again, most would label this is masochistic, abusive, and unhealthy. But it does expose and challenge a topic that’s as old as time: Why do we hurt the people we love?

Tell us about the album/EP you are working on.

I’d like to stay secretive about the EP for a bit, but I did just finish recording a new single which sounds sonically different from anything else I’ve done before. It’s brutally honest, bold, and hauntingly beautiful, so stay tuned on it’s release in the near future.
Where can people find your music?

Feel free to stay updated on latest releases and upcoming performances at my website, YouTube, SoundCloud, Bandcamp, Facebook, and Twitter. There are lots of goodies coming your way soon.

Will you have anything available on iTunes?

Yes, everything will be available for purchase on iTunes and Spotify once it’s released. I do have some songs available for free download on bandcamp at the moment, like a cover of Regina Spektor’s “Samson” – feel free to download and share with your friends! If you’re in New York City anytime soon, come catch me live at the following gigs:

Pianos, New York: December 14, 2014

The Fifth Estate, Brooklyn: January 16, 2015

Desmond’s Tavern, New York: February 7, 2015 - The National something