Atlanta native, Jai’Len Josey, spoke with SHIFTER’s Yannick Mutombo about her Broadway stint, genre-bending single “New Girl”, and her debut album, Serial Romantic.
“When you’re in your own space, you don’t see yourself as much as other people may see you. The way you treat yourself is harsher than other people would expect. So when I hear somebody tell me they see big things for me, it makes me feel like, okay, maybe I need to chill. I can breathe for a little bit and continue on this long but rewarding journey.” -Jai’Len Josey
A picture is worth a thousand words; a song is worth a gallery. Jai’Len Josey’s debut EP is a testament to this. Her vocal prowess is undeniable. The songwriting, immersive. The production—theatrical and instrument-heavy—provides the perfect backdrop for Josey’s six-song homage to Atlanta, Georgia, and its musical soundscape. Illustrations (2020) is a masterclass in evocative imagery.
DIGITAL COVER | JUNE 2025
Five years later, Josey has become an oft-cited “R&B artist to watch”. Her subsequent EPs Southern Delicacy and Conversations from A Payphone, both released in 2023, received similar critical acclaim. Josey sees this as a “blessing”, though she is still processing how to respond to fame.
“When you’re in your own space, you don’t see yourself as much as other people may see you. The way you treat yourself is harsher than other people would expect. So when I hear somebody tell me they see big things for me, it makes me feel like, okay, maybe I need to chill. I can breathe for a little bit and continue on this long but rewarding journey”, she said.
Josey named India Shawn and Mnelia as fellow artists who deserve more shine. She is also a fan of Victoria Monét, whose three wins at the 2024 Grammy Awards felt like a victory for all “the underdogs”. Like Monét, Josey pens songs for other singers. She co-wrote Ari Lennox’s hit single “Pressure”, which samples Shirley Brown’s “Blessed Is the Woman (With a Man Like Mine)”. The song peaked at #66 on the US Billboard Hot 100, and #2 on the US Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart.
“The beauty in collaboration is all of our ideas being put together. Working for other artists keeps me sharp.”
“As a writer, you get called at weird times. [Ari] had called me around two or three. I was finishing [a] session, about to go home. They already had the beat. Jermaine Dupris was on the turntable, Bryan-Michael Cox was on piano. [Ari] had a couple lines together. I finished it in 30 minutes. I recorded the demo, and I left. I don’t think I heard her version until a couple weeks before the release. It was a beautiful experience”, she said.
Josey described feeling grounded when she writes for other artists, how she values being of service and helping someone’s creativity come to fruition.
“I would go back to Broadway if it was the right thing for me.”
“The beauty in collaboration is all of our ideas being put together. Working for other artists keeps me sharp. When it is my turn, I don’t want to shut somebody down when their contribution to my song may be the thing that makes it what it is,” she said.
Once Josey learned to trust her talent, she said giving songs away became easy.
“It was hard at first. Like, dang, I wrote the hell out of that song. I realized that as I get older, I trust my gift enough to know that I can create another one for my own art. It’s no biggie to give out a song, knowing that I can make something in the realm of what I already created”, she explained.
In 2017, Josey played Pearl Krabs in Spongebob Squarepants: The Broadway Musical, alongside Stephanie Hsu and Ethan Slater. The production earned twelve Tony Awards nominations. Though she subsequently left Broadway to focus on her music career, Josey remains open to acting.
“I never really gave up on it. I just knew that it wasn’t my dream at that moment. I needed to leave Broadway to put out [Illustrations]. I would go back to Broadway if it was the right thing for me. My life was gearing up to be on Broadway. I was in the Youth Ensemble of Atlanta. There’s a performing arts high school here in Atlanta called Tri-Cities High School, and you’re either in musical theatre or you’re in sports. OutKast came from Tri-Cities, Kandi Burruss from Xscape”, she said.
“What Broadway enhanced was performance. I love an orchestral atmosphere, watching these people play their instruments, the horn section. Broadway definitely widened my love for live music”, she added.
Josey’s latest single “New Girl”, takes a different direction from her previous outputs. She substitutes the symphonic production which is so prevalent to her catalogue for an understated blend of UK Garage, R&B and Techno. Josey’s signature vocal runs and melodies remain. The song structure (verse, pre-chorus, chorus, verse, pre-chorus, chorus) compliments the single’s experimental production and short-length. The result is a unique listening experience with insane replay value.
“Serial Romantic is not necessarily [about] me being a serial dater. It’s [about] giving my heart out multiple times, being naive in the beginning. You come to this realization that giving your heart out so many times is ultimately abusive to yourself.”
“My mom is from Detroit. They had this thing called Ghettotech. What’s cool about Ghettotech, UK Garage, Trance, House, is that ability to get you to dance. Even though [New Girl] is different from Illustrations, it still is reminiscent of its essence. This new set of music is reminiscent of my mother, me being Southern, and trying to mash that together to create something different. The [first] five, six songs on my new album are all high-tempo. People have to dance when they press play. I like to think of Whitney Houston’s ‘I Want to Dance With Somebody’”, she explained.
Josey’s upcoming album, Serial Romantic will explore dating, self-discovery, and decentring romance.
“Serial Romantic is not necessarily [about] me being a serial dater. It’s [about] giving my heart out multiple times, being naive in the beginning. You come to this realization that giving your heart out so many times is ultimately abusive to yourself. You need to give your heart back to yourself. The outro was originally entitled ‘Selfish’. It’s called ‘I believe’ now, and says that I need to give the love that I’ve been giving to everybody—family, [romantic] relationships, work—I need to give that back to myself”, she said.
Like previous releases, Josey will be the sole performer on Serial Romantic.
“I’ve been doing so many guest appearances on other people’s songs. I don’t have any features [on Serial Romantic], and not because I don’t want them, but because I still feel like I need to plant my feet in this industry. I need to solidify who I am so that by the next album, I’m bringing people into my sound, not the other way around”, she concluded.
Serial Romantic will be released in late summer through Hillman Grad Records/Def Jam Recordings.
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