Jesse Jo Stark Interview

If Christmas belongs to Mariah Carey, then Jesse Jo Stark owns Halloween. The rock ‘n’ roll, genre-bending singer-songwriter released new single “i’m yours” on her favourite holiday, ushering in a new era of her almost decade-long music career. 

“I approached ‘i'm yours’ a little differently than I normally do,” says the 33-year-old Los Angeles native, who has been making noise since debut single “Driftwood” dropped in 2017. “I remember walking in and talking to my two writing companions, and I was like, ‘I want to write a pop song’. I really pushed myself vocally. Fear is not the feeling you want to have when you're trying to convey a feeling or a sound in your vocals; I'm very intimidated sometimes, wondering what my voice has to offer that somebody else can’t. In this setting, this time, I tried to be a little more fearless and sing out, and try different harmonies, and melodies, and really challenge myself with something I would normally not do.”

The synth-tinged track ticks the boxes of both California dream girl and glam Goth, and even before seeing its accompanying visuals it’s hard not to imagine “i’m yours” soundtracking a nostalgic teen movie. The music video, directed by Jesse, Rayce Aaronson and Josephine Meng, sees her frolicking around LA with various masked characters, including the skeleton figure previously seen in her 2018 “Fire of Love” video. It has all the ingredients of a rock romance; late night diner dates, cigarettes and faux fur coats with statement lingerie, all captured on gloriously grainy film.

Those two [Rayce and Josephine] have been such beautiful collaborators in my life, especially over the last year,” Jesse says of her co-directors. “We all share the same vision. We actually came up with the concept two days before the shoot, and everything magically fell into place. The one thing I wanted to do was reintroduce the skeleton figure as a love with no face." It makes sense that Jesse is so involved in the visual side of her music when you consider her “other” career: creative director of Chrome Hearts, her family’s iconic rock ‘n’ roll fashion brand, which was founded by her father Richard Stark in 1988. Her mother, Laurie Lynn Stark, co-owns the brand and together – with Jesse’s younger siblings, twins Kristian and Frankie Belle – the family is an artistic powerhouse. Jesse rarely works with stylists for her music videos or tours, with the exception of best friend Marc Eram, who collaborated with her on the wardrobe for “i’m yours”. 

“I love working with Marc,” she says. “I always tell him he should just design because everything we do together is so custom. We always search for unknown designers and incorporate my designs. He always brings amazing pieces, and then we pull from my archive room. It’s super collaborative when we get on set; there’s no ego. I love ideas if they’re good, and that’s it. Everybody involved knows that I’m going to want to touch it, feel it, and love it, but I also really believe in my team. It’s a pleasure to work with all of them.”

I ask what it is about the skeleton figure and other Halloween iconography that really appeals to her. “I think life is so interesting,” Jesse begins. “I’m a control freak, so to be in this body but really not have any control—it’s like my OCD kicks in, and it’s the most mind-boggling feeling. The reason why I relate to death and all these afterlife types of figures is because the only way I know how to make peace with our time here is to pay tribute to the end. If we could realize that we’re all just made of bones, it’s quite humorous that we take ourselves so seriously. All of these nods to horror and the afterlife are to make peace with the end and to remind myself to never grow up, and that we’re just little, and that’s it. The skeleton man is a constant ode to love as well. I believe love comes in many different forms, so I wanted it to have no face.”

“i’m yours” is just the beginning for Jesse’s new music; she’s been busy in the studio working on the follow-up to her 2022 debut album, DOOMED. While she’s given us several tastes of the upcoming material this year, including sultry fan-favourite single “billie don’t be so mad” – named after Jesse’s beloved dog who passed away – and the OCD-referencing “skeleton”, there’s still plenty more to come. This time around, Jesse is pouring more of herself into her tracks than ever. “There's so much I've learned from being in the studio since I was like seven years old,” she says. “I say my instrument is my ear, because I can really hear well, and everything I've learned from playing live and touring has been such a development in itself. Now I'm able to understand, ‘OK, this key doesn’t work for me’. Something I've learned with time too is to really listen to my intuition and my own voice, and to not be swallowed by being in a studio full of men where they're going to sing it the way they want, in the key they want and then when I take that to the stage it's really hard for me. The key to this new era of writing for me has been to be like, ‘Everybody shut up and let me fucking sing.’”

She’s found herself working with more women as a result. “There’s a freedom and a fearlessness with them,” says Jesse. “I’m not intimidated by what I want to say. My life is full of muses. I surround myself with people who are going to challenge me and tell me I’m wrong, and maybe have a better idea, and then it’s collaborative. I don’t believe I’m the best lyricist of all time, but I believe we only have our experiences to offer, and I have to be able to tell my story. I think you can really hear that growth in my songs. All the same inspiration is there, it’s just a bit less cryptic. ‘I’m Yours’ is less cryptic, detailed as hell, and honest.” 

