- 1 day ago
Paris Jackson plugs in and turns up for second LP offering, 'HAPPIEST DAY OF MY LIFE,' marking a departure from her debut from 2020. The singer joined Miles The DJ in Los Angeles recently to discuss her new project, influences, and finding community.
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00:00Hey, what's going on? Miles the DJ here, K-Rock music director. Paris Jackson is an LA-based
00:05singer, songwriter, musician. Her first record back in 2020 was Wilted. Since then, she's
00:11been on the road with many K-Rock artists like Queens of the Stone Age, Incubus, Manchester
00:16Orchestra, Silverstone Pickups. Her new album, Happiest Day of My Life, is out now. Thrilled
00:22to be joined on K-Rock Locals Only with Paris Jackson.
00:26Hello.
00:27Welcome.
00:28Listening to the new record, it feels like such a jump in evolution in sound from my
00:35ears, right? Is this like more in the vein of the record you've sort of always wanted
00:39to make?
00:40I think so. I think there's this, you know, inner angsty teen that never really went away.
00:47And this is kind of the, I made this record for her and I wanted to make something that
00:51she thought would be cool.
00:54Yeah.
00:54And I don't know that it's a sound that I'll be married to. I don't know that it's a
00:58good. It's because I am a folk artist at heart. I'm always going to do the singer songwriter
01:02thing. And I do want to just explore all different kinds of different forms of production. But
01:09this was very much something where I'm like, once I realized I could scream and I realized
01:12I could actually sing with my chest register, I was like, oh, let's do something more abrasive.
01:16Let's do something that doesn't sound pretty.
01:19Yeah.
01:20You know, a lot of a lot more screaming on this record than anything you've ever done
01:24before. I know you worked with Linda Perry on this album, right? Is that something that
01:28she helped get out of you? Or did that kind of happen organically?
01:30That was something that kind of happened when I was working in the studio with Simon Oscroft
01:37on a few songs. One of the songs that we actually ended up putting out was Band-Aid.
01:41Band. And that was a few years ago. And I kind of got more comfortable with that. And
01:47I still, I don't think that I scream correctly. And I should probably work with a vocal coach
01:52on how to do it in a way that doesn't damage my vocal cords.
01:55Sure.
01:57Because I kind of just send it. But it was through kind of doing it live on stage and getting
02:03comfortable doing it there that I was able to kind of do it into the, do it in the studio.
02:07There is something, and obviously you don't want to hurt your vocal cords or anything.
02:10This is the livelihood here. But yeah, there is something about that angstiness and that
02:14rawness, right? And with some of those vocals that can come out that can really, I don't
02:18know, enhance a record, even if it's not done properly.
02:21Yeah.
02:22You know, we had Linda Perry at Almost Acoustic Christmas with Four Non Blondes a few months
02:27ago. She was our surprise for the evening.
02:29Yeah.
02:30Such a K-Rock icon and legend with everything that we've done over the years. How did it
02:36come together for you to start working with her? And what was that process like?
02:39Talk about her contributions to the album.
02:42Yeah. There was a good amount that we, that was just straight up co-writing. I think she's
02:48a phenomenal songwriter.
02:50Yeah.
02:50Um, and she's, she's really got a gift for melody. And so a lot of it would be like, she'd
02:57either come up with the tagline and like most of the melodies and then I would write all
03:00the lyrics. Uh, cause that's like my favorite part of what I do is, is words. Um, but how
03:06it kind of came about was, uh, I was asked to do a, she did this event with her nonprofit
03:13called equalize her, which I'm sure you've heard of it. It creates opportunities for
03:17women to take other positions in the music industry. That's not necessarily like pop
03:24artists in a leotard, but it's like no sound lighting, you know, mixing, doing monitors
03:29and like all of the other things that come with, with being in this industry, uh, especially
03:34live music. And, um, I was asked to play, uh, their show at the Troubadour and we met at
03:39soundcheck and she sort of like poached me and, um, yeah, we kind of just, she invited
03:45me to her studio and we cranked out, hit your knees, which is a single I released a couple
03:49of years ago. And then, you know, it all came together so quickly that I was like, I want
03:53to keep doing this. And then we started writing the album.
