3 o’clock in the morning isn’t an unusual time for Jai to be trying to nail down an idea for a track; having had the melody spontaneously play in her mind her first priority is to hum an idea of the sound into her phone. 

“Like a lot of musicians, I’m not inspired to write anything until an ungodly hour. Maybe it’s a lack of sleep that helps me come up with a catchy hook, or the large amount of caffeine intake,” Jai laughed, “Whereas lyrically, I find it’s easier to write about my own experiences as it’s hard to convey feelings about things that you haven’t personally encountered.”

Growing up in a musical family, Jai’s sisters exposed her to some of the soulful pop music of the early 2000’s, influencing the kind of vocals she’s known for today.

“My sisters heavily invested their time listening to a lot of Christina Aguilera, NSYNC and Stacie Orrico, and my older sister was considered the singer of the family before I knew I could. My brother also sang and played guitar when we were younger and my eldest sister loved dancing so we were quite the creative family. I don’t think anything in particular made me want to make music, because it’s all I’ve ever known.”
“I remember I would put demos together in my little bedroom studio and upload them to social media, and eventually people were more interested in my original stuff than my covers. I had to find a recording studio, I couldn’t just keep putting out unfinished music.”

Jai lined up a coffee with Matt after hearing her friend Komiti Levai’s S&M produced debut, and listening to some of the other music he’s helped put together for Newcastle’s musicians.

“I got my little research glasses on and looked through his website, and loved the vibe. I have a very laid back personality but I’m also a nervous wreck deep down and he made me feel comfortable within the first minute of meeting him.” “-Matt’s beautiful Labrador didn’t hurt.” She laughed again. “It was incredibly important to me to connect with Matt and for him to connect to the song. He was professional but also friendly and he was actually excited about the song I had sent in. That’s all I wanted!”

Jai Maree’s debut, “If Loving Me Was Easy“, will be released in January 2021 on all popular streaming platforms.