Viral TikTok stars are commonplace in pop culture today. But when Jax had a video go viral in 2020 amid the worldwide quarantine, it wasn't just another viral video — for the New Jersey-born singer, it was practically life-saving.
After years of being told she "wasn't mysterious enough" for the L.A. pop music scene, Jax decided to post a video parody of Fountains of Wayne's "Stacy's Mom." Channeling her mom's New York accent, she delivered "Stacy's Mom from Stacy's Mom's Perspective," and practically overnight, Jax realized she might actually have what it takes to make it.
"It was the dream. Finally people were like, 'Okay, you can do this for a living,'" Jax recalls. "And I'm like, 'That rocks, thank you, because I suck at everything else.'"
Comedy has been ingrained in Jax since childhood, when she first started going to theater camp. She knew at a young age that making others laugh was her calling, and as she puts it, "filling dead air with jokes" is her specialty. Now, her sense of humor is translating through her original music.
Jax's success extended beyond TikTok last year with "Victoria's Secret," a witty confrontation of the lingerie brand's glamorization of unrealistic body image. The song makes points that are hilarious ("I know Victoria's Secret/ She was made up by a dude," she sings in the song's hook) but also meaningful — so much so that it sparked a public statement from the brand's CEO acknowledging its past pitfalls.
While "Victoria's Secret" may be Jax's biggest hit to date, it's just one of hundreds of brilliantly funny tunes she's crafted, including her latest single, the twisted princess tale "Cinderella Snapped." But no matter where her career goes from here, Jax is just happy she's finally able to be herself.
Before Jax kicked off her summer tour with Big Time Rush on June 22, the singer took GRAMMY.com through six foundational pieces of her life that have led to her dream come true — and ultimately made her one of pop's funniest new stars.
Being A Theater Kid
I knew I wanted to be on stage from a very young age, so I grew up with theater. I got a sense very young [about] what an audience would respond to, what kind of comedic timing would work, or what kind of dramatic timing would work.
I can remember every single role, whether it be community theater, or something a little more pro, or at camp. I remember how hard I fell in love with almost every single role I played. I don't know if that makes me a sociopath.
A big one for me [was when] I earned playing Annie — after being in Annie as not Annie two times prior, I finally got Annie. I worked hard enough to prove myself, and then I had to take this on as myself. The next year I got the role of Lily, and I loved that role. I got a huge audience reaction. It was the comedic relief of the show.
Beating Cancer
I got pretty sick somewhere in between writing for myself and transitioning out to L.A. as a songwriter. I had to take a year off of singing, and I couldn't do anything other than write. They did a huge surgery where they removed my thyroid for thyroid cancer, and it was the coolest gift I could ever receive.
I mean, it didn't seem like that at the time, but now I know that I would not be a songwriter if it weren't for that year. [It was] almost like a full bootcamp on writing, [and it helped me] realize that I could actually make a living doing this. If I tried hard enough, I could not only write for me but write for anyone.
It was the most bizarre year ever, but it got me here. I love talking about it because it feels like a W, it doesn't feel like an L. [Laughs.]
Struggling To Make It In L.A.
L.A. gave me a really cool perspective. When I came out here to write for other people, there were songwriters that were lightyears ahead of me. I went my whole life writing songs for myself, in my own little world. I started in musical theater, I joined a bunch of bands, I tried to write my music, I've done shows. I've done a million different chapters in my life where I tried for me. When it came to L.A., I [got [time with] creatives that brought me to another level as a songwriter and taught me how to nurture my skill set.
At the same time, whenever it came back to my project, and when I was able to master the way I write, it was never enough. Every time I wrote what genuinely felt like the right thing to write in my heart, how I would write it — as cheesy or non cheesy, as dark or bright or funny or whatever it was — it's always extreme. It's pretty in your face, like, "Here's what I'm saying, and here is a joke and here is not a joke," you know? That is how I speak, that's who I am, my whole life, in every aspect.
I was told I needed more mystery. It was like, "You need to be cooler in this, you need to be sexier" — I've been told to cut weight my whole life. When I started doing pop music, especially, people were like, "You must look like your pop icons if you want to do these types of songs."
I started to lose [my] sense of self. That on top of having to pay rent in L.A., you just get really discouraged. You start to associate your skills and your talent and your self-worth with how much money you make, who you're around, what your cuts are, who you know. And I started to really get secluded. And thank God I did, because that's where my quarantine ended up — I ended up hitting rock bottom and then just saying "F— it" and putting out what I felt was good.
And with apps like TikTok, where it's a little more equal opportunity to anyone in the world, it was the dream. Finally people were like, "Okay, you can do this for a living," and I'm like, "That rocks, thank you, because I suck at everything else." [Laughs.]
@jaxwritessongs A Doctor and a Hypochondriac wrote a song together 💀👨⚕️🤒❤️🩹 @drjoe_md #doctor #hypochondriac #songs #sorrynotsorry ♬ original sound - Jax
Becoming TIkTok Famous
It's a hard struggle like bridging the gap between [funny and kitschy]. I kind of landed in that space on TikTok. I'm not a comedian by any means — I was in a huge panic [when my first video blew up], because I'm like, I can't maintain a funny thing. I have all these new people commenting on my original stuff, my music — what can I do to like, blend the worlds?
