Jasmine Jethwa

Jasmine makes swaying, folk-tinged acoustic pop songs with a full voice that teems with rich emotion. Her sonic palette makes sense when she describes the music she was most interested in growing up. “The earliest memories I have are of driving down to see my grandparents, and we listened to different music in the car on my dad’s iPod,” she recalls, “There’d be David Gray, Tracy Chapman, Dido, Gipsy Kings, The Eagles – old songs, classic albums. And I feel like they went into my psyche. I’m obsessed with any kind of acoustic, well-played guitar.” Though she cannot play the instrument herself, she often collaborates with different songwriters, one of which is her friend Jez, to make sure the guitar is always a focus point in her tracks.

She also references her love of R&B and a current new love with Fontaines DC (“the first time I heard them they grabbed my heart; if my music does what they and other artists do for me and moves them to feel something, I’d be happy”). There is also mention of the emotional resonance of watching Bollywood films with her Gujarati grandmother back when she was a kid: “In terms of vocals, I do think that’s made a bit of an impact,” she says of those Hindi songs she internalized.

In 2020, Jasmine released her debut EP, Hurricane, to acclaim from BBC Introducing, Clash, gal-dem, The Independent and more. The record was deft and tender. Now, she is gearing up for the release of Same Streets But I Don’t See You Around, her mesmerizing second EP, which deals with the fallout of romantic heartbreak. Tracks like ‘Golden’ are a stunning look at people who are on different pages, trying and failing to make it work. Sometimes the record is gentle, sometimes it’s acerbic (on ‘Money to Burn’ she laments, “If I had a penny every time you cared, I’d be poor as a poet in a broken bed”). These are lyrics that draw from her reality and then exaggerate on it, she explains. The release is also grounded in a period of time that has seen the world change, where the grief of losing people whether through heartbreak or passing away is more prevalent than ever before. Some of these things are directly conveyed on the record, and there is a sense of spirituality and candour of feeling that floats through. For Jasmine, this is rooted in her South London upbringing: “There’s a sense of community I’ve grown up with. I like the idea of being accessible, I want the music to be like open-arms – I think that aspect of growing up here has affected my character, and I want that to be in my music.”