Diandra Interviews Jay Watts: Going Platinum
When I speak to artists, especially about their goals, they usually have one thing in common: to become a role model. Yes, we have heard famous artists say that that is the last thing they want to be, and, perhaps, ultra fame and money make you rethink that purpose. After all, you live under a microscope where everything about you is analyzed to decipher: do you deserve your luxury? For Jay Watts, life was never about luxury or excess, because in his hometown, those words are foreign. Yet, life has always beens about love, of which, in this interview, he talks about his new single “Platinum” and the classic 90’s tracks that ignite TIMELESS HOOKUPS!
Diandra: How are you during these times?
Jay: I feel like I am more focused than ever. Right now, as we speak, I am editing a video I shot of myself, and I just learned how to put the logo on it. And I’m thinking of buying some producing equipment to make beats again.
Diandra: I learned how to put subtitles on a video and thought I was Quentin Tarantino.
Jay: (he laughs)
Diandra: It doesn’t surprise me that you are learning to video edit and going to making beats because when I look at you socials, you are always talking about building yourself.
Jay: You know what it is! When people have done something or already have had some success, they feel like they have all the answers and they think another person’s formula can be yours. There are people that have shot up into fame and other people that took them years. That was their formula.
Diandra: I feel like, in life, we all have journeys and destinies we have to meet. Your time might not be now, but it could be tomorrow.
Jay: Whew! Preach!
Diandra: (I laugh) So with that in mind, how do you define success? Do you feel like you have it?
Jay: I have done enough things to inspire the kids in my town.It is a small town of 5000 and with a lot of drugs. I am nowhere where I want to be, but,if I can give some of those kids hope, I am cool with that.
Diandra: So what it happiness for you?
Jay: Peace! I feel like Rihanna has happiness, right now, because she can take off and is successful enough to not have to do what she doesn’t want to. I am an emotional person and I wear my heart on my sleeve. So when I am not feeling something, everyone in the room notices.
Diandra: So do you think you need to have financial peace to have inner peace?
Jay: No! There are some monks who have absolute peace. They have trained their mind to deal with and embrace life. One of my goals is to meditate with monks.
Diandra: There this phenomena where monks attain such a level of peace that their bodies shrink and emanate light.
Jay: What?! That is crazy!
I googled and the name is Rainbow Body! Look it up people!
Diandra: Do you think there is a pressure, especially in social media, to have an inspirational image?
Jay: Honestly! I hate social media. If I had it my way, I would be one of the most mysterious artists in the world. Until you get to where you want to be, you cannot do that. It is a lot of pressure. I feel like if you are going through something, you would rather talk to your family rather than your phone and posting it on instagram. There is a lot of fake stuff going on and people trying to be perfect. Every artist’s team pressures them to post and, from the minute you wake up, post something.
Diandra: Do you feel R&B is like the wisdom of love and what have you learned?
Jay: That is kind of what my project is about. Different experiences that have led me up to now. I feel like, first off, that hardest thing to do, in this climate, is to trust someone else because of the legendary DM. You have to trust and compromise to make a relationship go smooth.
Diandra: What is it that you give to your partner and what do you need?
Jay: I feel like she would need to answer what I give. I try to give support, but, you know, I feel like, sometimes, it is about where I am at in life. I feel like I need understanding. I am an energy person, and it is not easy to date an artist and someone whom is living in the limelight. I, definitely, give humor though. I make sure she is laughing all the time.
Diandra: You, definitely, have a playful seduction in your lyrics. Do you feel that is that factor in love: to always feel like two kids playing? And how does Platinum reflect that?
Jay: Yeah! I feel like you need that. You need to have that childlike joy. I, actually, am editing a video where I explain what inspired Platinum. I went to 1 OAK, and they were playing that Fat Man Scoop song. The one that is like, “What’s you zodiac sign!” That song came out decades ago and people were turnt. I went to the studio and I couldn’t get that song out of my head and then I wrote Platinum.
Diandra: What is your favorite childhood memory with music?
Jay: I used to beatbox after school every day. So, after school, people would start coming around me and I would beat-box, and kids would start rhyming over them. It was like the first time people validated me musically; that memory and my mother taking me to record my first demo at a studio. She is my biggest fan. She is so supportive.
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