Interview with Jake Scott.
Interview by: April Bredael, Olivia Chavez, & Maggie Heneghan
Photos by: April Bredael
TikTok by: Olivia Chavez
Fresh off his national headline Lavender Tour, Jake Scott is now moving full gear ahead in anticipation of his upcoming album, Lavender.
“Honestly this tour has made me even more excited,” Scott shared, “Getting to play an unreleased song every night and seeing how they [the fans] react has been really cool. Every artist says this but I really think this is my best body of work so far. I’m really really excited about it.”
Jake Scott got into music at an early age, playing drums and “learning the basic workings of how music worked.” This all changed as Scott entered high school and discovered John Mayor for the first time. “That just flipped my world upside down,” Scott shared, “The way he wrote songs and sang and played guitar, I was just like woah, this is what I’d love to do. So I sold the drums and bought a guitar and then quickly realized I’m never going to play the guitar as well as John Mayor does.”
After years of practice and work, Scott never once gave up on this dream. Although his songwriting style has changed, his talent has only improved.
“Thematically, yes. When I was first writing songs it was all about this longing for love and pining for this person. But then I met my wife Rachel .. And now having a daughter and writing songs for her. The process is the same, but the topics are maturing with me I guess.”
Speaking of his daughter, Jake Scott mentioned his wife and daughter attending many of his shows. “And she could not care less,” Scott chuckles about his daughter, Ruby. “She just wears those big ole baby headphones. I miss her a lot. It’s really cute. Whenever I’m away, Rachel will play my music over the speaker and she’ll just start smiling.”
After talking more about his family, it is clear that they play a huge role in Scott’s career. “For me, what really takes me back to the season of falling in love for the first time is when I smell lavender. Rachel always has lavender essential oils or lavender ice cream or whatever. So for me, I always associate it with her. That always makes me feel nostalgic and really takes me back.”
Another huge inspiration to his work is his fans. “This one girl in New York City made me, Rachel, and Ruby these matching crewneck sweaters with custom print on them. It was so nice and thoughtful. I was like what!” After chatting with a few of the fans on barricade at Scott’s Chicago stop of his Lavender Tour, it is clear that the love is very much reciprocated.
“I would love to just keep going up and up and up,” Scott shared on where he sees himself a year from now. Anticipating a growing audience, larger rooms, and an established international presence – it is clear that Jake Scott is on the rise and only continuing to grow from here.
“Give the Swifties what they want,” Scott shared on his cover of Taylor Swift’s “All Too Well.” A crowd favorite, Scott includes the track around halfway through every set. Other crowd favorites include Jake Scott originals “Texas Girl,” “Favorite T-Shirt,” and the recently released “Good Day.”
Throughout our interview, Jake Scott casually sips his coffee in hand. “This is so basic,” he begins, “It’s just a black coffee. I love a pumpkin spiced latte, don’t get me wrong; I’ve been chasing good pumpkin spice lattes across the country. I wake up every morning and start with a few black coffee cups and later on in the day if I want to really get wild I’ll get a latte.”
Perhaps the few cups of black coffee are what fuel him to produce such catchy tracks. His process is pretty straightforward. “I think my favorite part of the process [of songwriting] is the first hour. You sit down and you’re just playing random chords and singing random gibberish .. And then there’s this 30 minute window where you’re like this song could be the greatest song of my entire life.”
“I don’t know how to describe it other than it’s this moment of adrenaline and euphoria of just like, you know it’s there if you can just capture it.” - Jake Scott on songwriting
“So far it’s been so cool to see so many people. I love how broad the spectrum is of people really gravitating towards it. I’ve got kids doing TikToks that are like 10 and then I’ve got older women like ‘I’m getting ready for the day, here’s my routine!’ and I’m like this is awesome, it really reaches everybody.”
Written after settling down at a writing camp in an Airbnb in Malibu, California, Scott recalls the exact moment the song came to life. A beautiful day on the second day of camp, the positive energy in the surrounding was clearly encapsulated within the singer-songwriters latest release.