Jillette Johnson reflects on the journey to 'Water In A Whale'

It's a cold November night in Brooklyn. Singer-songwriter Jillette Johnson is back home, finally. She has laundry to pick up and a show to prepare for. We meet at the Blue Bottle Coffee shop around the corner from her home to talk about the year she's had. It's been a big one for Johnson, who released her first full-length album, Water In A Whale, this past June. She's been touring extensively and is happy to be playing a show in her hood.

New York is both her home and her muse. Here is where it all began. She learned piano at age six and began songwriting at age eight. At 12 years old, with the help of her parents, she began playing gigs around the city and hired on a manager.

But getting to where she is now hasn't come easy. She had a few "almosts," as she calls it, along the way. When she was 17 she almost signed to Epic Records, but it fell through last minute because her A&R guy was let go. She almost took the "talent contest" path, having auditioned for the first season of The Voice, but decided against going on it three days before her flight to Los Angeles.

"I was at a point in my life where I was saying 'yes' to everything because you never know what doors will open you to the next opportunity. There is no path in this industry. You kind of have to throw yourself against a wall and see how it falls down," she says. "I didn't feel really comfortable because I felt like I was not being completely genuine to myself. And I am very much my own product. I've always been fiercely proud of the things I stand for, and I didn't know how they were going to want to manipulate that."

She was asked to sign over the next eight years to a company that didn't know her or the vision she had for her music. But saying 'no' to them meant she would be turning down the opportunity to be in front of millions of people to potentially gain instant recognition. She says she has no regrets, though. Instead, she took a chance on herself with the belief that she was good enough to do it on her own.

She continued writing and working with her frequent collaborator, Peter Zizzo, who has produced for Celine Dion, Avril Lavigne and Vanessa Carlton. Eventually, her song "Cameron" — which tells the story of a transgendered friend of hers but also, she explains, is a universal tale of feeling "alien" in your own skin — caught the attention of Wind-Up Records' executive Gregg Wattenberg. She inked a deal with the label in 2012 and released her debut five-track EP Whiskey & Frosting that August.

Now, at age 24, she has the perspective and the timing for all her success to fall into place. She has spent the last decade cultivating her style into the sultry, soulful, piano-driven sound it is today. Since putting out Water In A Whale, her song "Torpedo" has been featured on both Love and Hip Hop Atlanta and ABC's The Vineyard. She also recently performed it on Rachel Ray.

"That saying of 'the older you get the more you realize you don't know anything' is really true for me. I don't feel bitter. I don't feel like I've been burned. I've gone through a lot of tough sh*t. I mean I've been kicked around a lot in this industry, but I don't feel like I did anything that hurt me in a way that it would affect my career. Now I feel like I can be in the world and be very vulnerable, but I'm strong enough because of the fact that I'm now a young woman and not a kid."

Having found success later on also allowed her to grow up "normally." "I mean I have real friends," she explains. "I have a real life. I'm a very real human being." All of this is apparent in her songwriting. Her lyrics are intimate and honest but also universal.

She says she is obsessed with songwriting. "When I'm home, I'm a little hard to get in touch with because I hermit myself in my apartment and write songs. I don't get anything else done. Like god forbid I have to send a letter because that won't happen." On Water In A Whale, her inspiration came from "searching for comfort and learning how to hold on to my whimsy and my humanity and how to be okay with my failures. A lot of it is how to cope with failure and use it to reach your dreams."

The people in her life also inspire her, as was the case with "Cameron," but she admits, "One of the tricky things about writing songs that are real to you is you have to be a little bit careful. I've made that mistake before. People have real feelings. These are real humans in your life, and you can't abuse that or exploit it."

Songwriting greats including Carol King, James Taylor, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell and Paul Simon were what she grew up listening to, but now she also draws inspiration from artists such Elliott Smith ("There's something about being in New York, listening to Elliott Smith that feels really nice and not dark") and Radiohead (she often plays a powerful cover of "Creep").

Although she plans to spend the holidays writing even more music, she won't be putting out a new album anytime soon. "I really believe in Water In A Whale, and I want to work it for a while. So I am going to wait," she explains. "I'm going to stay on the road and work this record until I feel that it's given everything it has." She also hopes to release the album internationally at some point.

Looking back on the past decade, she describes her journey as "the way it should be" saying, "I've worked really hard for a long time because I love it. Every single day, I've plugged away at this, and I will continue to. I am very grateful that nothing has come too quickly because it has allowed me to really soak up every aspect of being an artist. I feel like a whole person. I feel like I have people in my life that I love, and I can enjoy other parts of life beyond music. I think my journey has been long and beautiful and just right because it all happened really naturally. Anything that has happened to me that has been real has happened because I've been patient enough to let it happen when it was supposed to."

Essential Jillette Johnson Songs:
Fan Favorites: "Torpedo" and "Cameron"
Music Times Favorite: "Basset Hound" and "Pauvre Coeur"