Earlier in 2024, Jesse took to the road with Australian pop duo The Veronicas, opening up for their Gothic Summer US tour. She’s “obsessed” with touring. “I don’t want to be anywhere else. I love my bunk—it’s like a coffin,” she laughs. “I love the boys on the bus, I love different cities, meeting different people in coffee shops. You realize how in a box you are where you live. I love that the one goal is to get on stage and do well. My brain is wired like that. It’s the time I feel most myself. The Veronicas tour was an all female-fronted tour, and they empowered me beyond words. It was one of my favorite tours I’ve ever been on, and the minute I got home, it was full depression mode. Any artist will say this—you just don’t know how to exist. I cannot wait for the day that I get to go back out.”

Like the true creative multi-hyphenate she is, on the day of our interview, Jesse is in New York to help launch a new jewellery collaboration between Chrome Hearts and Japanese pearl specialists Mikimoto. “This project has been years in the making,” she explains. “My dad travelled to Asia so much and he would bring back a present once a year, and it was always a little pearl. It was such a tradition that I asked him one day if we could do a collaboration, because I wanted to work with pearls, and he said well this is who we’re going to work with. Mikimoto is a lot like us in terms of how specific and detailed they are, and they're artisans. It's been such a family affair and I believe the collection really showcases the feminine side and the masculine side, which was inspired by my mum and dad.” 

She’s grown up in the family business, remembering “being at the factory in Hollywood when it was small, and everything was simple. It was like, ‘OK, I go to school, and then I go to school again,’ which was my parents’ school. I used to beg them to let me go with my friends and go through the scraps, and I would staple things together, and learn to sew. I learned work ethic and attention to detail, and I learned how to work with a team and be grounded in where I was. It was the best school I could have gone to.”

Now, as creative director, Jesse is heavily involved in the process of making custom Chrome Hearts pieces for fellow artists like Dua Lipa and Doja Cat. “We’re so picky about who we work with because we’ve never wanted to be in the business of working for anyone else,” explains Jesse. “We take on projects that we believe in, that we really want to be a part of. We don’t always agree on them, but somehow we’ve learned how to support each other’s visions. Being a performer and knowing how it feels to stand on a stage naked, basically, means I’ve always been really collaborative. The stylists have been fabulous. There’s no ego, and it’s important to me to have a fluid feeling of creativity. There are many Chrome rules, don’t get me wrong – [laughs] – but there’s also a friendship there. I think it’s beautiful.”

One of Chrome Hearts’ most iconic customers also happens to be Jesse’s godmother: Cher. During a New Year’s performance, opening for Post Malone in Las Vegas, Jesse wore one of the legendary star’s vintage Bob Mackie pieces—an honor she does not take for granted. “I honestly don’t raid her closet,” she says. “I found her wig closet when I was younger, which was like finding God. But I hadn’t asked her to borrow anything before that, so I was like, ‘Miss, I’ve never asked you to borrow anything. I need to borrow this outfit.’ She said if it fit me I could wear it—and it did, barely, by the way. But usually, our time together consists of watching old movies and really talking. I’m so inspired by her. She’s the ultimate woman, and her story is insane. I mean, her whole story—we see the good stuff, but I know that woman worked and fought hard to be where she is. What a vision.”

In-keeping with her love of all things visual, Jesse also runs her own line, Deadly Doll, which was named after a 2017 single and originally born out of a need to make merch. “I have a lot of freedom with Deadly Doll,” she says. “The motifs aren't as tricky and I get to have freedom in collaborating with artists I like. There's not as many rules and I've gotten to take music videos that I have in my mind, and apply them to garments, and create these little vignettes per single that I drop. If I have an idea one day that I want to do a fetish collection, I just go off and find the right artist and do it. With Chrome, we're a family, so you're getting five of us with an opinion. Deadly Doll is just my own and it's really been a blessing to have.” 

This year, the Halloween queen threw a Deadly Doll Ball, with friends and creatives including Baz Luhrmann, Nadia Lee Cohen, and Devon Lee Carlson in attendance. “Oh my God, it was so much fun,” she says. “I’ve had a couple of them before, but never really displayed them—they were discreet little shindigs. I never want them to just be parties. I created different vignettes with nods to horror films and ballets, showcasing all my collected monster masks. Each corner had its own atmosphere. The outside hang was a graveyard with an altar inspired by my dog Billie, an ode to our ghosts. Everyone chain-smoked and danced inside a coffin cage. The bartenders were dressed as demons and devils. It was fabulous."

She’s clearly an animal lover, as when I ask what’s next for Jesse, she replies, “This is so left field, but as a person, I need to be way more immersed in animals. My ultimate goal when I’m older is to have an animal shelter that I run, but I also want to raise awareness, contribute my time, and pair with organizations that seem fitting. I donate supplies quietly, but I want to actually participate more. I like people, but I love animals. I’ve been speaking with Freya at The Aspinall Foundation in London, and she re-wilds gorillas. I’ve been talking to her about being more involved in her foundation. Animals are where true love exists.”

Musician, designer and now gorilla activist: Jesse Jo Stark might just be the coolest person we’ve ever met.