Jordan Anthony
Australian singer-songwriter Jordan Anthony has just unveiled his latest single "Reckless", a sultry and atmospheric r&b/pop record crafted in collaboration with Emile Ghantous and Sam Sznd. With its infectious melodies, soulful vocals, and captivating production, "Reckless" is the perfect track to get stuck in your head. Add it to your playlist and make sure to stream “Reckless”, out everywhere !!
Hi Jordan, how are you? What's your story?
Hi!! I’m so good, here’s a little crash course on me:
I wrote my first song when I was 7 years old, it was no hit but a song nonetheless; about my experiences of getting bullied at school. I used music and songwriting as my safe haven and escape from my troubles I had at school being bullied and it allowed me to express the words that I could never say due to me never opening up to many people about what I went through. From that point on I knew that it was exactly what I wanted to do for the rest of my life, and it became my mission to use these stories and my music to connect with as many people as I possibly can - make people feel seen, heard and less alone. And that is my “why” still to this day, to connect with as many people as I can through my stories and translating those stories through emotional pop music. Mum and Dad put me into piano lessons from 5 years old, and I hated them for it at the time but they always said
“you’ll thank us one day”, and I absolutely do because without that I would’ve never become self-sufficient enough musically to start writing and arranging my own songs. Growing up I always went through the motions at school because I knew that music would always be my one and only career choice, no plan B. I went on the voice Australia in 2019 making it to the top 4 before almost immediately post the voice representing Australia and the junior Eurovision Song Contest placing 8th for my country. In 2024 I was approached by American Idol, to take my music international and really give it a go out in LA where most of the industry resides and thrives. And so I did, going through an incredible journey making it into the top 14 before making the move to LA to pursue my dream full time and now starting to roll out the releases of my new project with “Reckless” being the first!
What did you grow up listening to?
I grew up listening to a lot of Adele, Ed Sheeran, Guy Sebastian, Bruno Mars, Justin Bieber - those were some of my earliest influences. Ed Sheeran was actually my first ever concert, he was always such a special one for me. I idolized him so much and was so inspired by his artistry it just felt so unique at the time and no one was doing what he did. He really made me believe that I could have a career in music. But every single one of these artists were so instrumental for me in my belief and drew a lot of inspiration from them all.
When did you know you could sing?
I grew up around so much music, so I’d probably say from really early on in my life. I'm not sure how much I believe them but my parents actually always speak about this moment of me when I was one years old in the car and they say that there was this high note in this one song that I would always sing pitch perfect. I'm still not sure how much I buy that story; I've never seen a video but if you ask my parents, that was the moment for them that they knew I had a voice of some sort.
Who was the first person to ever believe in you professionally?
Without a doubt, my parents, they have been the ones that have believed in me from day one, before I even believed in myself. And I think even up until now at this point in my career, they still see something in me that I don't quite see. They really have seen the bigger picture from the very beginning and any and all of my successes I have them to thank for because there’s never been a day that they haven’t been in my corner and I’m seriously so grateful for them.
What biggest lessons have you learned since the beginning of your career?
Humility and being a good person will get you a lot further than talent in this industry.
Keep my inner circle really tight and filter the noise because there will be a lot of it - that was actually something I took away from my mentor Delta Goodrem during my time on The Voice Australia in 2019.
"Reckless" is your latest single - what's the inspiration behind this song?
Reckless is a song that kind of keeps us in the feel good, edgy, anthemic, smooth pop-r&b feeling of cherry whilst starting to move toward that Jordan Anthony groovy pop ballad sound. I wanted to really make a feel good love song that also felt very singable, relatable and real. It’s about that feeling of a relationship or person that makes you feel slightly “feral” (for lack of a better word lol) that pure excitement of crushing hard. Whether it may be fueled by a little bit of delusion of (that’ll never happen) or that feeling it’s not necessarily the best thing for you, we really want the song to encapsulate those moods and feelings. I want people to feel super seen by this song.
Could you describe the songwriting/production process behind this song? Who helped you create it?
This was such a fun session! It was a session with Emile Ghantous and Sam Sznd who I absolutely LOVE working with, we actually intended on writing a timeless love ballad for a pitch project, but in doing so; drawing from some of my own experiences. We wanted to create something that felt really anthemic and kind of timeless with references like Versace on the floor Bruno Mars and Yummy Justin Bieber. It genuinely all came together so quickly within a few hours and there was this moment in the studio where we all looked at each other during the final listen down and we were all like “wow this really needs to be my song”. We just knew.
What does this song make you feel?
I want people to feel less alone in the feeling of crushing hard, I feel like it's a really common and normal thing and definitely something that I’m prone - I feel like also in turn when people relate to "Reckless" it also makes ME feel less alone in that feeling. This song is absolutely a late night screamer, top down, windows down with your friends type song. I don’t know every time I listen to it it always takes me to a “late night drive” type of place - but I feel like ultimately could be listened to in many contexts, I just hope people love it and scream the lyrics hah
What made you want to release "Reckless" as a single?
I remember being in the studio for this song with Emile Ghantous and Sam Sznd and funnily enough we all intended on writing a pitch song for a project. The general outline or the brief was a super timeless, edgy yet modern pop love song. And so we wrote the song kind of drawing from some of my experiences and by the end of it upon our first listen back we were like ok wow, this needs to be apart of my project…and we were all in agreement on that for sure so we kind of pivoted and I’m super excited about getting it into the world.
Could you list a few records that influence the music you are making today?
Forget Me - Lewis Capaldi
Ghost - Justin Bieber
Set Fire To The Rain - Adele
What is the proudest moment of your career so far?
I think doing a TED talk a few years ago has to be up there IT WAS GENUINELY THE SCARIEST THING I THINK I'VE EVER DONE AND ALSO I THINK THE LAST 12 MONTHS AS A WHOLE MOVING TO THE STATES BEING AWAY FROM MY FAMILY HAVING TO KIND OF FEND FOR MYSELF IN A WAY HAS DEFINITELY BEEN SOMETHING THAT'S BEEN SUPER TOUGH BUT ULTIMATELY, I THINK I AM PROUD OF MYSELF FOR THE WAY I'VE HANDLED IT AND I FEEL LIKE THINGS ARE FINALLY ON THE UP and moving in the right direction.
How do you stay sane in this crazy music industry?
I think that really comes down to who you surround yourself with and I know a lot of the times it's easier said than done, but if I think back to the moments while I've been living in America, that haven't been so great I haven't been surrounded by great people and I feel like now I'm surrounded by amazing people and that's really helping in terms of my development and also staying sane.
How does social media affect your mental health?
I think some days are better than others, and it definitely is gut wrenching when the really stupid video that I put no effort into blows up and the music content that I put my blood sweat and tears into flops, but sometimes that's the way it happens and I think either way it's beneficial. One thing that's really helped me in terms of enjoying the social media grind is I'm really growing a passion for the actual creation of the content and making the best content and videos that I can because ultimately every video is a building block for my career and it's like my digital resume in a way so I've really come to love the craft of content creation and using that to try and push my music out.
In your opinion, what would make the world a BETTER place?
Smile at people. And if someone smiles at you, SMILE BACK!
What can we expect to hear/see next?
A lot of music and a lot of emotion, it’s been over a year and a half since I’ve released music as ME so I’ve got a lot to say and a lot has happened so I’m just so excited to share the stories with everyone.
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