WELCOME TO ROCHELLE JORDAN’S HOUSE

From Diana Ross’ six-minute vocal run to Mariah Carey arriving anywhere with her high-drama, the diva has long been one of pop’s ultimate cultural touhstones: larger-than-life vocals, exacting standards and a self-possession that rarely asks for permission. By the ’80s and ’90s, house music had given the diva archetype a new home, placing stratospheric female vocals at the very centre of the dancefloor. It’s this lineage that British-Canadian vocalist Rochelle Jordan adds to today, stretching the house-diva template well past the fringes of drum & bass, dubstep and hard house.

Her latest album, Through The Wall, should be slotted as a case study that sometimes you can win through consistency. Jordan’s ‘diva’-isms aren’t really defined by the obvious bits: the big, Ms. Ross hair, the vocal runs and dramatic silhouettes. If anything those are accessories. Her real claim to diva-dom lies elsewhere: it is that Jordan, as with any good diva, is less concerned with quick-burn success than she is with longevity.

That longevity even extends to the company she keeps. Behind Through The Wall’s hydra-headed productions are long-time collaborators and friends KLSH, Jimmy Edgar and Machinedrum. The 17-track record has the same omnivorous ambition that defined Jordan’s sophomore album Play With The Changes – Architechs’ jittery 2-step productions, drum & bass influences, R&B-inflected deep house – but feels far more focused this time round.

It’s perhaps no surprise then that the album has found a second life as Jordan’s second remix project. The ubiquity and functionality of the contemporary remix album/project remains as one of dance music’s trickiest formats to get right. Today, they feel more like a collection of off-the-cuff demos that, once taken together, don’t justify revisiting the record in the first place. Through The Wall (The Remixes) avoids that fate. With a close-knit roster of collaborators, Jordan manages to offer us not one, but five separate EPs that feel like a natural extension of the LP but pull themselves apart enough to uncover a new dancefloor that was always there.

Hello, Rochelle – how are we feeling?
All I can say is to God be the glory. These past months have been really, really surreal, and I’m just making sure I’m taking the time to stay grateful and focused while touring and hitting the stage each night.

Do you have a nonsensical pre-show routine before going on stage?
If I’m being honest, I always go straight to The Jacksons. I want to be fully absorbed by their aura and stage presence, and watching their videos jolts me into a mindset where I can really step into myself as an artist. I’ll watch other greats too like Missy, Diana, but mostly Janet Jackson, and just pull from the past. The energy was off the scale back then because there weren’t any phones, so as an artist the only thing you could do was leave it all on the stage. Me and my team also pray every night before we hit the stage. That’s the one thing that stays consistent. If I forget, CHRYSALIS, my DJ, is like, “Hold on, where are we going? Come back, we’ve gotta pray.” [laughs] Other than that, it’s just about going in with a good vibe and not really overthinking what I’m about to do. Whenever I overthink, I usually derail from what I’m supposed to be doing at that moment.

Did the title Through The Wall come before the music, or did it arrive once you realised where the album had taken you?
I can’t really remember what exactly triggered it. Titles are really fucking scary, man. They have to feel epic and encapsulate what the whole project is about. But it came somewhere in the middle of the process, and it was actually going to be called something else at first. Once I started cracking the code of the project’s sound and really felt the energy of the work, I kept revisiting a time when I felt confined from the sounds I wanted to explore. All the conversations I’d had over the years about what I should and shouldn’t be. I was sort of facing myself and the state I was in, and then it hit me: Through The Wall. I was like, “Whoa, that’s it. Scratch everything else.” 

It takes me back to being a kid and listening to my brother’s music through the wall. He came to Canada from the UK with a briefcase packed with cassettes of UK jungle, drum & bass, garage, hard house. Because he’s on the autistic spectrum, he would play the tracks obsessively for hours on end as his way of stimming. But it’s also about breaking through the walls of my own mind, canceling out the noise and not listening to the naysayers. I feel like with this album I broke through all of that. It was manifesting what was to come: finally breaking through and being seen for what I’ve been building for years.

