Reflections On Going Viral with Jessica Pearson

RFU59 - Jessica Pearson
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Rosalyn: Hello and welcome to Refolkus. Our guest today is Jessica Pearson of Jessica Pearson and the East Wind. Like sirens, calling from an ancient shore, the haunting three part harmonies of Jessica Pearson in the East Wind will bind you in a timeless folkloric spell, alchemizing roots, classic country, americana and Celtic soundscapes. The trio spin tales of outlaw, heroics, matriarchal power, resistance, and resilience, and the unrelenting beauty of becoming who you are. With a nomination for Performer of the Year at the Ontario Folk Music Awards in [00:01:00] 2024, and an upcoming two-part album produced by Juno winner Hill Kuda featuring an all woman team, JPEW is rising up to offer a powerful musical battle cry against the status quo.

Jessica, thank you for joining us.

Jessica: Oh my God. Thank you for having me.

Rosalyn: I am so excited to chat with you. I think the last time I saw you was at the Ontario Folk Music Awards performance, where you did a beautiful performance at the awards ceremony, and it's lovely to see you again.

Jessica: It's so lovely to see you. I am beyond excited and just grateful to be a part of this podcast. I love Refolkus so much. There are so many times on our last tour when we were out east, summer of 2024, me and Malia basically listened to the podcast like the whole way. As we were driving from the East coast all the way back to Ottawa, there were quite a few episodes that we're like, oh, we have a lot to work on.

Rosalyn: Well, pandering accepted.

Jessica: Yeah.

Rosalyn: Thank you, Jessica. You're really, [00:02:00] really starting this off right? I appreciate that very much and I've been. So excited to talk to you. There's a lot of interesting things that have been going on for you lately, most recent of which you're just coming back from a European tour. How did that go?

Jessica: Oh, it was so beautiful. Like, first off being able to see green grass and ocean in the middle of February and January is great. But it was so beautiful. every time I go out on the road, I'm just reminded about how absolutely beautiful the world is, but how beautiful human beings are. You know, I feel like especially this time in the world, we are bombarded by negativity.

And just the craziness that goes on. But on tour I just remember how absolutely beautiful and kind and loving human beings are and that we just all wanna connect and we just all want to belong, you know? And so it was a very good reminder of that and just felt good to be on the road with my sisters and touring and [00:03:00] sharing music.

Rosalyn: which countries did you hit on the tour?

Jessica: We were mainly in Ireland, Scotland and the UK. So we just did kind of the, we had like three weeks there. We were mainly there for, the Your Roots Are Showing conference in Ireland which was absolutely magical.

Rosalyn: Oh, I'm so glad to hear that and glad that you're able to join us so hot off of the road there.

Jessica: Me too.

Rosalyn: So I wanted to talk about a time of your life and career that in my mind was so crazy.
I was at the Folk Alliance conference with you when you found out that a video that you had made went viral. And I'm wondering if you can give folks a little bit of a background story about what happened.

Jessica: Yeah. So it was actually me and my trio were heading to Ireland for a tour. In January of 2023 [00:04:00] and on our way there we were flying IcelandAir, which is absolutely fantastic. We were supposed to have an hour layover.

So we flew from Toronto to Iceland and then we were supposed to go from Iceland to Ireland and we were supposed to have a two hour layover in Iceland, but when we landed, there was a windstorm of 115 kilometer an hour winds. And so we weren't able to deplane. So we basically got an announcement from the pilot saying that there was a crazy windstorm.

He didn't know how long it would be, but we basically just had to kind of wait it out. This was at like five in the morning after a five and a half hour flight. And everyone basically kinda just went back to sleep on the plane. But we were basically in, it felt like mild to medium turbulence the whole time.

So the planes was kind of shaking the whole time. There were six other planes that were basically stuck on the tarmac at this point, and hours went by and then more hours went by, and about 10 hours later we were [00:05:00] still on the tarmac. And the wind was not slowing down. The pilot had been walking up and down the aisles just checking on everyone, making sure everyone had anything they needed, answering all their questions, being super, super lovely.

