Emma Jayne

Sara Bareilles broke into mainstream radio in 2007 with a song about refusing to write another damn cookie cutter love song for her breakthrough album, Little Voice. Ten years later, Chicago-based Boston University student Emma Jayne is doing something that’s not all that different, both thematically and stylistically.

Jayne’s video for “Tandem Bike,” an ode to being positively self-sufficient, dropped today (September 7), representing a snippet of her forthcoming album Jetlag, due September 22. Aside from being helplessly catchy, Jayne’s second release from her new album is a bright-eyed exuberance of confidence and offers much-needed sunshine to 2017.

“It’s time to sing a song that doesn’t make me feel like trash,” she croons soulfully in the first verse, building upon her optimistic vibes.

“This is my first music video and I wanted it to be as authentic as I strive to be every day,” Jayne says. “That being said, we featured a lot of bright colors, my ugly thrift-store dachshund shirt, and my goofy dance moves. A glam, sexy video was never an option in my mind, not because I don’t love a good glam, sexy video, but because it didn’t feel true to me. I feel like a 12-year-old in a 21-year-old’s body, and this video is all about embracing your weird, your childishness, your mistakes, and what makes you awesome.”


But “Tandem Bike” isn’t just a nod to romantic independence — it celebrates fostering independence in everything you do in general. As far as Top 40 hits go, that theme of autonomy is almost nonexistent, except for the occasional “you should love yourself!” song that tacks onto the self-confidence-pop trend. The rest of the time, it’s “girls, girls, girls” (or “boys, boys, boys” — we don’t discriminate), and Jayne isn’t here for that kind of narrative.

“The line ‘fine on my own’ in the chorus isn’t necessarily about being single.. it’s about relying on yourself,” Jayne explains. “I’ve had a hard time trusting my gut, my heart, and being decisive and this song was extremely cathartic for me on my journey towards self-trust. We are young and we are navigating adulthood and it’s hard to know if we’re doing the “right” thing. This song is all about trusting yourself and not needing anybody else to make those big decisions for you. Community is one of my biggest values, and I am in no way suggesting complete independence and isolation is the way to go. But you need to love yourself, trust yourself, and be your own cheerleader first…your community, friends, family, romantic partners…they are just there to echo and amplify the love you already feel for yourself.” - Vanyaland

Emma Seslowsky has loved music for as long as she can remember. The Chicago native took up piano at age six, began writing original songs at 14 when her parents gave her a ukulele for eighth grade graduation, and has been singing “since the beginning of time.”

Performing under the stage name Emma Jayne, Seslowsky (CAS’18) began as a solo singer-songwriter. It wasn’t until she arrived at BU that she decided to form a band, connecting first with bassist Alexis Fahrney (Questrom’18) on the BU 2018 Facebook page. The two then wrangled drummer Liam Burke (CAS’18) and guitarist Kelsey Hsu (CAS’16) into joining them. Hsu unfortunately was unavailable to perform with the band at the “BU Today Sessions” segment taped earlier this month. But they still managed to captivate with their catchy, upbeat tunes. - BU Today

At age 6, Emma Jayne Seslowsky started learning how to play piano. At 14, she wrote songs to share with a supportive group of friends at sleepaway summer camp. Now, at 21, Seslowsky has released her debut album, “Jetlag.”

Seslowsky is a senior studying journalism in Boston University’s College of Communication, but she’s more than just a student. According to her father, Eddie Seslowsky, she always had a passion for music. Her parents started her in piano lessons when she was young, and by the time she was in middle school, she was landing lead singing roles in her school’s plays.

“You just see her really shine and start smiling when she’s around music and musical instruments and musical folks,” her father said.

“Jetlag” is a culmination of two years of hard work, writing and recording her innermost feelings on a variety of topics including love, family, self-confidence, self-searching, and independence, Seslowsky said.

“I always say [my music] is under the pop umbrella, but there’s a lot of soul in it, there’s some folk in it,” Seslowsky said. “I took jazz piano for a long time, so there’s a lot of jazz influences in it, too.”

Seslowsky has played at a handful of local venues, including Club Passim, ONCE Somerville, and various BU events. She expressed that, even though she has overcome terrible performance anxiety over the years, she still prefers sharing the stage rather than basking in a spotlighted solo.

Most recently, she hosted her album release party on Sept. 22, where she played her entire album live at Bill’s Bar in the Fenway neighborhood.

She was accompanied by her band made up entirely of fellow BU students and alum: bassist, Alexis Fahrney, a Questrom School of Business senior, guitarist Kelsey Hsu, who graduated from the College of Arts and Sciences in 2016, and Tyler Cotner, a College of Fine Arts senior.

During the show at Bill’s Bar, Seslowsky explained the meanings behind her songs for the audience. Between her jokes and dry humor, she shared short background stories of each song and how she was inspired to write it.

“Some musicians, when they go on tour, don’t play every single song off the record, but I thought that was important to play the whole thing through and give people a chance to hear the entire thing,” she said.

Songwriting is what’s important to Seslowsky. She said she finds pleasure in being able to create lyrics that are easily relatable and leave an impact on people, and said she always hopes people can identify with her songs despite them being so personal to her own experiences and emotions.

“She has an incredible inner voice where she’s able to express herself, I always say she writes like she’s been around for 60 years,” her father said.

Seslowsky compares the storytelling through songs to the storytelling she practices at BU as a journalism major.

She said she used to think that journalism and music were an odd combination, but, after working with other journalists-turned-musicians, she said she’s come to the conclusion that at the end of the day, they’re both just storytelling.

On “Jetlag,” she said, “there’s a lot of storytelling in it [the album] that I’m happy get out.”

However, what Seslowsky does on stage goes much deeper. She’s raw, vulnerable and doesn’t just share her music sonically. She shares it in a sense of being open and explaining to her audience her points of view as if they’re her close friends. She said she believes there’s a true connection formed with her audiences because of this.

Seslowsky said that music and writing this album specifically has served has a huge coping mechanism to help herself through periods of anxiety, depression and change. Once she puts an emotion into a song, that emotion is tabled for the time being and she can move on from it.

“This album feels like the ultimate [portrayal] of myself. I just feel really proud of it,” she said. “I feel like it presents me really well … I hope people like it as much as I do.” - The Daily Free Press