Jenna Raine, an artist who released her first extended play (EP) at 14, is soon to write her first album.
Jenna Raine Simmons, known as Jenna Raine, is an American singer, songwriter and instrumentalist, born in 2004 in Dallas, Texas. Her music career began when she sang and wrote songs in the all-girl band L2M (“Listening to Music”). In 2018, Raine began her solo career with her first single, “Us.” In 2019, at the age of 14, she released her first EP, “Nen,” which also included her first single. Later, she became a supporting act in the “For U” tour for the boy band In Real Life. Raine shared that after working with a band for a long time and then starting to play solo, her main struggle was to maintain her own opinion.
“Having an opinion and not caring of what other people think of what you actually want to do and the music that you want to make … and the creative freedom that you have as an artist is just so freeing,” Raine said in a Zoom interview with student journalists, including The Pearl Post. “And sometimes I have trouble embracing that because I’m such a people pleaser. So, getting outside of my comfort zone is just doing what I actually want to do.”
Raine became known with the release of her single “see you later (ten years)” on Spotify. Due to its emotional lyrics and memorable melody, the single quickly gained popularity on TikTok and now has over 130 million streams on Spotify. As of now, Jenna Raine has released seven EPs, which include 2019’s “Nen,” 2022’s “see you later,” 2023’s “Big Dumb Heart, Chapter 1” and “Big Dumb Heart, Chapter 2.” Her most recent EP, “Only Started Growing,” was released in April and includes six songs, including “Roses” and “Who Am I.”
“‘Who Am I’ might be one of my favourite songs I’ve written,” Raine said. “Just because I was going through a really hard time in my life, where I was attaching my growth to a person in my life. And when you do that, you’re like: ‘Wait, I’m scared of losing this person. If I lose this person, then who I am is going to go away completely. Just out the window and I’m thinking of that song. I was very honest and vulnerable. And I have not written a song like that ever.”
Raine has a website where she sells her music and her merch. It also has information about the upcoming tours and events. Many of the dances to her songs became popular. Raine shared that she wouldn’t ever think she would have a viral TikTok dance since she doesn’t consider herself a professional dancer. She learned how to dance when she was a part of L2M and she finds dance as a fun hobby.
“I’m grateful, I love dancing,” Raine said in the Zoom interview. “If there’s a wedding or any kind of gathering where people are dancing, I’m the first person on the dance floor because dancing is just so fun. That’s my only experience with dancing. I took classes when I was a kid and it was horrible. So I just have a good time when it comes to dance. And I think people see that too in the dances on TikTok when I’m doing them.”
Recently, Raine announced she is going on a tour. The dates announced are from June 11-17 across four states. Since her career started, Raine has released mostly singles and EPs. During the interview, Raine said she will be working on a big project, her first album.
“After those shows, I need to go start writing the next project,” Raine said. “And it’s a more important project. I haven’t done an album yet, so I’m currently writing that. Headlining-vice, I don’t think I’m planning on doing a bigger headline tour until probably an album.”