And when he got to us. He had asked if we would play some music because when we had boarded the plane, we had brought our instruments on and had talked to him about that. And so he asked if we would play some music just to help pass the time. We were now like, 10 hours into waiting on the tarmac with really no end in sight still.

Of course we said yes. We kind of checked with everyone around us, brought out our instruments and started playing some music. And we were just taking requests. We're like, let's make the best of the time we have right now. We're all stuck. A lot of people were kind of worried not knowing what the situation was gonna be, or how much longer we were gonna be on there. We had run out of food and water at this point on the plane. So we were just trying to kind of find a way to pass the time. And so we started taking requests and playing songs [00:06:00] and some people joined us in singing, or, like playing spoons and singing along with us. And it was just this kind of beautiful moment all of us were looking for. A way to find good out of the situation. You know, like when you're stuck in that place and not knowing what to do and not knowing the outcome. Music and art is really what we turn to in those places. And so we started playing music. The crew came up and asked if we would actually go to the front of the plane because the people at the front of the plane couldn't hear us and wanted us to come up.

So we went up and we played music and we played for about 30 minutes, 45 minutes. And it was just really beautiful in between songs. We ended up talking to passengers about. Like their experience with music. There was a lot of musicians on board who shared their stories. And it was just this really beautiful kind of bonding moment all of us together on this plane. All complete strangers just trying to feel good in an uncertain situation…

Rosalyn: That's a beautiful thing. And you took a situation that really was really crummy for everybody involved. [00:07:00] And I feel like every time I walk on a plane with a fiddle, no matter what, at least one of the people that is either a passenger on the plane or like the flight attendant, whoever it is, is gonna say, oh, are you gonna play for us without fail! Every time.

Jessica: It is like the staple every time. And so, the pilot had ended up taking a video of us and we finally, so we were on the plane for about 16 hours in total. When we were finally able to deboard and so we ended up being able to get off the plane and leave. And there were six other planes that were basically all deboarding at the same time.

So they put us up in a hotel and then our flight got obviously rescheduled for the next day when we could leave. And so the next day we board our plane and it was a completely different crew but they came up to us and they were like, oh, were you the musicians from yesterday? And we were like, oh, um. Yes, but I have no idea who you are. And the pilot had gone to the news station to talk about it and shared our [00:08:00] video. And so Iceland News had reported about it. And it was just a really beautiful situation. So I was like, you know what? I'm gonna post a bit of this on social media at this point on my TikTok account, I had like maybe 240 people that followed me. And so I thought I'd share it and so I shared it on my Instagram, my Facebook, and my TikTok and on Instagram and Facebook. It was just like so much love, you know? It was that same feeling, people just being like, wow, what a gift, you know, that you could be able to share with these people and share this beautiful moment and be able to uplift spirits, right. And it was just this outpour of love and community and gathering together. About a week went by and I got maybe 200 views on my TikTok video, which was very normal for me. And then we end up leaving Ireland and traveling to Kansas City for Folk Alliance and it's a full day of travel, so I'm not looking at my phone. And by the time we land and get to the hotel for Folk Alliance, the day [00:09:00] before the conference starts, the video had gone from 200 views to 90,000 views.

Jessica: And I was like, oh my God. Like, you know, the first time you get all these views, it's the endorphins. Your brain blows up. You're like, oh my God. Like this is the moment. Until the comments started coming through, which were all absolute hate, it was. You are ignorant. You're a horrible human being. How dare you trap people in this space? Like the audacity of you telling me that I should go kill myself that they would've beaten me to death with my guitar.

A lot of people saying, which trigger warning, but a lot of people saying that this would've been their 13th reason. Like just. So much darkness, and this was after a full travel day that I was just in shock because for a full week it was just this outpour of community and love and people coming together to make a good thing out of a bad situation.

And then just this on slate of hate. And [00:10:00] so I just turned off my phone and I was like, I'm just gonna go to sleep. We'll deal with this in the morning and the next day it was at 500,000, and then every minute it was getting a hundred thousand views and it just kept going up and up and up and up and up.

