Brooklyn based musician Jett Jenkins has an abundance of talents, as she has been known for her brilliant lyricism and powerful vocals. Now she is diving into the world of covering the artists who have inspired her over the years, including the Fiona Apple penned track “Daredevil” off her newest EP titled Cover Break: Volume 1.

“What started this project is that at live shows I hadn’t had enough original songs to complete out a 45 minute set, so I started adding cover songs,” she said of the EP produced by Nick Brown. “I really enjoyed listening to some of my favorite artists like Fiona Apple and Phoebe Bridgers, who have done their own cover songs. I thought it would be really fun to make a whole EP of them because I personally haven’t seen that been done.”

As she was choosing the songs, without meaning to do so, she noticed that all the selections were female artists.

“I think this says something about who I listen to and who inspires me,” Jenkins said. “These are powerhouse female musicians dominating their field and not apologizing for it. I wanted to pay homage to these artists and let it be a transition piece into different styles of music, to show I’m not constricted to just Indie Pop.”

Jenkins wanted to keep it close to the original when recording “Daredevil” because she has so much love for her music. She said she was always going back to the bridge of “Daredevil” when listening to her material.

“Seek me out
Look at, look at, look at, look at me
I’m all the fishes in the sea”

“It was something I had never really heard before, but it was so strong and it struck me,” she said. “I’ve loved those lines for years and I just wanted to make it a little more modern with my style, but keep her emotion and her voice in the song. It is something few artists do and something I’ve always loved- not being afraid of cracking your voice or singing off key. It’s the emotion in it and adds so much more.”

Another song she has off the EP is “Get Free” by Lana Del Rey, which she released this past month. She has loved Lana Del Rey her whole life, and this was one of the first she ever listened to, and one that really hit her.

Jenkins said it can be a challenge figuring out what to change and what to keep close to the original, but with Cover Break, the structure is generally the same while utilizing other instruments and adding some flair to the songs. The lyrics remain, and she said as a writing major at Pratt lyrics are so important to her and she wanted to keep their integrity. She chose artists with such unique voices that simply using her voice adds a different tone to the song.

She has worked with two different bands doing live shows, but this project is under a totally different producer named Nick Brown. She said they jive well and is very happy about the product.

Jenkins grew up in Dallas, Texas and she has always been surrounded by music, as she said her mother used to own a music school. She grew up playing just about any instrument there was, trying to find what she liked. Jenkins was involved in musical theater in her youth, and after some time away from that, she found that songwriting and singing is something that she really enjoyed from it.

“The singing is what I always wanted to work on and be proud of,” Jenkins said. “Music has always helped me in difficult times. I listen to it 24/7 and I just wanted to make my own at the beginning just for me. Then, I realized that I could share this and there are common experiences between me and others. I can put my music out there and it can help others like music has helped me.”

Jenkins describes her style as “dreamy pop,” but said that she is moving towards adding punk elements to her music. She is a big fan of Blondie and other artists between the 1970s to 1990s- anything between New Wave and ‘90s punk rock.

“That is kind of the style I am looking to move toward with new music,” Jenkins said.

Jenkins is not only inspired by the musicians she loves, but she writes based on experiences, as well. She also said sometimes when she listens to music and hears a specific part, even a riff, it can lead her to be inspired to channel it and write something completely unique.

While she has had her focus mainly on this EP recently, she has plans to record original songs next month for a brand new project. Jenkins expects this to be out sometime in the next six months.

“With my music, I want to evoke emotion,” Jenkins said.

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