03:56Was there anything in particular from a songwriting standpoint that she got out of you? Something
04:00I, you know, listening to this album, it sounds incredibly vulnerable, right? And it doesn't
04:07come across like you're writing anything to try to be relatable. You're just completely
04:12100% authentically yourself, right? Is that something that she helped get out of you?
04:16Was that already there? Like talk about the songwriting side of things.
04:19She would definitely say things like, uh, be specific because I, I, I love a lot of, uh,
04:26a lot of the songwriters I look up to can be very vague. Um, and that's something that
04:31I still often do, but it's, uh, it's something that she was kind of trying to encourage me
04:37to, to stray away from it and be more specific about what my experience is.
04:41There's a couple of songs in particular I'd like to dive into here. Um, Zombies in Love,
04:45a beautiful record that, um, just lyrically I get the sense it's about a previous relationship
04:52that probably wasn't, you know, the best thing in your life, but also with a sense of hindsight
04:56as well. Curious about, um, how that song sort of came together and also the differences
05:03between maybe writing something in a moment of a situation versus having some, some space.
05:09Yeah. I don't know which one, which one I prefer. There have definitely been experiences of like,
05:14like my first record, a lot of, a lot of the songs that I wrote, I wrote in the middle
05:19of,
05:19of grieving. Um, and it was a concept record about, about a relationship and Zombies in Love
05:24is about that same relationship with years of hindsight and years of sobriety under my belt
05:29and years of, of, uh, healing. Um, and that's almost, it's, it's bittersweet because it's,
05:38it's better in some ways and it's not as, as good in some ways, but it's better in the sense
05:42that,
05:43um, because I have more clarity, I think I can look at it from a more objective perspective,
05:52if that makes sense. Sure. Are you, are you writing sort of as, I don't know, like a narrator 30
05:58,000
05:58feet above? Is it still, it's obviously still very much your experience, right? But are you,
06:03are you ever writing from the perspective of outside of yourself, even if it's a situation you
06:08were in? Sometimes. I wouldn't say specifically with, with Zombies. I think that one was one that
06:14I had to kind of dip back into that well, so I could really kind of capture the feeling of
06:19it.
06:19Um, if I, if I stepped too far away from it, I kind of lose the closeness of it.
06:26Love the record. Stitched on and on is another song on happiest day of my life, which is what
06:31we're going to hear on K rock locals only kind of has like sort of a, I mean, from my
06:36ears,
06:36there's a spacey, like almost dream pop sense to it, but upbeat. There's some like crunchy
06:42nineties Matador records vibes to it. Love a crunch. Talk, talk, talk about that song. I love
06:46that record. Written about the same relationship. Uh, and there were some positives to it at least,
06:52right? It inspired some quality music. I think, I don't believe in positive or negative. I think
06:56some things are lighter or heavier and I think they're all necessary. Yeah. Uh, because it's part
07:02of the experience of just being on the planet and experiencing all of the spectrums of feelings
07:07and things. And I'm kind of, you know, I'm here, I'm here for the whole enchilada, bring
07:11it on. Um, but yeah, that, that song was one that it was kind of, I hadn't had contact with
07:19that person in like six years and they kind of like resurfaced and it was a very short interaction
07:26and it was this realization of like, I had gone through so much healing and I had done so much
07:30work in my sobriety and this person was exactly the same. And it was kind of just, yeah. Right.
07:37Writing about that, that experience, uh, music, obviously in your DNA growing up, was there
07:42anything that you discovered early on, maybe some, you know, K rock kind of records that helped sort
07:49of shape what this album would eventually turn into? Yeah. I think there's a, there's a good amount,
07:54uh, that I, that I discovered from literally listening to this station on my way to school in
07:59the mornings or on my way back after school. Um, and yeah, I mean, uh, a lot, a lot of
08:06the bands
08:07that kind of influenced this record as far as production and Sonics go would be like Marcy
08:12Playground, um, which unfortunately the songs that I love the most by them are not ones that are ever
08:17played on the radio. Um, but you know, Nirvana, Pixies, Smashing Pumpkins, um, Bright Eyes is also
08:27a problem. I don't know if you guys play Bright Eyes on the station, but they're, they're a huge
08:30influence of mine. Definitely. Yeah. We've dabbled in some Bright Eyes in our time. One of
08:34my favorite artists ever, Connor Oberst from Omaha. Uh, in fact, just played two shows at the
08:40Hollywood Bowl. No, one show at the Hollywood Bowl, but two albums, not sure if you caught
08:44that or not. So I went to the New York show and the Red Rocks show for that group of
08:50shows.
08:50And the reason I couldn't come to the Hollywood Bowl one was because I was playing Bottle Rock
08:54Festival on the same day. Um, I thought about actually taking a flight so that I could make
09:00it. But, uh, but then, um, the dudes in Chevy Metal asked me to do a show with them. So
09:05I was
09:05like, yeah, okay. Right. How was Bottle Rock? It was awesome. Yeah, it was awesome. I love
09:09that festival. It was my second time playing it and I, I love it out there. I know Sombra
09:14had a huge crowd, Foo Fighters headline, Lorde. Yeah. Did you get the experience? Oh yeah. I played
09:21to see them singing along to every song. Sure. Yeah. It's all that K-Rock listening
09:25growing up, right? Yeah. I think they're, they're one of the bands I discovered off of
09:29this station. Smashed Pumpkin 13 was your handle on Instagram at one point. I told you
09:34that. Yes. Is that right? Yeah. Talk about your Smashing Pumpkins fandom and what they
09:38mean to you. Um, it's, I literally have Billy Corgan's pedal board. I mean, there's some
09:45like actual pedal board or pedals that, that I have. And then there's other ones that are
09:49like way more boutique that, but still capture the same sound. Okay. Uh, tons of fuzz and
09:53distort, like they're mostly fuzz. And, uh, I think my, my band kind of gives me crap for
09:59it because it's literally just a bunch of fuzz pedals. Um, but like the, the music video
10:05that we did for Happiest Day, um, was heavily, heavily, heavily inspired by 1979 music video.
10:14And, uh, the cool part about that music video was, uh, I had a bunch of friends in it and
10:20the requirements to be in the music video is you have to be a local LA artist. So we had
10:25bands like Moon Fuzz, Pegzilla, Pretty the Band, Sludge Mother, like it's, it's all like
10:31Gabe mascot, bunch of like local artists. And so then everyone gets their credit at the
10:37end of the music video so that we can kind of like plug other local artists. It was very
10:43much like, uh, lift everybody up. Like let's kind of all come together. I love that. That's
10:47very much the spirit of what this show is on K rock locals only, uh, every Sunday night.
10:52Where did you film the video? It was all over LA. Okay. It was, it's, it's like a dream day
10:57in LA with all of my favorite, like LA bands. Yeah. And, uh, there was a little bit and like,
11:03it was mostly East side. Sure. Mostly East side. Like we had some stuff in Eagle Rock and Silver
11:08Lake and got it. Yeah. Let's repping video today. In fact, speaking of Eagle Rock, um, uh, another
11:14K rock artist that you're close with, I would imagine. I mean, you've played shows with them
11:17as incubus. Yeah. Uh, they did a morning view show at the Hollywood bowl a couple of years ago.
11:23You were on that bill. Talk about that, that experience playing the Hollywood bowl before
11:28incubus performing, uh, morning view. We were just talking about bright eyes playing albums
11:32front to back. That's a legendary one, of course, as well. How did that come together? Tell me about
11:36that night. That was a surreal experience. And one of the coolest experiences I've ever had,
11:43um, was Hollywood bowl. Um, those guys, the incubus guys are the nicest human beings I've ever met.
11:51Um, they would come, I've gone on tour with them twice now. The first time was a full band,
11:55which was when we did a Hollywood bowl. And the second time was, I was first of three
11:58Manchester orchestra who worked on my first album with me. And we did a single together
12:02at one point. Uh, they were second of three and that was just an acoustic run for me.