And for a while I was like, you know what, like what people say? Any publicity is good publicity, this'll be fine. But I broke, I could not handle the outpour of hate that I was getting in comments and people going into the comments saying, this is the funniest thing, like laughing at people telling me to go kill myself. I was getting private messages, calling me horrendous names. And I was like, I suffer with depression and anxiety and I'm very open about that. and to get hit with all of that hate. Within 24 hours was something I had never felt before, and it was very devastating. It just felt like I had completely ruined the lives of these people when that was not the situation of what had happened and [00:11:00] I'm very lucky to have had like my team with me, and my friends and you there because being in the state like I am, like with my mental health, like I don't know if I would've gotten through that moment, it was so heartbreaking and devastating and just completely destructive.

Rosalyn: Yeah. I mean, when you think about the nature of. virality or going viral and how, this was, honestly just the craziest thing that I've seen, happen to somebody and like where something that was so positive got spun around and like you just got bullied.

Like you got bullied by the entire internet. You got bullied by The Daily Show.

Jessica: Like, it just kept going and like I turned off the video. I undid, we, I tried so many different things to try and like. Take it. But once it's going, it's going like this is on TikTok. I'm not on Twitter, but it blew up like within, again, 24 hours, 27 million views on TikTok.

I was [00:12:00] getting messages from friends being like, oh my God, like this is you. Like everyone's hating on you right now. And people thinking of it as this funny thing, but it was like the world crashing down on you, I literally felt like I was the worst person in the world.

Rosalyn: Well, first of all, not the worst person in the world. Such a great person. So, so good. Let's just make that clear.

Jessica: Yeah.

Rosalyn: But like, it seemed to me so random, like it seemed to me like it could have just gone totally the opposite direction and people just chose to be bullies and like, whereas it could have been on good news movement or like, one of those like, oh my gosh, this, and I feel like I have even since then seen, similar stories like that where people are like, wow, this was so amazing. This person played for this plane full of people when they were trapped and it was like so kind and great of you.

Jessica: It is. It's all well, and there's a lot to be discovered. First off, like the first week and all of Folk Alliance and I remember having this conversation with you, like when we came up to rehearse for our showcase and me being like, listen, I just need to lay out [00:13:00] everything that's just happened. and it was your comment that kind of like really just opened my eyes to it, is like How hard is it to not go onto the internet and tell someone to go kill themselves? Do you know what I mean? Like it takes effort to do that. Like that is doing more. If you don't like something. Just don't view it you know, but like it's, this gang mentality that people get behind. It's clickbait and it's also that is a culture on TikTok, on viral videos is people going and hating on it and trying to say the most audacious, the most craziest thing on there.

And be the funniest 'cause that's, again, like people were going in the comments being like, went straight to the comments. This is hilarious. But people don't view you as a human being in these videos. People view you as an object. You're not a human to them because in person, the percentage of people that would actually say to your face what they said to you on that video is [00:14:00] 0%.

0% of them would've actually said any of that to your face or done any of the things that they were saying they were doing because they would've felt the energy in that space and what was happening in that space. But people had decided that I had held a plane hostage and forced them to listen to this song, and Ran with it and then everyone jumps on it and it's everyone being funny about this and laughing and no one thinks about that person and what that person's intaking. And that level of within 48 hours, we were at like 4 million views. The level of hate comments and people searching me out on Instagram and Facebook and sending me private messages and just the outpour of that.

Within 48 hours was insane. And like I, again, like in that moment too was just thinking like how lucky I was to have the people I have around me to keep me grounded and keep me there and you know, like take me off all my social medias and be like, you know what You're not allowed to [00:15:00] look at any of this.

You're not allowed to read any of this, but like, if you don't have that support around you and you just get this onslaught of hate and onslaught of messages like that, like you don't have that support. It is a very dangerous space to be in.

Rosalyn: Yeah, absolutely. And. I'm glad that you had the support team that you did, and it's a terrifying thought to think of that happening to somebody who doesn't have that, you know.

