Scrapbook: Jetta Flips Through Her Old Photo Albums

Few artists can say they were born a performer, but Jetta holds that special bragging right. Growing up in a musical family with a mom who formed a renowned a cappella choir and a dad who’s a sound engineer, producer, and former Blitz Kid, the rising UK alt-pop singer was clutching a mic before she even turned one year old. So she’s had a lot of time to fully develop her aesthetic, sonically and sartorially.

The Liverpool native leans towards the sci-fi realm when she’s looking for style inspiration. “I used to be obsessed with a lot of sci-fi movies,” she recalls over the phone from East London. “I really love Fifth Element and Blade Runner.” Even though her debut album is still a work in progress, Jetta’s already brainstorming her wardrobe to the Gaga degree. “I’ve been talking to this amazing company that’s science meets fashion, XO, who did Lady Gaga’s flying dress,” she says. “I’d love to have my own fashion house in the sense of Gaga.”

While she works towards that level, she can at least bounce ideas off of fashion die-hard Pharrell Williams, who produced the soul pop freakout title track on her recently-released Crescendo EP. "Of course, when I was in Miami, I was dressing up to go to the studio, and Pharrell also loves dressing up all of the time,” she says. “We commented on each other’s outfits at the beginning of the session—the rest was all about jamming.”

So we asked Jetta, a natural fit for Scrapbook, to talk about her style evolution over the years and dig up old photos—including her first moment on the mic.

Jetta: My parents are both musicians, and there were always instruments around the house, like this microphone. When I found this picture I was surprised I was performing—I’m less than one year old here. I’m guessing I was singing something like Annie Lennox, T-Rex, or David Bowie. If my dad had anything to do with it, it would have been a 70s or 80s punk band. He was a sound engineer and producer, and that was his favorite type of music. Fashion-wise, he was of the Blitz Kids/punk/glam rock look. I just inherited some of his clothes, and they’re super androgynous, like this cool, thin leather waistcoat that has all of these crazy pockets on the front. I could go somewhere in East London today and buy it.

This is my mom on the far left with the shaved head, and these other three women were part of her a cappella quartet. Every weekend they would come to our house and sing four-part harmonies, and I would lay in the middle of the floor and listen to them and absorb all of this amazing musicality. I think that’s what made me so interested in putting harmonies into my own music. They eventually expanded the quartet into a choir. When I was five or six, they had their first show at Bluecoat. I’d been watching their rehearsals and, on the day of their show, I just got up and walked on stage with them and started singing. They never asked me to leave. You can see the bond between them—they’re such strong characters—and they’re my inspiration. This was probably taken in 1992. My mom has always been into fashion, and we both have a massive love of jewelry.

This might have been taken a few months before the first picture. My mom used to sit down with me, and we’d sing together. We have loads of cassettes of us singing together. My mom is a vocal coach, but we never had lessons together because that kind of mother-daughter relationship can get too close. This was our way of singing together.

This was taken two years ago. "Get Loud" was written all over the walls at this Converse party, and it totally sums me up. Music is my outlet: it’s my way of screaming and shouting without actually doing that. I’ve had a lot of moments in my life where I’ve felt like I just want to scream, but I’ve also discovered that I can sing about it instead.

I took this one myself on of my iPhone. I was in LA at the time and had just started working with Falling Whistles—a charity that promotes peace in the Congo—and I’m actually kissing a whistle in the picture. I'm also wearing jewelry by Maria Black. I wear a lot of her jewelry, and I love how industrial it is.

Here I’m wearing Ashish, an amazing designer based in London. I discovered him last summer. One of things I realized after moving out of Liverpool is that I love geometric patterns, and Ashish does them so well. It was my first festival show, it was a really hot day, and the top I had on was made out of plastic with chains by Shakuhachi. I didn’t care if it got steamed up. I wanted it to be punk in a modern way. Fashion has come back around to punk. Guys are wearing girly clothes, and girls are wearing boyish clothes. It’s about doing whatever you want.

These are my friends and family in mom’s bedroom at home in Liverpool. It’s my gang, and I just want them to be a part of everything I’m doing. It can be really hard sometimes because I’m traveling—and I love doing that—but these people keep me grounded and remind me of having fun. So this picture means a lot to me. In that same sense, the photo of my mom and her friends is so key to the strength I get when I’m out there on my own. I’ve had this dress since I was 13, and it’s from Topshop. It’s got a hood on the back. The tights I'm wearing have letters, exclamation marks, and money signs on them. They’re from American Apparel, and I’ve literally gone through 20 pairs of them because they rip so easily. They cost too much money, but I’m hooked. I can’t stop wearing them.

This was at my first Glastonbury show singing vocals for Paloma Faith. When I first moved to London, I was working on my record, and the people I met introduced me to Paloma. I think we were doing an Annie Lennox cover of “Here Comes the Rain Again,” and she’s one of my biggest inspirations.

This was a moment in the studio when I was working on my record. I’ve been working on it for two years, mainly with Jim Eliot. When I first signed a publishing deal with Sony in 2011, I was introduced to him. [He's] a producer on the same label. I started off by producing and writing my own songs, but we hit it off right away, and I didn’t feel any doubt about letting him do the production while I handled the melody and lyrics. I’m wearing a leather two-piece by Shakuhachi. I love Shakuhachi—they should love me as well after this.

Marissa also loves Shakuhachi. She's on twitter - @marissagmuller.

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