jessica johnson garcia

I always knew I wanted to be a singer. My love for music would have it no other way. But an inherent shyness and, at times, crippling anxiety would constantly push back against my dreams and ambition. I had to learn to live in that tension. So shortly after high school, I threw myself outside of my comfort zone and into a stadium seating 91,000 where I would sing the National Anthem, acapella. To say I was terrified would be an understatement. Prior to that moment, my performances were primarily limited to the confines of my car - where I would drive around aimlessly or intentionally take the long way - to get in as much singing time as possible. (Needless to say, I was often late, everywhere.) So as my nerve-racked body walked onto that football field with about as much grace as a baby giraffe, I knew I wasn't just proving to myself that I could do difficult things; I was marking the start of something new. After that performance, I learned what an impact anxiety could have on my voice. I knew that in order for me to have any chance at a career in singing, I would have to get my nerves under control. Unfortunately, I had no idea how to do this. Raised in a 'pray it away' or 'walk it off' belief system, I forced myself to do as many auditions as possible. I went through several years ruthlessly, and foolishly, putting myself into extremely stressful situations and exposed myself to regular rejection when I did not have the tools or support system in place to properly process the human emotional consequences of such. Over time, the studio became my safe haven and 2 of the songs I wrote during this period were picked up by Mercedes Benz.

 

After several years of recording in a professional studio, I put together a simple in-home studio with the intention of recording rough tracks for demo purposes. Instead, I began to learn and love the mixing process and ended up recorded my first EP, A League of My Own. After becoming comfortable with engineering and mixing vocal tracks, I took, what felt to me like a bold leap, into the world of composing music and producing beats. Surprisingly, my first ever attempt at a song on which I did everything (a song called Stronger) ended up being my most-streamed and licensed song. 

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Then it all came crashing down...