Story/ Ariana Tibi
Photos / Meredith Traux
Jade LeMac is in motion — literally and artistically. In the past month, she’s played two major summer festivals back-to-back (Osheaga and Lollapalooza), announced she’ll be opening for Maren Morris on tour, and is gearing up to release her third project. She’s 21 years old, learning in real time how to write to the masses and command a stage; and it’s crystal clear that she was made for it.
When I first interviewed Jade earlier this year, she told me she avoids listening to other artists when she’s deep in her creative process. It helps her create from scratch, she told me. Months later, that focus is still there. “I literally won’t listen to anybody else,” she says, “I’ll listen to either my songs or silence in the car.” The result is her everlasting originality.
Jade’s new single, ‘Running Home’ (out today), is a bright, breezy burst of pop euphoria. “I’m feeling gratitude just to be where I am,” Jade tells me, describing the track’s sunny energy. “Performing it during the summertime is such a cool experience, because it’s very much a summer-type song. It’s a euphoric kind of feeling.” Song of the summer, anyone?
The vocal production on ‘Running Home’ is undeniably cool, with harmonies building the prechorus like a staircase to an anthem for the carefree. Jade’s enthusiasm for her new direction is audible, too, in the song’s energy and freshness. ‘Running Home’ feels like a continuation of what Jade’s already built and evidence of a new chapter. “I had a lot more intention going into creating all these songs,” she says of the upcoming EP. “I was really able to capture a pop sound that still feels authentic to me and what I’m trying to do.”
Onstage, Jade says ‘Running Home’ was literally a workout, and the crowd (including an Osheaga security guard) pulsed along with her. That’s in spite of the fact that she still gets stage fright. “I kind of black out when I’m on stage,” she admits. “Sometimes I get really bad stage fright. But the whole thing was surreal.”
This fall’s tour with Maren Morris will be her longest stretch of consecutive shows. Jade plans to play the entire new EP, plus a handful of her (and our) favorites: ‘Constellations,’ ‘Aim to Kill,’ and ‘Got Me Obsessed’ are all contenders, but we’ll have to show up to find out. She’s especially excited to watch and learn from Maren. “I’m still at the beginning stages of performing and touring,” she says. “I think it’s going to be nice to perform consecutive shows in a row…I’m probably gonna learn so much, and I’m just very excited.”
Part of the magic of following Jade right now is that while she’s at the top of her game, she’s also mid-evolution. Her earlier work carried a familiar pop comfort, but always with a mark that was distinctly hers — an inexplicable texture you couldn’t copy if you tried. Jade is now in the thrilling in-between: experimenting, being vulnerable, and making her next move in plain view. “I found another sound that really feels like one I can resonate with,” she says. “That feels like what I’ve been searching for.”
Jade’s running toward a sound that’s hers, toward bigger stages, toward herself. And we are happily running alongside her.
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