“Musical Poetry” – Ethan Jewell On His Newest Album, TikTok, Touring, And More!

Written by Astrid Kutos

Graphic by Rebekah Witt

“Y’know, the funny thing about loneliness is just how charming it is” is the opening line to Ethan Jewell’s third album, an honest, emotional confrontation with loneliness in all its forms. Released November 12th, 2021, loneliness in the presence of company sticks to the musical style well-established in his previous two albums, a unique mix of spoken word and emotional instrumentals. Over 16 songs, Jewell covers various forms of loneliness – loss of friendships, relationships, or simply feeling isolated – yet also conveys a sense of comfort to those listening.

I had the chance to speak to Jewell over Zoom about his album, his upcoming tour, and the motivation behind making music.

Ever since his first release in 2019, Jewell has created what he describes as “musical poetry”: spoken word over instrumentals, often piano. While he himself sometimes finds it difficult to characterise—“a lot of times, I get people telling me that it’s not music”—he narrows it down to “emotional expression of the feelings that a lot of people are too scared to talk (…) or write about.” This style is best shown in “it’s getting bad again,” one of “the most heart-breaking [songs]” Jewell has released. It represents both the very emotional nature of his lyricism and showcases the “simplistic style of the vocals and piano.” Jewell first developed this blend after discovering Hobo Johnson, specifically the song “Creve Coeur 1”: “I remember listening to that and I thought to myself ‘I would love to write something like this.’” This led to Jewell writing “Snow Globe,” the song that started it all, in more than one way. 

While writing the song, which discusses mental illness using the metaphor of someone trapped in a snow globe, Jewell found there to be “a beauty in poetry [he]’d never seen before, a story-telling, metaphorical component that allows you to express things without just directly saying them.” It also first propelled him to popularity after posting it to TikTok, seeing 800,000 likes overnight and many comments encouraging him to record it and release it on Spotify. He had not been expecting the song’s sudden success at all, particularly due to the niche nature of the music, and he was touched by how many people found themselves connecting to it, noting “that’s such a powerful thing, and I’m very thankful I get to do that.” One thing led to another, and Jewell released his first album, Live From the Planet OK.

loneliness in the presence of company is Jewell’s third album, following his 2019 release and 2020’s Living the Dream. Stylistically, Jewell drew a lot of inspiration from artists like Flatsound for this record, in particular admiring how “his music sounds like how being numb feels.” Lyrically, he draws from facing declining mental health in the past year and a half, following the loss of friends and physical distance to remaining ones, as many of them moved for college. Combined with the pandemic, Jewell found himself “the most alone [he]’d been in [his] life.” Very overwhelmed by the situation and facing drastically dropping mental health, he channelled it into “all [he] [knows] how to do” – writing. He would “feel something intensely in a moment,” then write about it in his Notes app for 15 minutes and record. 

Most of the songs on this album deal with loneliness of some form, whether it be personal, loss of a relationship, or friendship, “realising nobody cares.” While the subject matter is rather dark, the process actually brought him comfort. As he was faced with these struggles, he realised, through working on the album, that “loneliness isn’t so lonely once you get used to it,” and once you “learn how to deal with [your] loneliness, it’s not so bad,” the surprisingly hopeful message he hopes to convey to his audience with this record. While mental health problems and loneliness are undoubtedly difficult to deal with, it’s “something we have to face.” Jewell wants to encourage people to stop running or distracting themselves from their problems and instead “find courage to face whatever [they’re] feeling.”

The impact his music has on people and the message it allows him to convey are a large part of what motivates Jewell to keep making music. He himself has “formed emotional connection” to it, and he’s seen other people do the same, receiving many messages from people thanking him for helping or even “saving” them with his music. While not considering himself someone people necessarily should look up to—“I don’t see myself as some saviour, or artist, or great person,” he is “incredibly grateful and (…) humbled” by the effect his music has had on other people. The ability to “connect with people on a deep, emotional level” and knowing that he is helping people is the biggest thing to him. He stopped focusing on “numbers and superficial things” as he realised that, for him, it “takes away from the creating.” It would keep him from focusing on what really mattered to him: the emotional connection in making “raw music.” Instead, he now aims to simply stay true to “[himself] and the music [he] creates,” continue to create a safe space, and make art people can “find comfort in and discover things about themselves within.”

This spring, Jewell is going on his first tour, supported by indie-folk artist Mae Krell. Due to starting his music career just as Covid-19 hit, he has not yet had an opportunity to play live shows and has “hardly even [met] people in real life who’ve heard the music,” something he is very excited to catch up on now. “I’ve been working so much on the set,” he explains, eager to put on a good show for people and “make it worth people’s time and money to come see [him].” While understandably being nervous, he is also extremely excited to finally be able to play live and “be in a room with other people who feel deeply, who [he’s] already become emotionally attached to without even meeting”, and to experience that “acknowledgment of those feelings we’re all feeling.”

As previously mentioned, Jewell first got his start on Tiktok, something that has been happening more and more. To Jewell, it “changes the game entirely,” as the options an aspiring musician had before were quite limited: “Get a deal with a record label and sign away all your creative rights, give everything to the label, or (…) get one in a million lucky (..) and blow up on Instagram or YouTube.” As those platforms are extremely competitive and “not built for virality,” but rather to create a fanbase, chances of someone completely unknown suddenly blowing up are much lower. TikTok, Jewell explains, completely changed the game. This is something he himself experienced: “I’m just a guy who sits in his room and talks over piano, and suddenly I had millions of people who saw a video of me and heard me.” He considers it to be a largely positive influence on the music scene, as it “allows creative people to be creative and have a chance at having people hear it.”

As far as advice to young artists just starting out in the music industry goes, Jewell urges them to “just create.” He cautions against being caught up with what other people think, as “people are going to think whatever they want to think, no matter what you do.” Instead, you have to “find satisfaction with yourself; you have to create for the sake of creating.” Seeking outside approval or validation will, in his eyes, never lead to happiness—“do it for you, at the end of the day”.

More than anything, Jewell really wants to convey to people that “if you don’t feel your feelings, you will never feel satisfied in life.” While he acknowledges that it is much easier to run from your problems, he cautions that “eventually, they catch up, and it will be so much worse. Feel your feelings. And if you need help feeling your feelings, go listen to my music because I guarantee it will help.”

Listen to loneliness in the presence of company on all streaming platforms!