I definitely have a really easy time with perspective writing and creative writing. I love taking characters and shifting them into the wrong places and stories. I loved that in theater growing up. I loved that in writing classes growing up. So I spent a minute [thinking], Well, if people were into this, and that's why this first thing went [off], there's a million perspectives of songs that we can POV and parody. The wheels kind of started turning, and then in the bigger scheme of things, I was like, I wonder if they would actually like my music, because this isn't my music. This is just kind of fun.
I love Bo Burnham, I love Lil Dicky, I love punny rappers — I love Eminem. And then I also love a good wordsmith, like Julia Michaels, Sia, Joan Jett, Billy Joel. That's why I'm the writer I am today, but I always hid it.
"Ring Pop" was the first [original song I posted] of something I was going through during the quarantine with my fiancé. And for the first time, people who cared about the parodies sort of cared about this, and the common ground was that it is how I talk and it is my humor. That's the first time in my life I've been totally unapologetically writing the way I want to write.
I don't encourage kids to need the validation of everyone around them to feel good, but I definitely personally was in a place where I really needed it. I really, really needed just one little glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel to be like, You can make a living doing music, and you are good enough to do this. You can still write songs, you don't have to quit. That was the moment from the universe that was like, Hey, don't give up!
My therapist tells me it wouldn't have mattered if there were TikTok or not. But it was really important for my self-worth, and it did remind me that the second I just reverted back to what was natural was when things started moving in the right direction.
[TikTok has] gotten me confident enough to write what I want to write, sing what I want to sing, stick up to people I want to stick up to. I've never felt more empowered, especially as a woman in music, to just speak what I want to speak. It still gives me anxiety dreams, but I still wake up in the morning and want to do it. I get to speak cool truths, and that's the only reason I ever wanted to do music or perform.
I have had so much trauma with my body and how I see myself in the mirror, and every day it's still a learning process for me in how to get healthy up here. And the growth I have had since TikTok, and dressing how I want to dress, doing things like "Victoria's Secret" — completely ignoring how I was supposed to look and just looking the way I do at my grossest, in my teenage dirtbag era, right? I feel good, and they let me feel good.
Some kids dress like me at shows, which is crazy. That's just insane, because I just went the last 26 years thinking I was doing it all wrong. And that's the biggest blessing of the whole thing — it was free therapy.
@jaxwritessongs A song about @ParisHilton 🧠👸🏼🤯 #fypシ #icon #ceo #parishilton ♬ original sound - Jax
Documenting Everything
I only get my concepts from just talking to people. Never anywhere else. I don't come up with them in the studio — I'm writing [things] down all day.
It's kind of a defense mechanism — I can't go into the studio and just pull from the sky. So I quickly realized to document what [I've] felt in that moment — like, even if I'm totally drunk, or if I'm sleep talking, or I just woke up or I'm in the shower. I used to set a tape recorder by my bed, because a lot of my ideas would come in my sleep.
It's like I know that I need to prepare for work when I go and socialize. And I remember to document the moments that made me feel something. Or even just one word.
Somebody yesterday said the words to me, "Bend the universe." And I was like, "That's a great concept." That's why I think breakups were, like, the best times for writing because there's so much being said and so much going on — so much healing and crying and pain. The amount of times that I've written breakup songs because my best friend was in pain — I'm like, I hate to be that guy right now but…
Now that I'm doing all my songs and I'm putting out my own music, people — especially moms — take it very seriously. They don't realize that there are multiple writers in the room, and a really cool piece of work and art can come out of everybody's collective experience in the room.
Like, I have a song [with] the name Alyssa, but it was because the engineer's ex-girlfriend was named Melissa and then it somehow morphed into Alyssa to play into "Are you A-listening?" It's an evolution with people in the room, but when you're the face of it, then it gets tricky, because people are like, "Why are you endorsing this to my kids?"
It's a lot of pressure being the face of the final product, which is not the thing I'd been doing for the last few years at all. I had been the face behind the project trying to protect the artist, and make sure I don't say anything that could be taken the wrong way or that's not authentic to them, but still using my own experiences. They take it very seriously — even some of the skits where I thought for sure they'd think it was a joke.
Being Her Awkward Self
I grew up around a lot of cool people. I come from a really loud family. I have two very cool, smart parents that were always super down to Earth and real. I think in another life, my dad totally could've been a really cool actor or comedian. He's the funniest guy I know; he's real quick.
When it comes to comedic [instincts], I don't know, I think it's awkwardness at the end of the day. It's a problem I have — I have to stop filling dead air with jokes all the time. It's what I do, essentially, from the second I wake up to when I go to bed. It's gotten me into a lot of trouble.
For anybody that knows who I am personally, this is the closest I've ever been in my work to how I am with people — like, I'm Punmaster 5000, I make inappropriate jokes at the wrong times. I deal with things in satire and comedy. I'm taken off guard by how much people actually are down to listen to that. It's a cool spot in my life, because it's the first time I'm feeling authentic.