Jessie Reyez Talks New Album, Morbidness of Love
Jessie Reyez’s interview on The Daily Show Thursday night was a surprisingly profound one. When host Trevor Noah asked Reyez why she had named her upcoming album Before Love Came to Kill Us, he got a pretty morbid answer.
“Sad songs have a little love, and even love songs have a little bit of sadness because you know, love can’t last because nobody gets out of love alive,” she said.
“Is love the coronavirus?” Noah quipped.
Reyez explained that statistically speaking, there is a slim chance of finding the love of your life — and if you do find the love of your life, you’re with them literally until death do you part.
“Someone has to die,” she insisted. “You don’t survive love — but you know what, if you keep that in mind, then today you might not cheat. If you know tomorrow’s your last day, then today you might not be a jerk. Today you might be authentically yourself if you know tomorrow it could be all over.”
Reyez was raised as a child of Colombian immigrants in Canada and adopted the hustle mentality from her parents; before she was a Grammy-nominated recording artist, she busked for money and worked bartending shifts until six in the morning, leaving little time for her to go out to the club with her friends unless she was performing at the venue. It’s the reason why she didn’t go to Coachella until she was asked to perform there — “Why would I go if I’m not making money?”
Later on the show, Reyez performed “Far Away,” her migrant love song from the new album, out March 27th. The singer gave an emotional rendition of the song before telling the audience at the end, “No matter what color we are, we all bleed red.”