January 24, 2011
Erika Jayne :: One Hot Interview
JC Alvarez READ TIME: 6 MIN.
I'm not usually one for waiting. My time is just as valuable as the next super-pop-stars...but when that pop-star is the candilicious Erika Jayne, all convention goes out the window - and you wait! You wait like you do for a fine wine to reach its peak, or for a souffle to rise, or those couple of extra minutes for that express train...you wait cause every ticket on the Erika Jayne roller coaster is sold out - and once you get on this ride you know you're going for a hell of a spin!
So I waited...a couple of extra minutes while Ms. Jayne got herself together - not at all for me mind you. The entrepreneurial music maven has got a lot going on, deals in the making, minting new chart hits for Billboard (her latest "One Hot Pleasure" is her most recent #1) and now she's the head of her own label. With Pretty Mess Records Erika Jayne is poised to get her music circulated beyond the club floor. "The new label It's definitely a way of getting my projects out on the forefront," Erika says, "but with all the great talent out there - you never know. We may find someone and do something great with them."
Of course, in the meantime Erika Jayne is busy making music! "That's the best way to be...busy!" she tells me, and while in the City of Angels the blonde bombshell will be performing under the red lights at Popstarz @ Ultra Suede in West Hollywood.
"One Hot Pleasure" is Erika's current single, a bonafide club hit! Written by Luciana Caporaso and Nick Clow, along with master remix producer Dave Aud�. The track quickly shot up the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play Charts and is her fifth consecutive #1. The idea for the club-thumping track sprouted from a backyard outing with Aud� and Caporaso, while relaxing in the California sun. Jayne tells me, "We talked about what would come next (after 'Pretty Mess'), where I was, what I was thinking, what I wanted to say - a lot of ideas were circulated and from out of that came 'One Hot Pleasure'."
One Hot Video!
And to live up to a title like that, you have to expect a music video that delivers. And how - beyond any expectations! It's practically radio-active! The look and feel of the video radiates like a fever! "It's supposed to be fun and sexy," Jayne admits. It was co-directed by non-other than celebrity photog Mike Ruiz. "Who I love very much," shares the singer. "That's the second video that he's done with me." Ruiz also co-directed Jayne's video for "Pretty Mess".
But after indulging in the dance antics of "One Hot Pleasure" and enviously watching as Jayne cavorts with a group of club revelers all the while winning the lustful attentions of the one hot guy in the video, I couldn't have imagined she didn't end the shoot with a shining smile across her face. "Talk about a hard day at work!" I'll bet. "I got to do a lot of groping on hot-ass Josh Kloss," Jayne prides herself on the man-handling of her co-star. Kloss is the same hot piece of eye-candy that helped fellow pop-starlet Katy Perry live out her Teenage Dreams. "I had him first!" she laughs. "He brought a lot of heat to the video."
And quite frankly, in my opinion, Jayne puts Kloss -�and his talents - to better use than Perry any day.
The unapologetic sex kitten has playfully excelled at creating this cheerfully uninhibited sexual persona that has endeared her greatly with her gay fan base and continues to mark her a stand-out amongst her contemporaries. I asked her if there could be such a thing in the pop-world as too sexy an image. "That's not something I worry about," Jayne admits. "It's not contrived and it's very natural for me - people should like me for who I am. That's really the message."
Stars In Her Eyes...
If there's one over-all message in Erika Jayne's career to note, beyond the image, it's the music. Her 2009 full-album project Pretty Mess proved a delicious blend of dance favorites, ranging in the melodic groove of "Stars" (think the love-child of Kylie Minogue and George Michael) to the ultra-disco pounce of "Give You Everything". It's a wonderfully pure and unpretentious collection of dance-pop with top notch production, still allowing the sincere and sultry allure of Jayne's vocals to glitter like gold.
If Jayne has successfully been dealt any fortune in this business, it's that the dance floor demigoddess has been able to align herself with some of the heaviest hitting beat-masters in dance music today. "I do get to meet a lot of people and hear a lot of great things." She is very much involved in the process. Collaborating with such remix personalities like Dave Aud� (most recently on her latest single), super-star producers Peter Rafelson (Madonna, Britney Spears) and Eric Kupper (Kylie Minogue) also contributed to Pretty Mess.
In 2011 Erika Jayne is dedicating herself to releasing several singles and remixes; along with 2 EPs of original tracks, and perhaps something of a departure for the artist who is experimenting with new sounds. "I'm a pop/dance girl, but on the new project we are trying some r&b sounds, there's a little more of an urban element involved - I'm excited to bring that out on the EPs." The format of releasing a smaller simultaneous offering of original music recently worked brilliantly for London electro-pop artist Robyn. "She's one of my favorites," Jayne tells me.
In the meantime, while we eagerly await more Erika Jayne decadence to warm us out of our winter drudgery, she's getting up in here all over the country performing live! "We'll be dancing our asses off - I love for people to hear my songs and want to dance...that's what it's all about." Her attention focused on her current live performances, Jayne eagerly looks forward to getting up in front of her fans. "The image, the music, the stage show...it all feeds one another."
As we wrapped our time together, enraptured as I was with the time I was sharing with Ms. Jayne, I couldn't let her get away without giving me more! These days most pop-stars have been perpetuating their popularity by turning the cameras on themselves. With an image that stops traffic, and a voice set to ensnare her audience, how could Erika Jayne not be starring in her own reality show? She kindly and coyly avoided the question, but did offer me this: "I just might be...but I don't know how much you could show of my life," she laughs. "My life is quite entertaining." No doubt...Erika Jayne is one hot pleasure.
Erika Jayne's "One Hot Pleasure" The Remixes is currently available for digital download on all platforms, and save the date to catch Jayne live when she performs in Florida appearing at GBar in Tampa on Sat 1/29, and at Parliament House Disco in Orlando on Sun 1/30 before making her way down to Miami in March for a series of dates during the Winter Music Conference (March 8 - 11).
Goto www.prettymessrecords.com for more details including additional tour dates and catch Erika Jayne performing live near you!
Native New Yorker JC Alvarez is a pop-culture enthusiast and the nightlife chronicler of the club scene and its celebrity denizens from coast-to-coast. He is the on-air host of the nationally syndicated radio show "Out Loud & Live!" and is also on the panel of the local-access talk show "Talking About".