Jordana / Harry Teardrop
Jordana's mission is simple: keep trying to be herself, even when it's hard. So it's no surprise perseverance and self-discovery are central themes on her debut studio album, Face the Wall, due May 20 on Grand Jury.
"The album title has a few meanings to me. Mostly, it's about not giving up," says the 21-year-old polymath (she sings, writes, plays everything, and produces). "The wall can be anything in your way. The album is a sort of reminder to myself that I have to face those things, and I can't take the easy route and turn around."
When asked about the origins of that ethos, Jordana looks back on two decades of life scattered with realizations that helped crystallize the idea that would become the central theme of her new record.
But Jordana didn't find herself on stage until she truly found herself on an iPod Touch, where she cobbled together homespun pop songs on a GarageBand app in her bedroom, catapulting her to where she is today. Since debuting that first bedroom pop single, "Jackie’s 15," on Bandcamp at age 17, Jordana has amassed a legion of online followers and fans; collaborated with fellow rising stars like the producer MELVV, Magdalena Bay, and TV Girl; and landed a contract with the New York City-based, mainstay indie label Grand Jury.
In 2020 she released a slew of singles and two EPs, Something to Say and To You, during a year in which most artists found themselves flailing under lockdown. But despite all of her success, the future didn't gleam as brightly as promised: relationships dissolved, she moved across the country alone, and the world got pretty depressing for everyone. So, while Face the Wall is Jordana's most confident and kaleidoscopic album to date, it's also a direct confrontation with the self that traffics in catharsis over pathos, empowerment over defeat.
Like a flower blooming out of cracks in the pavement, 21-year-old Harry Teardrop is a rising star. From his bedroom in New York City, Teardrop's self-produced spin on rock music marries dirty guitar riffs with dance and rap-inspired drums and sticky hooks, crafting a whole band on his laptop. His musical influences range from bands like Blur, the Strokes, and Blink-182 to jazz icons like Bill Evans, Nat King Cole, and Billie Holiday. "I'm a city kid at heart," Harry states. "Trash cans clanking on the sidewalk, cars honking, strangers' conversations, they all influence my sound."
Since releasing his first song, "Chinatown," in 2018, Teardrop's sound has constantly evolved. In 2019, he released his first EP, 1000 Backyard Pools, "a five-song collection of youthful, exuberant guitar rock" which earned him looks from The FADER and Apple Music's New Music Friday. His most recent release in 2020, a grittier double-sided single titled, ''$2 Bill,'' got picked up again by The FADER as well as Lyrical Lemonade, NPR, and KEXP. As a frontrunner in the NYC underground, he's already creating something special with the limited resources he has, all while staying entirely independent.