Jin Jin and the Ragdolls
2012 has been a great year for Jin Jin and the Ragdolls as the singer-songwriter has collaborated with Bless Beats and Mikill Pane.
This week she returns with her brand new single Whistle At Me and we caught up with her to chat about the new track as well as what is on the horizon into 2013.
- Whistle At Me is your new single so what can fans expect from the new track?
Basically it is like a feel good party track really. Yeah it is just a feel good upbeat song.
- The single is a collaboration between yourself and producer Bless Beats so how did you end up working together?
We ended up working together because I did some writing with and then featured on a track with Roll Deep and Wiley is part of that crew as it DJ Target: it is quite a big crew.
Bless Beats has been working closely with the crew as well and after I did the song he heard that track, and so did Wiley, and they put me on another track called It’s Alright, which was around the same time as Wear My Rolex that Bless Beats did and it was like a follow up for that.
We enjoyed working together and it has continued from there and we decided to do a project.
- He is a producer with lots of experience so how did you find working with him?
Really good actually and it totally wasn’t what I expected. Sometimes you think of these big producers who have had these top ten hits as being these glorious figures who are sat in a bit amazing studio but he mainly just worked off his laptop and he was really laid back.
I think instantly we hit it off and we had a mutual understanding and feel for music. Nobody told us to work together it was just something that happened naturally.
- So how have you found the response to the track so far?
We are getting quite a good response as we have Wiley on one remix and then we have another remix by a guy called Ray Foxx - he did a track called The Trumpeter which was a big dance record last year. So yeah we have been getting some good club responses so it is really cool.
- And there is a great video to go with the single so where did you film it?
That was just in Portobello in West London. It is just the sort of thing that I would be doing anyway just going around Portobello or Brixton so it wasn’t a deep thought out treatment it was just about being fun and random at the same time.
- And you have released tracks like Cashpoint Drama this year so is there an album on the horizon?
Yeah there will be an album later next year - we are looking to do an EP first. We are just going to be putting out singles for a while and we have a single called Switch It Up and we have another coming called Danger In Paradise.
So I want to keep putting out music as I just constantly have different ideas and I constantly want to collaborate with different people.
The first collaboration with Mikill Pane I really enjoyed and I went on tour with him - he is really cool and he is doing really well at the moment.
I just want to experiment with loads of different things and collaborate with different artists and people who I wouldn’t naturally work with.
- Speaking of Mikill Pane how did that collaboration come about as it is a great track?
It was something that I had wanted to do as I had seen around and out and about on the circuit before I met him through mutual friends - Bless Beats knows him as well.
Basically we just thought that he would be perfect to do Cashpoint Drama with. That track is based on a real life scenario as one day I was late to the studio and I was at the cashpoint and this geezer was hassling me a bit and I arrived late at the studio. Bless said to me ‘why don’t you write a song about it?’ and that was it.
I was due to do a session with Mikill Pane anyway and he really felt it and we just jammed the idea. We literally wrote it in conversational terms because he had experienced a similar thing as well so he was writing from experience as well.
- You have mentioned already that you toured with Mikill off the back of that track so how was the experience of getting out on the road?
Absolutely brilliant. When you have been sat in a studio for the whole time you never quite know what the response is going to be and so the Mikill Pane tour was the first real tour and the first real performances as Jin Jin & the Ragdolls that I had done.
It was amazing because when I performed in Manchester, which is my home town, everyone was singing along to Cashpoint Drama and it was amazing to see that people actually knew the song. It was really fun and Mikill is such a joker and so it was constantly jokes all around.
- The music that we have heard from you so far has a very pop/dance/electro sound so how much is this the direction that you always wanted to take your music? Or is it something that has developed along the way?
I have always been into really heavy, dancey and urban production but I have got a pop voice so it was just a natural collaboration between myself and Bless Beats.
It is not like we were trying to do any particular genre it has just really turned out that way.
- You have mentioned already that you are looking to release and EP and an album next year so can you give us any hints as to what we can expect in terms of sound? Are you going to continue to work in a similar genre or a re you looking to expand further?
I am looking to expand and experiment really. The album is going to be totally eclectic because I am inspired by lots of different things such as reggae music and I am really into trap music at the moment and I love dance music.
Then of course Bless Beats is from a grime and urban background and so his influences get in there as well.
So it is going to be a mixture and there is going to be some heavier and darker stuff as well. There will still be that pop element and it still will be club orientated.
- And are there any more collaborations on the record that you can tell us about? Or is there anyone that you would like to work with?
I would really like to work with Robyn, the Swedish artist, but there are also few people here in the UK that I would like to work with and I may be doing some stuff with them. I am also doing some stuff with Wiley and another artist called African Boy.
But I would also like to like to tap into some people from the indie world and I am really looking to experiment and see who is out there.
- How has your music been received outside of the UK? Have you explored Europe and even the States?
A few different producers have contacted me from the States so it does seem to be going down quite well. We have had responses from different parts of the world as I have recently been contacted by a promoter from Poland as he wants me to go out there and perform.
So it is just really random places and I would really love to travel and explore - even do some stuff with some international artists as well.
- So where did your love of music start - I was reading that you were influenced by the reggae music you listened to as a child?
Yeah I was definitely influenced by that. My granddad use to have a reggae store in Manchester and when I was younger, after school and the weekends, I use to hang out there with him.
So whilst all my other siblings and cousins were out playing in the garden I was in the record shop with him and I use to help him out in there.
- So when did you decide that music was the path that you were going to take as you have done some modelling and acting as well?
I have always been into performing and so I just naturally fell into it. With music it incorporates a mixture of the acting and the dancing - you can take on a different persona when you are on stage. So I think I just naturally fell into the music really.
But I would like to have my hands in different pies and I would like to do a bit of acting - but music is my first passion.
- Finally what is next for you heading into 2013?
I am working on the EP and I am looking to do more live shows and more collaborations.
I also hope to find some time to travel and to collaborate with different artists - I get my inspiration as well when I travel as you get the chance to take in different things and different cultures.
Whistle At Me is out now
Click here to download Whistle At Me
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw