Artist Advent Calendar - Day 9: Jude Kelly
Written by: Cherrelle Johnson
It’s day 9 of Next Wave Magazine's Artists Advent Calendar. Today we’re spotlighting brand new music artist, Jude Kelly.
Jude Kelly is a soul-pop artist coming from New Zealand. Her debut single ‘Bonnet Bunny’ was released on November 8, 2024, with a video to accompany it. She’s ready to take the music world by storm and we got the chance to exclusively interview her about music from hers to others and several other things.
NW: What's the weirdest thing that’s inspired a song?
Jude: The song named ‘Bonnet Bunny’. I went to my first car show and I photoshopped myself onto the bonnet of this Savanna RX-7 (1978) green Mazda. My grandma commented “What are you doing at a car show, darling girl? Being a bonnet bunny?”. I had the bones of the song in the works but the story was lacking - I basically scrapped all the lyrics and rewrote it to ‘Bonnet Bunny’, keeping the original concept of the song.
NW: Who’s an artist you've recently discovered?
Jude: UK artist Gia Ford. Listen to their Album ‘Transparent Things’.
NW: What's the strangest place you've ever written or recorded music?
Jude: Club bathroom cubicles. The muffled track through the walls really gives sometimes.
NW: If you could collaborate with any artist right now, who would it be?
Jude: St. Vincent for sure. I am such a fan, ‘Flea’ is my catnip.
NW: What's a lyric from another artist that hits you hard every time?
Jude: The whole second verse of Only Exception from Paramore but for the purpose of this question:
‘Maybe I know somewhere deep in my soul
That love never lasts’
‘And up until now, I had sworn to myself
That I'm content with loneliness
Point-blank lyricism that you pray you don’t relate to.
NW: What song of yours do you feel proudest of?
Jude: The first song we wrote for the record ‘Clarence’. This is currently not released yet. A favorite line from this is ‘A lonely love if what I gift to you’ and ‘You try to cheat a loss for one more play’.
NW: Do you have a favorite holiday movie?
Jude: Home Alone
NW: Are you more of a ‘decorate everything’ or ‘less is more’ type of person?
Jude: The latter but with hoarder tendencies.