Jessica: Oh my gosh, yes. Again, so kind of ending the situation we were at Folk Alliance, it's been a few days now, and the videos, the comments, everything just kept going and so we were just trying to figure out a way to somehow take back power in that situation. 'cause that's really, it's a complete loss of power and control.

Like it's gone, the internet's gone with it and it was just the craziness of the situation that really was like, why are people so mad at this? And so my team and I got together and we're like, let's remake this video at Folk Alliance and just show how crazy people are for [00:16:00] being mad at the situation.

And so we got a whole bunch of musicians. Into an elevator at Folk Alliance and we recreated, I sang the same song. I looked the exact same way, and I just asked everyone on the elevator to look like they hated their lives. And we basically retook this video of me, pretending to be stuck in another location, forcing people to listen to me sing this song.

And we posted that and that. Blew up, but it took a whole other turn. It was people in the comments saying like, this is how you clap back. This is how you respond to something. oh, like this is hilarious. And it was kind of like that moment of, oh my God. Like, okay, like this feels like I've taken my power back.

This feels like I've done something to be like, okay, Can we not see? why are we so angry at the situation that happened and like, this is the situation you think it was?

Rosalyn: And you responded with, yeah, it's like humor, which is, the best antidote sometimes, you know, to a situation

Jessica: Oh yeah. Because there's no [00:17:00] reasoning, like when you get to that point and when you have that gang mentality of people hating on you, there's no reasoning with people. There's no coming out and defending yourself because people are gonna take that as you're being defensive and you're not saying that you did something wrong.

The amount of people that were telling me that I need to make an apology video to that plane was insane. to the point of like, I had received an email from, IcelandAir saying like, people who were on the plane emailed us. Email this to you and like the email was just like, we're so sorry you're getting all this hate online.

Like we want you to know that we were there and that is not how the situation was. We were so thankful to have you and to bring this light into the world at that moment. And we just want you to know that like that is not the situation that happened. And it was like, okay. Because when you have something that's too.

Great emotions. Do you know what I mean? Like, it was like such an amazing space to be in and such [00:18:00] lightness and joy. And then like completely a week later, just taken over by this dark and this hate that. At some point I started to be like, am I delusional? Did I force music on all these people? I actually was like Is this all in my head? Like, was I just imagining people loving this? Was I actually like torturing people with my music? you just get so lost in that space because you have comments coming at you from every direction when people have a mission to find you, they will find you,

Rosalyn: Yeah. And it's, you know, it seems like it was. Causing you to kind of question, your own reality. Right?

Jessica: Oh my gosh. Yeah.

Rosalyn: But then another thing happened that, took this negativity and turned it into something positive where then you got to return to Iceland.Can you tell us about that?

Jessica: Yeah. So I had said like IcelandAir had reached out to us with the message from someone who was on the plane. And during that time a lovely woman named Brenda who works for Air Lingus, like customer service, had basically reached out and was like, listen, like we see all the hate you're getting and [00:19:00] we just wanna let you know, like our staff still can't Stop talking about how amazing it was People here are still sending us messages about how amazing it was that you were here and we wanna do something. To like show you how much we appreciate that. And so they offered us free tickets to come back to Iceland and to play a show. So we got to perform at the headquarters of IcelandAir and share our songs and our stories. And we got to perform at this beautiful cafe called Cafe Rosenberg in Vik in Iceland. With a local Icelandic band called Breck. They're fantastic. And we went and we recorded a music video there. Like it was just again, this sense of like in the world, you can choose how you respond to things.

You choose to respond to things with hate and anger and react to things, or you can choose to share kindness and share love. And it was this sense of like in the moment on the plane. They asked us if we could play music. And I was like, of course. Because to [00:20:00] me, music is that space of, love and safety and connection, you know? And so in a moment of uncertainty of when we're ever gonna get off this plane, I was really grateful to be able to hopefully share some kindness, you know? And then Brenda did the same thing with being like, we wanna offer you. Free tickets to come here and play and share your music, because what you did for us was amazing and we were so grateful for it, you know?

