SPOTLIGHT: GLENNA JANE

Photo By Matt Meyer

Meet singer-songwriter Glenna Jane and tune into her newest single “Juno.”

Before we dive into Juno, I’d love to hear about your musical journey. What first drew you to songwriting and producing?

I’ve been singing for as long as I can remember. Being Filipino, I was trained on a karaoke machine. I relished being on stage, whether it was through talent shows, choir, or musical theatre, and I eventually ended up going to a performing arts high school for vocal performance. But it was a hyper-competitive environment with a focus on classical technique. Making music was about mimicking, and individuality wasn’t rewarded. Once I was 15, obsessing over Sky Ferreira and Marina and the Diamonds and Karen O and Vampire Weekend on Tumblr, my relationship to music completely changed. I taught myself how to play guitar, ukulele, and drums, and I learned how to use GarageBand. I think I took solace in songwriting and producing because I didn’t have to be anyone else but myself.

Your sound blends nostalgia with something fresh and modern. Who are some of your biggest influences, whether musically or aesthetically?

I love Dijon and Blood Orange’s organic production, Moses Sumney and Saya Gray’s maximalism, SZA and Mitski’s unflinching honesty. I grew up on pop stars like Lady Gaga and Beyoncé, but also indie heroes like Tegan and Sara and Bright Eyes. I love coming-of-age soundtracks for movies like Juno and 10 Things I Hate About You, too. I’m just obsessed with 2000s romcoms and 2014 Tumblr.

You co-produced Juno alongside Ben Coleman. How do you approach production: do you base lyrics on an instrumental, or start off with an instrumental and build lyrics off of it?

I sometimes start producing a song with just a lyric or lick in mind, like I did with “I See God in You,” but most times, I start the production process with completed songs, like with “Juno.” I wrote “Juno” in March 2023 and didn’t start producing it until a year later. I was performing songs off of my upcoming EP acoustically at small gigs throughout 2023, but I think I wanted to take my time and find the perfect collaborator. I’m so grateful I didn’t rush anything because I’ve never felt like I had more creative agency than with this project. I’d come into sessions with amorphous ideas for sonic landscapes, like I remember wanting “Juno” to sound like a 2000s romcom and my second single to sound like drowning, and Ben just knew how to translate. I’d sing melodies that became guitar riffs. I’d record in one take. I’d throw out silly what-ifs that became my favorite elements. I was lucky to work with such a talented producer and instrumentalist because we both cared so deeply about honoring these songs I had loved on my own for a year and their evolution.

Photo By Marian Fragoso Basauri

Juno captures that intoxicating blur between friendship and something more. What inspired you to write this song?

I was 15 when I had a crush on my best friend, and it was the first time I’d ever fallen in love with a girl. I had experienced very codependent and homoerotic friendships before, but this was when I realized I liked girls in a gay way. “Juno” was the first love song I had ever written, and I think I just wanted to make something sweet, so it’s no wonder the first memories that came to mind were of yearning for my best friend when I was a sophomore in high school. “Juno” is queer joy and queer becoming and queer world making. It’s blurring platonic and romantic love, and falling in love with your friends and loving your friends.

The lyrics are filled with vividly intimate moments, like watching Cruel Intentions, sharing earbuds, and touching knees. Were these pulled from real life, or do they come from a more imagined space?

Watching Kathryn teach Cecile how to kiss and sharing earbuds to listen to Vampire Weekend and leaving no space between us sitting on the bus after school were all real. “Juno” was really like a diary entry for me. Funnily enough, I posted a video of me playing the song on TikTok as soon as I finished writing it, and the real “Juno” found it and commented, “Personally, this is my favorite song.”

If Juno were part of a movie soundtrack, what kind of scene would it play over?

The sleepover scene in a coming-of-age romcom where the girl next door finally kisses her best friend!

The song builds beautifully to “If we play pretend, we can be more than friends.” Was that always the song’s resolution, or did it evolve during the writing process?

I’ve always written chronologically, so the bridge for “Juno” was always its resolution. I just loved the idea of it ending with a sing-along and this sentiment that you and the girl of your dreams can fall in love. I think so much of queer representation in mainstream media is devastating like I can’t stand the bury your gays trope, so I wanted “Juno” to subvert that and end on a sweet note.

You repeat the line “If you asked me to, I’d do anything for you.” It really captures the all-consuming nature of feelings like these. What does that lyric mean to you?

I think it can be interpreted as the sort of desperation that comes with crushes like this feeling that you would do anything, including change yourself, for that reciprocation. But it was so innocent with “Juno.” I mean, we were both coming into our queerness and we already loved each other deeply as friends. I was just thinking of how much I wanted to take care of her, then, like we didn’t have the best home lives, so I think that lyric came out of a sense of protection and safety we felt with each other.

What do you hope listeners feel when they hear Juno for the first time?

I hope they feel seen, but most of all, I hope they feel emboldened to kiss their friends!

Photo By Cierra Collier

Juno has been described as a sapphic anthem. How important was it for you to tell this kind of story through your music?

I can’t remember when I came out, but I remember falling into comphet after I realized I was queer. I was so unhappy in college and my early twenties because I was convinced it was a fluke that I fell in love with “Juno,” and I was flattening myself to be desired by people whose affection never compared to hers. I think if I had had a song like “Juno” when I was younger or felt the courage to write it earlier, I wouldn’t have been so haunted by the Am I A Lesbian masterdoc, and I would’ve fully come into my queerness sooner. “Juno” was my coming out.

Sonically, Juno feels like a slumber party that has no sign of ending anytime soon. How did you craft the soundscape to match the feelings behind the lyrics?

I really wanted the production process to be full of whimsy and play. I honestly just wanted each session to feel as fun and joyful as loving and falling in love with “Juno” was. My only ask was for it to sound like it could’ve been plucked from a 2000s romcom, so we threw paint at the wall and what stuck were funky record scratches, slumber party gang vocals, glittery mandolin and shimmery guitars, bouncy bass, reversed drums, wobbly synths.

Your music carries a strong sense of storytelling. Do you see Juno as part of a larger narrative in your upcoming work?

Absolutely! “Juno” is the first single off of my upcoming debut EP “Kid.” It’s about coming of age at twenty something, tracing formative experiences from my adolescence to my early twenties, but it’s also about love whether that’s queer love or self love or familial love.

To end off, what is your dream venue to play and why?

Music Hall of Williamsburg, Webster Hall, Bowery Ballroom. I’ve gone to so many concerts at these venues, and I just love how intimate they are. I think it’d also be so sweet to play at The Chelsea in Las Vegas because that was where I went to my first concert ever.

Listen to “Juno” here.