FANS of local songstress Jackie Jaxx will know that this sassy entertainer is popular for her songs that relate to Guyanese life. Now, her latest single “Blackout” is cementing that fact and is a testimony to Jackie’s aim of becoming a voice of the people through her music.

“Blackout” is a based on social commentary, more specifically, the ever-frustrating power outage situation in Guyana and it is full of humour, to say the least.

Jackie said that when she wrote the song she was simply frustrated because she does her own recording at home and after a week she sat down and penned what she was feeling.

The 27-year-old told The Buzz that she feels her role in her community is to preserve the history and based on her own experience as an artist she wanted to tell that story and did just that through the song.

The song certainly connected with the public, because, only eight days after, it already had 21,000 hits of Facebook and Jackie says she is very happy with the response.

Education is necessary to become successful
Jackie is a simple down-to-earth young lady who is determined to succeed in becoming an internationally acclaimed artiste and having noted the changes in the music industry, she is ready to take on the challenge.

“Somebody just don’t show up and make you a star. With the digital world, things have changed so much so the way people consume music in which they don’t buy records or CDs anymore, it is all done online,” Jackie said.

This Bagotville, West Bank Demerara resident stated, however, that online sales of her songs would not be lucrative if her fan base isn’t large because streaming will be low and that would not generate any returns for her.

As previously reported by this newspaper, Jackie took a short break from the public. In that interview, she admitted that she learned the hard way and realised that she could not do it all alone. After becoming overwhelmed with her career, she suffered a ‘burn out’ and had to re-group to sort herself out.

With the knowledge she acquired, she has managed to set up her own publishing company, has control over her work, catalogue, and collects her royalties from overseas.

Jackie told the Buzz that she is in the know about branding, marketing, networking, sponsorship, and merchandising of her own songs- a total of 15.

Jackie admitted though that Guyana lacks professional graphic artists, sound engineering and photography and when she finds the few talented ones their services are too costly.

Jackie is of the opinion that the few professionals over-charge for their services and, since she operates on a budget as such, they are squeezing local artistes out of the little they have.

Fortunately, she is happy with the support from the sponsors and is thankful for their contribution which enabled her to continue her music journey locally and overseas.

Working together
Jackie pointed out that for progress to take place locally, artistes need to work together since there is a cost attached to everything they do.

The sassy singer started singing as a child at school and church and when she was 19 she morphed into an artiste. Even as a toddler Jackie knew she wanted to become a singer and often told her mother. She describes her journey as a life-changing experience at which she can only get better at.

She is the middle child of six siblings and has told herself she has what it takes to become successful.

The struggle isn’t easy
Jackie said the journey is rough and it has been difficult yet she is pressing on because the mental, physical and environmental issues she experienced has opened her eyes to a lot of things.

She explained that when she fell out with some people she was blacklisted from shows and events and she has trust issues since and will not sign-on to a manager.

For instance, she added that a few local artistes who have managers are successful and is of the opinion she can manage herself to do her country proud.

Jackie told The Buzz that the struggle has been real and opined that artistes need education, not some manager signing them on.

Since her return to the music scene, Jackie said she has what it takes to ‘make it’ in the music industry but also is aware that music is very addictive.

“I had a dream but I crashed and burned, Before, I did not have a plan and now I do,” she said.

Be yourself
She, however, urges local artistes to get away from being the Jamaican artiste and embrace their culture and language to be unique and desist from imitating the foreign accent that many have adopted.

She related that it is quite disappointing to hear local disc jockeys imitating the Jamaican accent and it needs to stop because people should be themselves and be proud of their roots.

“We should embrace the things that make us unique and authentic as Guyanese because that is what people crave ‘unique and authentic’ music which is real entertainment at its best,” Jackie said.

This reggae/dancehall singer/songwriter and emcee is in the process of making a music video for the song “Blackout” and the remix for the “Guyana” song.

She is expected to release newer songs as well titled “Brown Boy” and “El Dorado Gold” and her other songs will portray her take on domestic violence, her culture, history and things she is passionate about.