To Be Real, the debut album by London-based, Canadian-born psychologist Jain Wells, sees the singer / songwriter confronting themes of love, personal challenge and growth.
First single ‘The Colours Of My Heart’ is about unconditional love and riding the highs and lows of relationship. It’s an excellent introduction to Jain’s rhythmic ambient pop and distinctive voice.
Written by Jain, ‘To Be Real’ has been produced by Greg Fitzgerald (Kylie, Madonna, Hall Oates, Jessica Simpson) who, with Jain, has created the perfect soundscape for her raw talent. Character and personality shine through her music, her strength is evident and makes her album both powerful and relatable offering up some deeply personal accounts of her own life experience, while on a very subtle level it is an invitation to break away from the familiar to embrace new perspectives. She welcomes her audience into her anecdotal songs and allows her personal stories to permeate through the lyrics.
A few of the songs reflect a challenging period of Jain’s life that she worked through. ‘Holiday’ shares feelings of betrayal and loss, and is delivered with brutal honesty. ‘Look Into The Mirror’ displays the importance and benefit of self-observation, speaking of accepting responsibility for experiences and the ability to gain power by channelling those experiences in a positive way.
One of the more upbeat tracks on the album is ‘Tonight’, a song about being in the moment and experiencing feelings of desire, sensuality and intuition. With lyrics cleverly written to portray moving onwards and upwards with her own life, Jain’s voice projects that sense of passion and aliveness.
Jain has already been hugely successful in other aspects of her life, working as a magazine writer and editor in her native Canada, and spending a number of years as a therapist, gaining a PhD in Transpersonal Psychology (a blend of Western psychology with the Eastern wisdom traditions). Her work as a psychologist and author of awareness and self-development book Heighten Your Awareness, Change Your Life provided the motivation for the album. “I am completely intrigued by human behaviour and how we can take an active role in our growth and evolution, and that perspective naturally comes through when I write.”
Jain and her band will begin London gigs in September and a UK tour is planned for autumn.