When Silence Finally Speaks
Entry #2
Jazicality actually started out as my way of separating my professional social media from my personal social media. I wanted to start vlogging because I got inspired by youtubers and one of my friends who was really into vlogging back then. If you look at my youtube channel you’ll find my video “The Reason Why I Changed My Stage Name On Social Media: Life and Channel Updates (Vlog # 15).” I believe I had two other official names in the past, but I can only remember “May the Music Be With You”, and I only put that one as my Facebook page title which I have now renamed Jazicality. Fun fact I’m not even that big into Star Wars. I just thought the name was clever. The video goes more in depth about how I found my new stage name and what it means. These days, instead of just saying Jazicality’s definition is musicality and personality, I find it helpful to also remind people that it stands for Jasmine (my name), musicality (because I am a musician), and personality (because I am a youtube personality). I have to be more specific because multiple people assume or believe that I make jazz music.
While I do include many genres in my music, jazz is ironically not usually one of them. Funny enough, when I was creating my stage name I had to make sure that the name wasn’t taken, and if you spell jazzicality with two z’s instead of one, then it is a jazz term. So the people who assume I make jazz music have a right to think so. It’s hilarious, but I now understand how people with difficult names feel. It’s not that big of a deal, but it’s just one of those situations where I have to make sure my name is spelled correctly on things like checks and advertisements. I have to correct people because I want them to be able to find me on social media. I had to learn quickly that it’s not considered being a diva to get your name spelled or said correctly. In fact, in some cases, it could prevent you from getting paid if your name is spelled incorrectly because technically the money would then belong to someone else because it is spelled how someone else spells it.
Jazicality has grown and come a long way. I think it was always meant to be for my music in some way, but I don’t think I expected it to get as popular as fast within my musical life as it did. Back then, which was about 3 years or so ago now, my band Crushed Into Place was my main focus musically. While waiting to be able to record our album “Wounded” which is still being created, I worked on my youtube channel. On my Jazicaliy channel I did music covers, vlogs, and shared some original songs unofficially. I was just having fun, and I had no idea how to release music on all platforms. I began researching how to do it and remembered that Crushed Into Place’s EP, “Identity”, went through CD Baby so that's what I used for my first song. It’s called “Nothing Bad Happens.” It’s also the first song I wrote for my friend Owen, who I always dedicate my song “This Way” to. It’s crazy to think back to all of this. He was such a light in my life, and he will always be deeply missed and in my heart. With my first ever single, as Jazicality, the solo artist and professional musician, I began my journey. I was already well versed in booking shows because I had done so for Crushed Into Place, so I knew one day that time would come. I had no intention of performing as Jazicality because I only had one song, but I still had songs I wanted to keep for myself. When I was writing for Crushed Into Place as Jasmine Anderson, I was also writing Jazicality songs for the future. At some point I knew that I would want my solo project while simultaneously having my band.
Someone who changed the way I saw it all was my wonderful boyfriend Sam. In fact, I am so grateful to him because every time I wanted to begin a new dream he was right there, motivating me, pushing me, and of course being my drummer and co-band leader. He convinced me to have a backing band for Jazicality when the time came. In college, when I told him I wanted a band he said, “Make one!” and I said “It’s that easy?” and he said ,“Yea let’s just ask some of our friends” and we did and even though members have changed, the music is still very much alive. It was very difficult to learn that not everyone wants to stay in your band. I found it reassuring to find out that there are different types of bands though. Crushed Into Place is a band for people who want to create and write songs together, and Jazicality is a band with less commitment, where we pay musicians for every show they play and they learn the songs on my Unsent Letters album and covers we want to play. Crushed Into Place has weekly practices and Jazicality practices before gigs.
I have come across many talented musicians in my time as a front woman, and I am so grateful for those experiences. While Crushed Into Place has been together since 2017 Jazicality only recently began playing shows in 2021 because I released my album Unsent Letters. Sam and I got some friends together to play my solo music because I wanted an album release show. Believe it or not, Jazicality the band was only supposed to play that album release show, but it all went so well and our musicians had a great time so we decided that it was more than worth it to keep the project alive. Jazicality went from being a stage name for social media, to an artist with one song on Spotify, to an artist with 18 songs, playing live shows with a full band with acoustic guitar, electric guitar, vocals, bass, drums, keys, and backing tracks for background vocals.
I’ve come a long way from a shy girl that was emotionally bruised from being bullied in 6th grade. The truth is, Jasmine Anderson has always been Jazicality, I just have a different name attached to who I am. I’ve been saying “My favorite color is cheese” for over 5 years. I just made it public in 2020 because I liked the idea of putting it on merchandise. That was my very first merch line and people still compliment the design and laugh. I love that it brings joy to people. I love that I can enjoy who I am and connect with the people around me no matter which part of me I am. Receiving this much love is at times overwhelming because of what I endured as a child. At one time I believed I was supposed to be hated, especially by people my age so to befriend and coexist with people in a positive and healthy way is all I could hope for.