Rosalyn: What's your relationship with social media now? Like, has it changed the way now that you're interacting online?

Jessica: Oh my gosh. It has. But it has for the better in so many ways for me going viral in this instant because first off, it showed me that what people think of you does not make that of you. You know, I was kind of saying that I. Was kind of losing reality in a moment and not knowing what the truth was of that situation.

But I have now been called a terrorist like 27,000 times literally [00:21:00] on TikTok and Twitter and everywhere. I know I'm not that, people call me inconsiderate and a horrible human being. I know I'm not that I know inside that like. I try to be a kind human being and a loving human being in all aspects of my life, and someone across the world on their computer telling me that that's who I am does not make me that anymore.

That doesn't make me that ever. Never did it, never will. And so it has made me a lot more fearless in how I want to be seen. You know, because I'm like, I'm gonna come out with love. And if people don't wanna see it that way and people wanna make it what they want to make it that, that, I can't stop them from doing that.

And if people wanna believe that side of me and see that as who I am, I can't change that. So why am I gonna stress and have all this anxiety built up over something that I can't do anything about?

So now when I come to social media, it's more of a space of I am creating social media and I'm creating online content for people who I know are gonna [00:22:00] enjoy it and love it.

And if they don't, they don't have to view it. And if they wanna write shitty things on it, they can write shitty things on it. That's not gonna change me putting out the stuff that I love and the music I love for people I love.

Rosalyn: do you have, I guess, advice For anybody who finds themself in a situation where they don't get the reaction that they were looking for online, maybe not as as intensive of a situation like you went through, but you know, certainly, when you post something and, and the reaction isn't, isn't what you were hoping for.

Jessica: Oh yes, I think. The biggest switch mentally that's really helped me going forward with social media is realizing that social media is a tool. It is not a be all end all going viral on TikTok or on Instagram or Facebook. is not gonna make your career and it's not gonna kill you career. It could definitely help you.

It is a tool that you can use to reach and connect with people online that you necessarily can't do. From our one location, but it doesn't make your [00:23:00] career whether you go viral tomorrow or 20 years from now or two years ago. It doesn't change anything. You know, like you are still who you are and people are going to love you and support you, and it is a great tool to use to get to connect with people, but.

Going viral does not make or break you as an artist. That's just not how it is. And like a lot of people will look at that. like look at artists who go viral and, and do this on online. And it's like, well, that's how they made it. And it's like, no, they were just very consistent and they built a fan base online.

That's what they did, the going viral helps in some aspects, but again, it's just a tool. It doesn't change who you are. It's all about what you are putting out there, what you are creating. Especially as an artist, there's a difference between being a music creator and a content creator. You know, people who are out there creating [00:24:00] content and blowing up on TikTok and Instagram and stuff like that. Like they are posting like five reels a day Constantly, and that is what they're doing. And for myself as a music creator and as an artist, I know that that is not something that I can do and stay true to who I am and what I wanna put out there.

Rosalyn: speaking of what you're putting out there you're heading into the studio probably as this is airing, you are in the studio. And it just sounds like such a cool. Project that you have coming up can you tell us a bit about it?

Jessica: Yeah, of course. Well, and this whole situation has really led it to me because I felt kind of like every human being. I feel like we all just are trying to find a space to belong and to connect with others and. Through this whole viral experience, I truly found like this beautiful sisterhood of human beings, these women that I've just been able to fully be [00:25:00] myself with and not feel competition or judgment or anything, just lift each other up and see like how when women lift each other up, like all of us shine, all of us shine even brighter. And the power and beauty of sisterhood, of being there for each other and being vulnerable and holding space for each other to be in that space.

It really inspired me and the women I've been surrounding myself with have inspired me. And so this whole album, I'm heading into the studio with Hill Cor codis. And we're recording a fully written, created, produced engineered album that's all created by women.

I've been writing songs with a whole bunch of different women, and it's been.

