July Jones landed airplay on the Danny Howard show on BBC Radio 1 last week (Friday 17 February) with her feature on the 1991 track Heartstrings. We take a brief look at her journey, right from the very beginning.
Slovenian-born pop artist, July Jones, 20, is currently studying Music Business at ACM London and shows every sign of being on the brink of success; after spending some time chatting together, it becomes clear that 2017 is set to be one of the most influential and defining years in July’s career to date.
Although still only twenty years old, her story is unique, and carries with it a lot of depth in character built upon experiences that attention from those in the music industry has placed on her from a very young age. It all started with a YouTube channel in 2010…
Launched at the age of fourteen and driven by a (now-well-known) strategy to record and upload covers of charting songs in order to engage an audience of new fans it’s safe to say that July’s YouTube presence worked; her cover of Someone Like You by Adele rocketed past 500,000 views, with other videos on her channel breaking through the 200,000 mark. Not bad for a 14 year old.
It wasn’t long before her talent drew the attention of an independent record label based in Germany and July ultimately went on to sign her first record deal later that year, at the age of 14. Remaining in that contract for four years, she would frequently travel to Germany at weekends, often being placed in co-writing sessions and writing songs for other artists, all covered by the initial advance. As July’s understanding of the music business grew, she decided that the terms of the contract were not that favourable, and were long-outdated considering her understanding of the industry and passion for her own artistic direction, and so the record deal ended at the age of 18, allowing her the time to focus on some major life decisions.
July turned down a scholarship to the prestigious Berkley College in Boston and shyed away from a place offered at NYU, finding herself in London, a place she now calls home, and rightly so.
Fast-forward to now, and July is working on the release of her brand new EP, led by four singles, accompanying videos and a constant narrative with messages portraying her character, conveyed through the use of colour, smoke, and an ever-changing masculine / feminine guise; a well thought-out campaign by any measure.
The strength of the EP has yet again garnered the attention of the music industry, only this time in the UK and July is looking to sign a publishing deal, a sync deal and a management deal, all within the next couple of weeks. As part of the process, July was placed in a session with a producer already on the publishing company’s books. They are 1991 and below you can check out the track.
There is lots more to come from this sensational new artist, and we seriously urge you to consider following – and perhaps learning from – her movements from this point forward. Her next release on March 25 is set to be a momentous one, with even more attention from BBC Radio 1 on the horizon, this time, for her own releases.
Connect with July Jones on: Twitter // Facebook // Spotify
If you’d like to be a student at ACM and start to build your career in the music industry like July, please call our Admissions Team on 01483 500 841 or visit Open Days/ to book a place on an ACM Open Day today.
