Last month saw LA-based producer, professor, label owner and music pioneer, Nite Jewel, return with her latest long-play, No Sun. Known for being one of the first innovators of Chill-wave (her Grand Theft Auto anthem ‘Nowhere To Go’ is iconique), her fifth album sees Nite Jewel move in a new direction.
Still incorporating various elements of Electronic, this time Nite Jewel strips things back and to put her vocals front and centre. Dealing with the breakdown of her marriage, No Sun sees Nite Jewel aka Ramon Gonzalez, get up close and personal, offering her own addition to the womens’ musical laments that she studied during her PhD.
Ramona talks to Loverboy about female producers not being given enough credit, her new minimalist direction and yes, even her favourite Mariah Carey song.
Ramona, thanks for talking to Loverboy and congrats on No Sun! It sounds like it’s been a cathartic album!
Thank you! Yes definitely. I honestly think the most cathartic part has been releasing the album and having other people experience it.
When touring the album are you worried that playing the songs live will bring back memories of that time?
It’s interesting because a few of my friends have asked this, but probably the most I’m thinking about during a show is the technical execution of everything and then just being physically inside the music, the notes, the chords. So I don’t usually think of the memory of the lyrics too much.
You’ve said that you have never been so personal before as you are on No Sun and that in the past you felt like it would have been cheap to be like that. I think that women are often criticised a lot more for discussing relationships in their music than men. Did you feel the same way?
OMG, how observant! Yes, I think a part of it was wanting to be taken seriously for my music alone, and not wanting my art to be about some tragic story. But in learning about women’s laments through my PhD, it has made me realize that suffering is something that women have been given the power to communicate—it’s about strength, not weakness.
Your vocal is really front and centre on No Sun. With such intensity and all the layers of vocals, it gives me moments of Kate Bush, which I live for! Was stripping back the vocal on this album a way for you to emphasise your emotions?
Oh wow, thank you. Featuring the vocals had more to do with how I approached the production and how minimalist I wanted everything to be. I wanted to approach the album like a minimalist electronic record, in that every element could be distinctly heard and every melody like a big event. Also it was important for me for the listeners to hear the songs like poems, so that every word could be understood.
I know you studied Women’s Musical Laments. Has that study played a bigger part in the writing of this album more than others? What are some of your personal favourite Women’s Musical Laments? This is my current one, Haha….
Oh, I love it. Yes, every region of the world has their own distinct versions of the lament, whether it’s the aching, sweeping ballads of México or the fervent, raw flamenco songs of Spain, etc.. I think what my studies show me is how much of the female lament is written into the DNA of popular music and that creators like myself are often invoking these tropes and tendencies into their songs without being totally conscious of it. It was interesting to look back on No Sun and see it as an album of laments, although I did not necessarily view it in that manner during the period of creation.
‘Nowhere to Go’ was featured in Grand Theft Auto V in 2013 and now music in video games has never been bigger – like seeing Moodymann do a gig within Grand Theft Auto last year. Was the potential exposure within games as obvious to you back in 2013?
“Nowhere to Go” was definitely the most exposure Nite Jewel has ever gotten and I knew it was huge at the time. We had kids in the most remote parts of the world freaking out at our shows because of that one song. It really made an impact. I think especially because I was pretty much the only woman featured on that part of the soundtrack, it stood out. I’d love to do more music for video games, I think certain aspects of the Nite Jewel sound are super conducive to that aesthetic.
Your Mum made up a disease to account for her dislike of technology (I love that!!) and that you were without internet until you were 18. I grew up without the internet too but I think it meant that albums, images in the papers of my favourite artists all carried more weight back then because they were not so accessible. Also I was more creative as a kid and spent my time organising concerts for my trolls to perform Andrew Lloyd-Webber songs. Haha! What effect did not having internet have on you growing up?
Ahahaha, she did! Smh, I always gave her a pass when she couldn’t work the TV because of this, but it was all a ruse. Also wow, I totally did fantasy play with my troll dolls too. Imaginary play was a huge part of my childhood and it allowed me to really live in a dream world of my own making most of the time. I remember I used to take this tape recorder of my mom’s and late at night when everyone would go to sleep, I would record myself doing fake radio programs where I was the announcer and then I’d do the music too. It was a time I’d make up a lot of songs and lyrics. I think not having the internet just made me very creative with proper analog tools (dolls, candles—yes I had a Wiccan phase—papers, piano), but I don’t think having the internet makes you less creative either. I think people are just more or less creative by nature, to be honest.
Dâm-Funk and your ex-husband both worked on Christine & The Queens’ last album. I know you’ve said that you’ve written for other artists in the past. Did you have any secret songwriting input on her last album too? I can definitely hear your influence!
You’ve done your research! No, I did not have a hand in Christine’s record, but in utilizing Cole and Dam on her album, she definitely conjured a Nite-Funk aesthetic on certain tracks, though filtered through her own brand of French pop.
Are there any artists you would like to write for and allow you to channel non-Nite Jewel vibes of music?
I really enjoy musical collaboration, but I often find it hard difficult to write for vocalists, perhaps because my songwriting is really tied to how my voice sounds and how I think. Sometimes lyrics or chord progressions I’ve tossed to other artists have struck them as very weird haha. I do love collaborating with other producers/beatmakers though.
Sometimes artists, particularly women, are discredited if they collaborate with too many artists, particularly men, do you think this is still happening now?
I think that the changes are slowly happening to give women more due for their work, but I do feel like there are still strong patriarchal attitudes that this industry has not shed. For me it is disheartening that women feel like they have to do everything on an album to be taken seriously as a producer or composer, but men are not held to the same standard. Ultimately music is a team effort and thrives on collaboration and innovation between people, so it is a disservice to women to make us feel like working with others will undermine us. We should feel safe to collaborate with whomever we choose without it being questioned as to what we actually did. I believe the responsibility, then, lies with people dictating the history and the narrative afterwards, the writers, the journalists, the historians. For instance, Larry Fitzmaurice from Pitchfork omitting Nite Jewel from his history of chillwave, which is largely a production-based genre (no female producers were featured in this article, and certainly not any women of color). Although he apologized for it, the article has still not been amended, and it is this kind of mistake that perpetuates a prejudiced history.
Totally. One example of this is our love…Mariah Carey. We are named after her iconic 2001 anthem so always ask, what is your favourite Mariah track and why?
Ahhh this is so hard. She is one of my favorite songwriters and singers, so I have favorites from each album. But her version of “Someday” from her MTV unplugged album is so important. I love the arrangement and everything about it. Mariah was always underestimated as a live performer in the early days, and they arranged this unplugged performance to show people how skilled she was without any glitz. And she absolutely killed it. A true musician through and through.
Oh and bonus question, I know you are a huge Janet Jackson fan. Last week she announced a two-night, four-hour self-directed documentary. Do you think she will finally get the recognition she deserves after being cancelled by the industry in 2004 at the superbowl?
I still can’t believe Janet was cancelled by the industry for something done by her white male co-star, but in a way I can because this industry is so racist and misogynistic. I think Janet has always gotten the recognition from the right people and is generally taken to be a legend despite what the industry has to say, so hopefully this documentary will only further solidify her status. She is one of the greatest entertainers of all time!
The album No Sun is out now.
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