Heartbreaking, but heart building at the same time, because so many of us have lived a similar experience of pain, of heartbreak, of, assault in our worlds. But the [00:26:00] resilience of women, the strength of women is. Just so magical, and I've just really fallen in love with women in this space of, talking to them and learning and listening.

And so this album, we're gonna be releasing it in two parts. The first part is kind of more on that anger side and this pain side. Of what women through generations and generations and generations have experienced and still to this day are experiencing. And especially with a lot of laws being created to take away women's power and women's voices.

And so the first part is really bringing it back to that and just the power of women and the power of women together. Then the second part, which we're gonna be recording in the fall and releasing next year is just about the sisterhood and the beauty of being soft and strong at the same time, and the [00:27:00] vulnerability of women and the magic of female friendships. There's just something so magical about women friendships and it has been beautiful to be able to witness and to experience and to listen to. And yeah, I'm very passionate about it and I'm very excited to get into the studio with Hill and start recording. And then also to just start releasing and start sharing it because women are awesome.

Rosalyn: you're, a woman who is awesome and we're so excited to hear it. I'm wondering if we can talk a bit about you know, you mentioned struggling with anxiety and depression and, and you're very open about that. You'll talk about it on stage and being able to share that.

Part of yourself? how does that translate into your artistic practice? is there a relationship there or are you using music as a tool to, to kind of process it?

Jessica: Oh, yes. I feel like music started for me as a space to understand my feelings. I grew [00:28:00] up bottling my feelings and shoving them down constantly to a point where Really, I just kind of felt numb. Although I, was very bubbly and very outgoing on the outside. It was all to try and hide the fact that I just wasn't feeling on the inside and songwriting for me and creating music was the only way that I could actually tap into what I was feeling and start to.

Understand it and start to dissect it and heal in it, and it's been really a, a long journey for me. First off, even just coming to terms with me, acknowledging that I've been suffering from depression for a long time and going and getting help and talking to my doctor and getting medication for it and talking to a therapist and it's taken a lot.

Of years of me going through that, for me to finally start being able to talk about it out in the person out through my music. But it's so important for me in my music to talk about it because [00:29:00] I just wasn't me anymore. You know, like being medicated for myself right now and going to therapy allows me to truly be myself and to truly start to love myself again.

And I just think it's so important to love ourselves and when we start to, it is so beautiful. And so for me, talking about depression in my music As an artist with my platform is so important because I want everyone to be able to start to love themselves, you know, and start to really look at themselves and, and not feel shame or guilt or carry that with them from the experiences they've gone through in their lives.

I've carried it for so long with me, and I think this is also a big part of this album is for me is like I've, been sexually assaulted in my life and it's. Taken so much for me to be able to start talking about it. And I think it is so important to talk about it because we don't feel that way. We don't feel safe talking about it.

We don't [00:30:00] feel like we can, or that the moment we start we'll feel shamed or guilted or just feel like we don't have a right to talk about it. And. Through writing this album and working with women, When I allow myself the space to talk about it and be open about it, the amount of human beings that have opened up to me about it and shared their experience and just felt weight lifted has been so powerful and so moving and so beautiful, and. I just want more people to be able to feel that, you know, like I am in no way, shape, or form a therapist in any way.

But music has been so helpful for me to come back to myself and to start loving myself again. And I want people to see how important it is for them to love themselves too, you know? And by me. Allowing myself and giving myself the space to do this. I'm just hoping that other people will give themselves the space to do it.

I wanna hold space for people to feel, and I wanna hold space for people to [00:31:00] heal.

Rosalyn: it's really, really heavy topic and, you know, heavy. Experiences.

What's your capacity for being able to, also, get that back and, and collect those stories from other people who are identifying with what you're talking about.

Jessica: it is so moving and eye-opening and just like it is so beautiful to me when that happens. Especially on our past tour, we played a show in Clydesdale at the Clydesdale Folk club, and I had this absolutely beautiful interaction with a woman who had, she's an older woman who had just quit her job and was trying to find herself, and she come up to me and she was just like.

