Birmingham singer/guitarist Jahnah Camille’s debut EP, i tried to freeze light, but only remember a girl, was largely written while she was still in high school, bottling all the anxiety, heartbreak, and search for identity that come with those lost teen years. During that time, she traveled to Atlanta to bring her scrappy ideas to life and slipped deeper into her local DIY scene, going on to support Clairo, Soccer Mommy, and Wednesday on tour.
It’s only fitting that her second EP, My sunny oath!, out June 13 via Winspear, captures the onset of adulthood, in all its messiness. Recorded with producer Alex Farrar, lead single “what do you do?” is a fuzzed-out statement of intent for the 20-year-old, illustrating the unease of being perceived. “I wrote this while trying to understand the feeling of losing control,” Camille says. “I was paralyzed by a need to control how other people saw me and needed to write about it.”
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But while she collages alt-rock, grunge, and shoegaze into swirling noise, Camille isn’t just inspired by the ’90s. Its video, premiering below, draws from Nathan For You’s “Smokers Allowed” — an episode that, like the song, fixates on perception, as Nathan Fielder bends reality into a passionate experiment. Camille spoofs the premise, tapping her friends to play actors auditioning for a play — but need to rehearse the scenes to perfection (even recreating the part where Fielder makes them repeat “I love you”). Below, Camille gave us insight into her hometown scene, a life-altering Paramore show, and the upcoming EP.
Who was the first player that inspired you to pick up the guitar?
My dad inspired me to start playing guitar. He was taking lessons for a while, and I knew I wanted to do the same, so my parents got me a book for the basics and a $20 kid’s guitar that my siblings eventually smashed.
Did you have a “scene” while coming of age in Birmingham? What was it like?
Lots of punk, hardcore, and Americana stuff. Lots of bands that I love and that inspire me. I started getting involved in my local scene when I was 13, and it showed me that I can get on a stage and perform among my peers and nothing bad will happen, probably. There’s a really big emphasis on DIY here in Birmingham, and I think that’s really valuable because it makes making music accessible for kids like me who were struggling and need an outlet.
Last year you recalled seeing a Paramore show in the fifth grade that you called foundational. What do you remember about the gig that made it so singular and influential?
Paramore really got me through my adolescence, so seeing them live and feeling that connection helped me realize that I wanted to be doing the same thing forever and ever! Growing up in Alabama, being one the only Black girls in my school who sort of dressed different and wasn’t religious, I felt really ostracized all the time. “Playing God” became an anthem for me, and it helped me find my voice.
Tell me about the experience of putting together the video for “what do you do?” and pulling from Nathan For You’s “Smokers Allowed.”
I was really high and chose a random episode of Nathan for You to watch, and I looked to my boyfriend and was like, “I think this is the music video I want to do.” I just wanted to be in a suit and wanted to be absurd. The episode is centered around helping a bar owner get around smoking laws after losing customers when smoking is no longer allowed. So he sets up some curtains and has people pay to watch people in the bar — and then takes it one step further by replacing the people in the bar with actors. I thought it was a cool way to play with perception, and “what do you do?” is all about my image of myself and feeling uncomfortable with other people’s image of me, so I found it to be fitting.
You’re gearing up to release your second EP, My sunny oath!, in June. What’s the meaning behind the title — does it reflect a desire to be more optimistic?
My sunny oath! as a title feels almost like a joke and also very representative of me as a whole. I chose it as the title because it sounds very optimistic in a sea of lyrics that I wrote while mostly feeling very anxious. But I try to rise to the occasion every day.