Creating In All Kinds Of Ways With Corrine Jasmin

By Sean Maldjian, Contributor

Photo provided by, Corrine Jasmin

Meet Corrine Jasmin

A self-portrait by, Corrine Jasmin

Would you rather…

your car be the Magic School Bus or the Mystery Machine?

Magic School Bus by far. Miss Frizzle!

Some questions with Corrine Jasmin

Hey thanks for taking the time to do this. Can you tell us a little more about yourself?

Of course, thanks for reaching out! I’m a musician and poet living in Brooklyn. I have a project called Fever Dream Insomniac out now – we’ll talk about that more. NYC based, but Pennsylvania made and raised so please let’s go on a hike. I like ramen, green onions, topped with a fried egg for brunch.

If you could be on any reality TV show, what would it be and why?

Wow, this is funny! I could probably do well on The Real World. A retro early 2000s version though, not a current one. I’d have to create a whole reality show persona. That’s all it really is. Performance of ego. An acting gig stirring up drama for viewers.

How does it feel being a year out from the release of “Fever Dream Insomniac”?

Ahhh! Don’t say that. Time’s moving too fast. It hasn’t quite been a year. In November it’ll be. We’re almost there though and it’s surreal. A lot happened in my personal life immediately after releasing so that + COVID spikes again last winter muted the initial celebration. My reality hasn’t been sunshine and rainbows. I got the news of my brother passing away less than a month after releasing, in December. Then my college best friend in January followed by another love, someone I consider my little sister, in April. Those aren’t things to celebrate. It’s all fresh and has taken up headspace. In grief, people in our lives inevitably shift one direction or another. A few people in mine have let me down hard. That's something to navigate by itself. You’ve got people asking for things left and right but not: “Hey, how are you?” “How’ve you been holding up?” “Can I help/do you need anything?” Grief isn’t a one and done thing or something to only be addressed one or zero times. I’ve had to shift away from people too. It’s true when shit hits the fan, accurate colors are more visible. Even so, I celebrate the fact that FDI is out in the world as often as I can. It’s the first record I put on streaming and such. It’s my baby and means so much to me. Grateful for the reception, supporters, and anyone who’s booked me for or came to a show. I have a performance background, so I try to make live shows special. They’ll evolve a lot in time. It’s conflicting to be excited about music and creating during a shaky time globally and personally, even America specifically – much to be heartbroken about in our own backyard. It’s heavy, but we’ve got to lean into things that push us forward. It takes a lot to get energized, but creating is healing. Ironically some of the things I write about on Fever Dream relate to loss, leaving dynamics, and big changes and that’s occurring now more than ever. It’s been a heartbreaking personal year and confusingly a solid creative one. Move through the grief.

What was the last concert you attended that inspired you?

I saw Vic Mensa and aja monet super recently at Celebrate Brooklyn Fest! They were both inspiring and celestial. Some friends just played a tight show at Brooklyn Steel the other day – they’re on tour with Beach Bunny. Magical to see friends play. I’ve seen Moses Sumney twice in the past year or so. He's really top tier. I saw him singing inside a cathedral. Literally as ethereal as it sounds. The acoustics, his voice…amazing. Angelic. My body was still, yet very much so vibrating simultaneously. Don’t mention vocalists if you aren’t mentioning him! I’d love to see Hayley Williams perform her solo work live.

How do you feel about the reception the album got?

I feel solid about it, all things considered. Grateful. I continue to deal with real, difficult life shit. I had a whole different roll out planned, but it's my first solo work out and I’ve gotten booked for shows, lots of love, kind words in person, and thoughtful words online too. I poured a lot of love and energy into it, putting ideas that I’ve been workshopping these last three years to the test and sharing my scrapbook. It’s a gift for people to be receptive to the music and connect with it. People sharing how it makes them feel or what a certain song means to them is the cherry on top. A lot of people don’t owe me anything, especially strangers. Nobody has to listen. So how could I not feel gratitude? The project floats back and forth between intense chaos and grounding, sobering moments. It’s a cluster of raw thoughts and experiences that aren't linear, so when people are like: “Hey – I really like this,” or something of the sort, I'm usually pretty surprised. It’s like wow, ok, so I did make something relatable. These feelings make sense to others too. It’s personal, but personal usually turns out to be universal.