Once the title track was released, I felt like I immediately knew where you were taking us. I’m curious: which track was the hardest to finish?
Ladida without a doubt. I recorded it around the same time as Play With The Changes and it sounded completely different at first. There were so many versions and KLSH was like, “I hate this beat,” and I was like, “Nah, this is crazy good.” [laughs] We got into a little tiff about it, and then he came back with the version you guys are hearing, and I was like, “Okay… you’re right.” He pushed me to come harder and really tell my story. My first thought was, “How am I gonna do that in 20 or 25 seconds per verse?” But then it clicked. It all came as this stream of consciousness, the kind you only get once you’re in a flow state. That happened almost a year later. It took the longest, but I’m the proudest of it. Nothing beats hearing fans sing it back. It’s a baddie.

You mentioned River co-wrote Ladida. I’ve got this strong suspicion it’s the third rap verse. Am I completely off?
No, you’re right! The first time I heard rivermoon was when she wrote for RJ [LSDXOXO], and she’s such an amazing lyricist. She and KLSH really put that verse together, and I was so happy to have them around because I get nervous writing rap verses. I usually do them myself, but with this album, I wanted to stretch out and bring collaborators in. She absolutely killed it. Her pen is incredible.

Is that down to your relationship with KLSH, him asking you to push your pen like that?
A hundred percent. I always say you can’t buy a KLSH since he has such a high standard, and he pulls everything he’s working on up to it. As an artist, it’s sometimes hard to see yourself because you’re too close to your ideas, and he’s someone I trust to hear things for what they are. The deep listening on this man is crazy.

Makes sense, then, you opening the album with “Met KLSH back in ’09…”. What makes you keep coming back to the same people?
It’s down to their understanding of the years I spent building the world I’m in. I’m very strict about my sound. If you go back to some of my earlier projects, there are things that are still present today, like the way I harmonise and how I build melodies. So yes, it’s a vibe, it’s a feeling, but most of the time these things are highly technical, and they know these things by now. I love producers who are quirky and different, and Jimmy Edgar is one of the quirkiest I know. [laughs] These aren’t your typical “hip” producers because they’ve got real lore. Like, 10, 20 years in music. I’m always looking for authenticity and for people who push the line between breaking the rules but still having this undercurrent of relatability.

When did you first have the idea to do a remixed album? Was it always part of the plan?
I wasn’t sure if I wanted to create a remix project for Through The Wall, to be honest. This album feels so powerful as is, and I didn’t want this to be a predictable move. With that said, I’ve had the privilege to be connected to some of the most legendary DJs and producers whose lore runs deep into the dance music world: like Terry Hunter, Ron Trent, and Kenny Dope, to name a few. These are the pioneers who laid the groundwork for what we’re all building on. That alone inspired me. It makes sense to allow Through The Wall to refract through these incredible producers and continue the party. Even for myself, remixing some of the tracks vocally and embellishing them as I see fit: all of that felt necessary.

I imagine as an artist, you’re pretty protective of the work you create. Was it difficult to trust other artists to make something that’s entirely their own while still staying true to the core of what you made?
I try not to be a control freak with the remix projects. You need a baseline level of trust, which also means disavowing control in a way. I’ll direct certain things, but I really want them to build on what naturally comes to them. At the end of the day, I trust that each artist I work with has love and respect for my music as I do with theirs, and if that’s the case, it’s going to be incredible every time.

Which of the remixes were you most surprised by? Which track made you hear yourself most differently or in the most unexpected way?
The Halogenix remix of I’m Your Muse surprised me, I must say. I didn’t expect for it to sound as grimey and hard-hitting as it did. He made the perfect choices, and this was also the first track I heard from the project, so it got me very excited and inspired.

What comes next after this? Are you going to perform some of these remixes live? Will you work on something else together?
What’s next? Definitely more shows, music, more magic, and all my dreams and visions coming to life on the back of that. And yes, I will definitely perform these remixes on the road. These versions give the songs another life, especially in a live setting, so I’m excited to see where they take me!