For a night, Jessie J ruled the Kingdom, commanding a legion of fans as they sang along to her hit songs at the Smart Axiata concert on Koh Pich Saturday night. The artist teared up during a touching moment where she told the crowd that her grandmother died five days earlier.
“It’s sort of fitting that Smart organized this. That was her favorite color of green,” she said after emotionally belting out her hit song “Flashlight.”
The London-born songstress made her way to Cambodia on the last leg of her “Sweet Talker” world tour promoting her latest album and performing her hit song “Bang Bang” as well as many of her other fan-favorites.
Some in the audience expected her to have an army of dancers and backup singers, but the strong-voiced star took the stage with just her band and captivated the audience with what she is known for: her ability to hit a wide range of notes in quick succession.
She even took time out from performing her hits to do a freestyle section, where she interacted with the audience and sang her conversations with delighted spectators in the front row.
In an interview with Khmer Times, the singer said her road to stardom was atypical of your usual pop diva. She started out as an artist, but after the label that signed her went bankrupt, she was forced to turn to songwriting, believing that would be her only shot at success. She managed to score her first hit penning Miley Cyrus’ “Party in the U.S.A.” before achieving her own success as a singer with the hit “Price Tag.”
“Being a songwriter and being an artist are very similar, because the songs are the most important thing,” she said. “The songs are the most powerful thing. You can have the best PR, you can have the best clothes, but if you don’t have a song, there’s no point.”
Inspired by everyday life, Jessie J said one of the greatest parts of her job is being able to work with legendary artists like Smokey Robinson, Tom Jones and Mary J. Blige.
“The way they conduct themselves is different from artists now. Social media wasn’t around. They became who they are in a different time,” the songstress said with a smirk. “So I love to watch how they keep themselves relevant without being part of the constant desire of people to need a part of you that doesn’t have anything to do with why they know you in the first place.”
Jessie J has been able to take the expert advice given to her by these renowned singers and pass it on as a coach for the British edition of “The Voice.”
“I love that it’s not about me, because I like just taking a step back. I love to share my knowledge and my experience and all the things that no one told me when I was coming through. The things that keep you healthy and sane and happy. How to run around onstage and not run out of breath. All the small things that seem really insignificant but actually go towards you enjoying what you do every day,” she said.
But more than being able to pass on her years of experience, Jessie J revels in being able to give her fans what they need, when they need it through her music.
“If they need to cry, if they need some self-belief, if they need some hope, if they want some anger. Whatever they need to make themselves feel better, because that’s what we love about music as a world. You can listen to ‘Purple Rain’ and I can listen to ‘Purple Rain’ and what you take from it is different from what I need from it,” she said, “and that’s the beauty of music. It speaks to millions of people because we fix it to relate to our lives.”
This story ran in Khmer Times' Weekly Magazine on December 13.