What was the best music video of all time?

Of all time? I don’t know! That’s a big question. You’re asking someone who genuinely loves MVs. I can’t give you a singular answer. I feel like music videos were at peak coolness and exposure when I was growing up. You know – MTV, TRL, VH1, BET, etc. I’d watch music video countdowns all day long, especially on Saturdays. At large Thriller is regarded as one of the GOATS. Telephone by Gaga & Beyonce. Oops!...I Did It Again, by our Sagittarian Queen Brit is legendary. Nikes by Frank which has only been available on Vimeo for a while. As a kid I was obsessed with Kanye’s All Falls Down video. Early 2000s videos are the blueprint. Ok, recent loves: Tears in the Club by FKA Twigs & The Weeknd and family ties by Keem and Kendrick. Family ties has to be one of the best videos of 2021. When I’m in my artsy fartsy bag: Moses Sumney, Solange, and Blood Orange take the cake. Hands down. The inventiveness and intention is insane. I can tell Rina Sawayama really cares about her videos. Tyler has been putting his whole booty into his videos. Petra Collins is directing great work right now. I'd like to link with her. We could do something wild!

You recently remixed a couple of tracks from “Fever Dream Insomniac” what was it like revisiting the album?

2.0, baby! It was a lot of fun. Thanks for asking. Those tracks are a “but what if it sounded like this?” moment. Nothing more, nothing less. I wanted to play on more flavors, alternate versions, old and new ideas, and really twist the originals. Also wanted to make the remixes darker and sexier! Move Through 2.0 is my absolute favorite! Have you heard it yet?

Who would be your dream collaborator?

This makes me blush. Also no singular answer here. No way I can choose one, but I’ll choose three at the top of my head: Lykke Li, Dev Hynes, and Solange. Dev truly cracked the code. I love his work. I would love to do film work with Solange, outside of music too. We need to give flowers for her film and performance art stuff. She’s really in the art world, not just music related.

You’ve created work in a bunch of other mediums in addition to music. Can you remember the first medium you used to create? Has that original medium influenced the music you are making today?

I firmly believe we all start artists. Children’s imaginations are infinite and a true channel. I’ve always been a performer. It's my most fluent language along with writing. Since I was super young I expressed myself through writing and visual art like illustration or collage. Writing’s never going to go away. Lifelong practice. Even now it’s how I best express myself. Being a writer smoothly translates over with songwriting which is a blessing. I’m grateful to have it be central in my life long before making and writing music professionally. I’m eager to challenge myself and see how far I can stretch my limits. Really into unconventional song structure. You’ll see the different arms of my work crossing paths or merging together mostly music videos – I directed and edited the ones I have out – and a couple other projects or live shows. They’re all branches of the same tree. Solange said “I can’t be a singular expression of myself, there’s too many parts.” I’m tunneled in on music right now. I don’t want to wear a bunch of hats and wear them all terribly. I’d rather have a couple solid ones I wear well and different shades of what I’m doing. Music feels truly fluid and organic for me currently.

Any final comments? (This is your electronic soapbox for one last answer.)

Ha! *taps mic* If you haven’t listened to FDI yet, go, go, go! It’s out on Bandcamp – that’s the move, snagging on there helps the most. Remixes and two new bonus releases on FDI 2.0 the EP. Both out on all streaming services too. I hope if you’re enjoying it, you’re sharing it. I’m just heating up. My next show at the Carnegie Museum of Art on September 10th. We in museums! Thanks to those who’ve reached out and shared experiences. Keep tuning, sticking with me, and I’ll give you the goodies bit by bit! A full length is in the future. This isn’t my final form. Here to stay, more to say.