A major girl power moment happened in Washington, DC prior to In Real Life taking the stage. Jenna Raine inspired and empowered the crowd of largely teenage girls. Her enthusiasm and clear passion for her work sets her apart and is such a breath of fresh air in the industry.
At just 15-years-old, Jenna embodies the confidence of every mega popstar before her! In fact, Jenna says she looks up to Tori Kelly and Ed Sheeran, two of the top pop voices in modern music. Through Jenna’s performance, it was clear that she could, in fact, be the next big thing to grace the genre.
Jenna’s set was balanced to showcase her wide variety of talents. About her new music, Jenna says, “It’s more revolved around acoustic, so if I want to I can put it down to guitar or piano.”
Jenna explained that she has a list of lyrics on her phone and that she’s constantly coming up with ideas for new lyrics or melodies. “I can pull inspiration from anything,” she said.
Great music takes serious dedication and Jenna definitely has that drive. She is balancing high school, social life, and her music. She admitted that it’s hard, though. “I’m already worried about catching up on school,” she said. “...I always take my education as the number one priority, but on tour, it’s so hard to work on that at the same time.”
But seeing her friends is also a challenge, too. “With friends, it’s really hard to be social because I’m always gone and out of town.” She says, thankfully, she’s made friends all over the country, but that doesn’t mean she isn’t missing her friends back home.
A new city every day can be daunting, but Jenna is tackling the challenge headfirst. Despite the hard parts of tour life, she described it as a “magical experience”.
It wasn’t just her obvious talent that was showcased by her music or the clear dedication to her craft, but Jenna had another quality that made her unique. She is a genuine young girl who leans into her playful side. Chatting with Jenna showed us just how kind and sweet she really is. Then, seeing her on stage, it was clear that being true to herself is of the utmost importance.
Every night, Jenna says her goal is to learn new ways to connect with those fans who come out to the shows. She achieves this by being real in the way she presents herself on stage. If you see Jenna live, from the moment she takes the stage she isn’t trying to hide any part of herself or be something she’s not. She is like a ray of confident sunshine that every young girl needs to see. By being herself, the fans seemed to understand Jenna on a deeper level. She strives to make her set a space of freedom and understanding. Jenna explained, “I feel like I’m a girl and I can relate to them in certain ways. I also want to make them feel comfortable because, sometimes whenever you perform in front of people, it’s really awkward and I just want them to feel like they can express themselves and jam out.”
After this tour with boyband In Real Life, Jenna is planning on continuing her music career full force. In fact, as of November 8th, Jenna’s EP “Be Like You” has hit the market. Chatting about its conception, Jenna said: “The whole EP was just like a season in my life where I was figuring out who I wanted to be as a person, as an artist and it was kind of like a tough, rough patch for me.”
“Be Like You” is a staple for every coming-of-age youth. “I feel like a lot of teenagers can relate to [it] when they start getting into relationships, whenever they’re losing friends because they start getting older.”
Jenna is surely only going up from here. In the future, she hopes to have a worldwide tour and attract a loyal fanbase. Her goal, though, isn’t necessarily fame. “I just want to do what I love,” she said with a smile.
Before we parted, Jenna said something that really stood out to me and truly encapsulates her as an artist and as a person:
“[I want to] spread my light to the world because we just need some happiness out there.”
Follow Jenna Raine on Instagram and Spotify to stay tuned.
Interview - Alex West
Photos - Ali Fitzgerald
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