12:06Sure. Um, those guys come by my dressing room every single day. Like they say, hi, they,
12:12you know, they want to make sure everyone's good. Like there's just this sweet, loving energy
12:20that is, I think rare. It's very common in the rock world. I feel like, I feel like some of
12:25like
12:25the most intense death metal dudes covered in tattoos are the nicest human beings you'll ever
12:31meet. Like it's the, there is this like sense of community and love in like the harder music scene
12:36that I just love so much. Yeah. Yeah. There is a real communal aspect to it. Very inviting,
12:41very welcoming. Yeah. When I was 17, I, uh, my first mosh pit was a Sepultura show cause I skipped
12:46prom to go see Metallica and Sepultura was playing the same festival. It was my first ever mosh pit.
12:50I was 17. Wow. And there's just this sense of like, when you fall, you get picked up immediately,
12:55you know, like there's just this love there. Um, Queens of the stone age you've played shows with
13:02over the years, silver, some pickups, speaking of great guys, I mean, Nikki, Brian, like the coolest
13:07Manchester orchestra. Um, anything that you've learned, uh, on the road with these bands in
13:12particular that you've taken, uh, to your stage shows and presence and all that.
13:17The, I think the biggest thing I've taken from these guys, especially guys like the dudes in
13:25Manchester who are just salt of the earth human beings is like dude turns hard. You're not sleeping,
13:34especially if like in my situation, we're in, we're in a van and it's a chase the bus situation.
13:38So it's like, sometimes you drive four hours, play a show, drive another four hours, get a little bit
13:42of sleep, wake up, finish the drive, play another show. It's so intense and everyone's homesick.
13:47There's this, we have to keep it fun. We have to keep it light, you know, enjoy the people that
13:52are
13:52in your camp and really like have this sense of family because that's what makes it easy because
13:58at the end of the day, we're doing what we love. We're not, you know, we're, we're, we're not stuck
14:02under fluorescent lights all day, you know, at a job that we hate, like we are doing what we love
14:08and it's such a gift. And I think sometimes, you know, the demanding aspects of tour can
14:15take away from that if we're not careful. And so there, there's definitely, I know my, my, my camp,
14:21my band, uh, has definitely expressed, you know, excitement about how we run our crew of just like,
14:27there's this love, there's this all for one and one for all kind of an energy. And we're just all
14:33laughing all the time. Like it's, it's, it's fun. We make it fun. That's incredible. Yeah. Cause
14:38you'll be on the road. It could be grueling. I miss my dogs. I miss my cats. I miss my
14:42bed.
14:43You know, I'm not sleeping. Right. But you're doing it. And I'm having so much fun with the coolest
14:48human beings ever. Right. Right. Yeah. If, uh, if wilted was a snapshot of who you were in 2020
14:54and in 2026, happiest day of my life is a snapshot of who you are now. As you look at
14:59those people,
15:00they're all you, but you know, is there, is there a difference? Like what's the biggest difference
15:03between who you were then and who you are now? Pretty much no expectations. Like I'm, I try and,
15:10you know, put in the work, stay out of the results. I have a completely different mentality
15:13putting this record out than I did with the last one. There's kind of like this detachment and not
15:19in like a separation or removal, but just a holding on loosely kind of an energy. And I'm
15:27very much, I've already started writing the next album. I'm like five or six songs into the next
15:31record and I'm ready to start recording some of them. So it's like, let's just keep going.
15:36Do you have an idea of what sonically that may sound like? Again, you're, you know, folk artists
15:41at heart. Yeah. You love so many different types of music. Do you see it being a extension of this
15:45record? Like top of your head. What are you thinking? Elliot Smith, I think is the, is the
15:51path for this next one. Yeah. Some Elliot Smith, maybe some more Variede's influence on that.
15:57Yeah. Throwing some D minors, you know? Right, right. But before we get there, let's take in the
16:01new album, the sophomore record. Let's scream, let's go loud. Let's have fun. Let's jump up and down.
16:06Happiest day of my life. The new album by Paris Jackson. Thank you so much for stopping by
16:09K-Rock Locals Only. Thank you so much.
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