ACM Artist Spotlight with Music Business Degree Alumna July Jones

We had the pleasure of catching up with electro-pop artist and ACM Business Degree alumna, July Jones. We learnt about her music inspirations, ACM highlights, upcoming plans and more! Make sure to listen to her latest single, “Liar Liar” and read more in her recent feature in Notion.

1. How would you describe yourself and your music/sound?

I’d describe myself as edgy, left field, electro-pop artist with love for visual art. My sound is left field pop, always evolving, trying something weird!

2. How did you get into music?

I first got into music when I was 6 years old, I’ve been classically trained in piano, when I was 13 I started posting videos on Youtube and one of the videos blew up, soon I got picked up by a German record label which introduced me to the industry for the first time. After that I’ve traveled to USA to finish high school and later moved to London to pursue music full time.

3. Tell us about your time studying Music Business at ACM? What was your main highlight?

I’ve completed the Music Business Degree at ACM. ACM gave me the opportunity to have a community of people that are passionate about the same things as I am. I’ve made some lifelong friends and gained incredible insight into the industry.

4. What inspires you?

I get inspired by anything and anyone. It could be graffiti, someone I randomly meet etc. I get a lot of different topics that I relate to my life from the most random things. My current biggest inspiration is mental health, I’ve been struggling with mental health for a really long time so I decided to reach out through my music.

5. Who do you look up to in music today?

I love futuristic artists that are pushing the limits, from Charli XCX to FKA Twigs, Banks, Lorde, Halsey, pretty badass women!

6. What do you want your music to represent?

I just want people to relate to it.

7. What was the transition like for you from songwriting to a solo career?

I’ve started out as an artist, faded into a songwriter and went back to being an artist. I love writing for others but I always felt this urge inside of me to pursue my creative vision by myself and give it try. I’m really developed my sound and visuals as an artist and my intuition always urged me to try the artist path first and then go down the songwriting path later on or do it in between my projects. When I write for mainstream pop artist, I absolutely love it, but left field pop feels so freeing.

8. You covered Post Malone’s ‘I Fell Apart’, why did you decide to cover this track? Does it have a special place in your heart, if so why?

I absolutely love Post Malone and I wanted to give it my own twist and completely reproduce it, I enjoy doing covers from a different genre, I think it gives people a completely new take on a song! A lot of people don’t even know that it’s a cover which I find pretty awesome!

9. What is ‘Liar Liar’ about?

My first single Liar Liar is about my experience in the music industry, it’s about the “big talk” people that sell dreams that never come true.

Listen to Liar Liar now on all platforms here.

10. You have a unique style, when do you feel the most like yourself?

Thank you! I like to experiment a lot with clothes, I actually feel the most like myself on stage, where I can really go wild with the outfits.

11. What is your favourite tattoo?

The girl I have tattooed on my arm, it’s a reminder to keep breathing when I feel anxious.

12. If you could use your following to speak about a certain issue and raise awareness, what would it be?

Mental health, mental health, mental health! I can not express the importance of being raw with our emotions, we all show the happy side on social media, but if we share how we feel there’s always someone else who feels the same out there!