Rochelle Jordan is Making R&B That Brings the Whole World to Your Bedroom

Photos courtesy of Rochelle Jordan

Rochelle Jordan does R&B. Not whatever aesthetically minded, blankly pretty music people keep calling R&B. Just R&B, as it exists in its modern form, and she’s been doing it well for the past few years.

R&B is a genre with a constantly shifting sonic core, from Motown’s persistent brass to the ‘90s sample-filled, hip-hop-indebted jams to today’s icier electronics. Jordan offers her own stage in that evolution, seamlessly bringing in the house sounds of her UK birthplace, the glassy vibes of Toronto R&B, the sonic adventurousness and now-classic influence of artists like Missy Elliott and Amerie, and her own Jamaican roots to her projects. A big part of her sonic cohesion is her ongoing partnership with producer KLSH, who Jordan notes is the 40 to her Drake—who himself is an inevitable touchpoint given Jordan’s sound and longtime hometown. Another part of what ties her music together is the airy permeance of Jordan’s voice, whether it’s transitioning from the aquatics of “All I Know” to the gurgling “Lotus Flower” sample on “Sleep” (on R O J O, her first release) or adding effervescence to the excellent “Lowkey.”

But whomever you credit, the fact is that Jordan has been doing this for most of her adult life. Jordan moved from the UK to Toronto at the age of four. Although her mother claims she started sooner, Jordan says she started singing when she was eight years old. A career in music seemed farfetched, though; not only was Drake not yet an omnipresent cultural force when she was growing up, Toronto didn’t have any truly international artists. Jordan’s outlook changed when she was 19.

“I started leaving the east side of Toronto—which is more like in the suburb area —and traveling back and forth to the heart of Toronto,” Jordan said. “That’s where I got the opportunity to see all these amazing artists and musicians, people that were into music and just started to make a career out of it. So I was like, ‘OK, lemme see if I could do this damn thing because I love music.’ I started putting videos up on YouTube at the age of 19 and boom: It starts to take off.”

After linking up with KLSH through those YouTube videos, Jordan recorded R O J O (2011) and Pressure (2012) in her Toronto bedroom. The mixtapes, particularly the latter, received some acclaim. But Jordan still needed to move upward. She felt like there was a limited market in Toronto for her music with its distinctive throwback vibe that had generated comparisons to Aaliyah.

So in early 2013, Jordan moved to Los Angeles, where her partner-in-crime KLSH lives, to extend her brand. Her Toronto work did catch plenty of ears, though: She’s toured with Jessie Ware, she laid background vocals on Childish Gambino’s “Telegraph Ave (“Oakland” by Lloyd),” and she recently was invited by executive producer Carl Jones to lend her voice to Adult Swim’s Black Dynamite. It was a notable episode not only for its batshit crazy plot (horny zombified men run rampant after the town whores leave; Bob Marley’s amazing sex game), but also for featuring guest stars Chance The Rapper and Erykah Badu.

“I was sitting there watching and judging my accent so hard,” she said about her performance. “I did not do good. I wish I did better, but everyone was laughing. It was a blast, and it was funny, but I had to bring out my Jamaican roots one time.”

Jordan and I didn’t just chat about the extracurriculars, though. 1021, her debut album which is out today, was on the horizon, and she was focused.

“It was an emotional roller coaster,” Jordan said of the recording process. “It’s just crazy on so many levels: Being independent, being away from home, love, relationships. It’s everything I’ve been going through. It is me, so I just hope people get a sense of genuine artistry.”

1021 is partially inspired by being out of one’s comfort zone, and that’s kind of where she was at during our interview on a quiet Sunday afternoon.

You come from three different places with big musical scenes: You were born in England, you lived in Toronto and LA. How do you combine those influences?
Growing up, you never really take in everything that’s happening around you, but then you do subconsciously. My eldest brother still lives in England and a lot of my family still lives in England, so I’m still highly attached to that culture, especially musically. I grew up on all kinds of British music.

Using all of that and incorporating all these different influences from all these different cultures into my art is amazing. It’s dope to be able to say that I can do that.

Did you look back at your prior two projects when making 1021?
In a way, I think I did so subconsciously. But I think it’s still different from the other projects. This is my first official album, and I’m doing it independently, too. So it’s just crazy all around, but I did go back every once in a while to listen to ROJO and Pressure. I remember the feeling and try to maintain that main sense of freedom that I had when I was making it and incorporate it.

How is the LA scene compared to the Toronto scene?
I got my own little crew going on here. I got Protostar over here and a lot of people that mess with the music. My boys from the bay: Jay Ant and IAMSU! We have a really dope support system out here. It’s obviously different from Toronto because it’s just very different culturally—just a completely different atmosphere. These are the experiences you need to have as an artist. Just coming out of your comfort zone and going somewhere else to sort of make you and break you in this industry. That’s kind of why I left Toronto in the first place: because I wanted to experience that and not be comfortable all the time.

What are your inspirations? Your first project sampled Radiohead, for example, so it’s clear you have a wide range.
Right now, I find myself listening to a lot of Radiohead, a lot of Charli XCX — I’m really digging her right now. Obviously the go-to: Drake, The Weeknd. Then there’s AlunaGeorge from London. Music is just really dope right now. There’s a lot of it, and sometimes you gotta sift through, but there’s a lot of amazing music to take inspiration from.

So I’m just taking the inspiration I had from the past—my 90s house influences—but really taking in the people around me, building appreciation for the music and not incorporating it into what I do, but just being inspired by it.

How do you feel about the term “alternative R&B”? It’s been thrown out there a lot these days.
Yeah, I don’t really get into this alternative R&B shit. I just make R&B music. That’s just what I do. I mean it is a genre, but I don’t want to categorize it and call it alt-R&B. I think it’s just R&B that I make. I’d just leave it at that.

Brian Josephs is a writer living in New York. Follow Brian Josephs on Twitter.