Everything that you've talked about has touched me in a way that I didn't realize I needed. And being able to share these experiences with people like this is one of the reasons why I became a musician and an artist and a songwriter, was not just to share my own story, but to connect with other people and hold space for them to share theirs.

And it is just, again, it is so eyeopening to me [00:32:00] when. I share and I express things I've been through on stage or through my music, the amount of people that come up, all genders, non-binary men, women, it's just as human beings. There's so much that we experience that is the same, but we are so focused on our differences.

We don't see how similar we are and being able to hold space for us to all be in it together is really all I want. I wanna be able to hold space for people to open up, whether it's one person, whether it's three people, whether it's the whole room of us to just be able to feel like in that moment we are together.

We are holding space for each other, and it is okay to feel the things we are feeling. It is okay to release and let go of the feelings we're feeling. And I am always if someone feels. Inspired or moved to share their story with me. I will 100% always have time to listen and always have time [00:33:00] to be there with them for it, because that's how I got to where I am is because someone held space for me to share my story, and it is a blessing to be able to hopefully be that person for someone else.

Rosalyn: Well, it's, really brave of you to. keep that openness, when, it could have gone the other way, especially with all that negative attention I think a lot of folks might have had the reaction of, shying away from sharing themselves.

And, you know, I just wanna applaud you and say that you're amazing and so

Jessica: Thank you. Well, it's

it's honestly like

the whole viral experience gave me the strength to be able to come forward and say this, you know, like I really, two years ago, I never thought I would ever talk about my own experience with sexual assault and that in my life on stage or through music, but.

Now no longer caring what people think about me in that space. I'm like, I'm not doing it for the people. Who are going to go and shit talk me [00:34:00] or do that, they can do that. That does not change who I am in any way, shape or form. I'm doing it for the people who, need space held for them. I'm doing it for who I was in that space.

that's who I'm creating this music for and, holding space for, and performing for is for the people who wanna be there and if others don't wanna be there or have something bad that they wanna say about it. They can say it, it's not gonna change or affect me. And it's almost like that experience with going viral has given me that freedom to be like, oh, I do not care anymore.

If you wanna say crappy things about me, it doesn't make me a crappy person, and I'm still going to just shove love in everyone's face and be the person that just holds the space.

Rosalyn: I really encourage folks to come out and see your live performances, because they're really like, yeah, you touch on, The darkness, but also like, you're just such a, a warm and kind and, [00:35:00] and don't take this the wrong way, but like goofy,

Jessica: Yeah,

Rosalyn: funny person. And

Jessica: I will never take that the wrong way. I love it.

Rosalyn: it's, uh, I just, you know, when, when I've, gotten to experience your performances, Folks are bought in, you know, and they're, with you on the, ride. and you know, everyone's leaving a JPEW performance, you know, smiling and, with that warmth in their heart. So, definitely if you haven't seen Jessica Pearson and the East Wind perform, go out, get tickets at a, at a place near you. I'm so excited about the new album, the two part album, and we can't wait to hear it. Certainly. We'll all be eagerly looking out for that. And you know, how would you like folks To find you in a positive way

Jessica: And I love it.

I like, again, I've healed a lot of wounds when it comes to social media, and so I'm on Instagram, Facebook. I am still on TikTok. I took a very long, healthy break from it. [00:36:00] But I am there so you can send me dms, but Jessica Pearson and the East Wind is where you can find me. you go to our website, you can sign up for our newsletter and I send out monthly newsletters talking about just like music sharing experiences.

You'll get insights to like the studio and recording before anyone else. So you can go to Jessicapearson.me and find that there. But yeah, I am. I'm all over the place. 'cause again, now I just, if someone wants to be mean, hey, I'll take it.

Rosalyn: Great. Well, I am so glad that we got a chance to chat. It's always such a pleasure to get to see your smiling face

Jessica: oh, you too. I'm sorry. We went really deep.

Rosalyn: Well, Jessica, thank you so much for being here and I really hope we get to chat soon

Jessica: Oh, me too. Thank you so much again for having me. This has been beautiful.
[00:37:00]