American Idol alum Jena Irene Signs Label Deal with Detroit Indie

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Jena Irene has been teasing a big announcement on twitter.

According to the Detroit Free Press, the American Idol season 13 runner-up has signed a “long-term” recording deal with the independent Detroit label Original 1265 Recordings.

According to the paper, the singer broke the news in an interview last week with the Free Press at Studio A Recording in Dearborn Heights, where she and manager Kevin Nixon worked on the final tracks of her debut album, set to be released later this year.

Jena explained to the Free Press why she decided to launch her career close to her Detroit hometown  instead of chasing major labels on the west coast.

“I wanted to move to L.A. for so long. I was so ready to pack up and leave right after I got home [from last summer’s American Idol tour],” she said. “But then I stayed home for awhile and worked on some demos, not knowing what was going to happen. I was kind of scared at that point.”

“The hype definitely died down,” she added. “I’ve lost a few followers on Twitter and Instagram.”

Jena’s mother, Julie, had reached out to Dan Gilbert, chairman of Quicken Loans, to see if her daughter could help with efforts to promote the comeback of downtown Detroit.

Quicken executives didn’t bite, but an executive who works with Gilbert’s Rock Ventures unit, hooked Jena and her mom with Nixon and fellow co-founder of Original 1265, Sarah Clayman.

The couple are also co-founders of Detroit Institute of Music Education (DIME), an accredited school that opened last year and has already hosted guests such as Madonna, Usher and George Clinton.

Nixon, who had originally worked with acts in the UK, wasn’t familiar with the singer’s run on American Idol, but watched her performance of Radiohead’s “Creep” on YouTube and was impressed.

“I thought that’s not your normal American Idol-type kid,” he said. “There’s something deep here.”

When Jena played her original song “Numb” for Nixon, he was sold.  “This girl’s a proper songwriter,” he declared.

“I think the decision of staying in Detroit all just fell into place,” Jena  said. “The stars were just aligning to stay home.”

There were record offers from Los Angeles, “but they just weren’t showing as much interest as Kevin and Sarah, and after I got started working with them, I became addicted. I just felt really comfortable and started expanding and reaching new ground with my writing,” she said.

Jena co-wrote 11 of the 13 tracks recorded for possible inclusion on the album. The songs are “honest,” even “risque … not many ‘Idol’ alumni have really done what I’m going to do,” she said.

At least Jena could see the law of diminishing returns as far as her Idol run was concerned. If she had moved out to Los Angeles, she would have been starting out from scratch. On the other hand, how far a reach could a local Detroit label have? Some artists, like Lee DeWyze, auditioned for Idol after releasing albums on local indie labels, looking for wider recognition. As long as her new team understands that her Idol capital is pretty much spent at this point, perhaps they can help Jena  become a successful regional artist, at least.

Good luck to Jena Irene! The girl has talent and deserves to be heard.

Via Detroit Free Press

About mj santilli 34834 Articles
Founder and editor of mjsbigblog.com, home of the awesomest fan community on the net. I love cheesy singing shows of all kinds, whether reality or scripted. I adore American Idol, but also love The Voice, Glee, X Factor and more!