Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter Jessica Andrea’s latest musical endeavor is not only putting her in a completely different headspace creatively, but it’s bringing a whole new batch of feelings to go with it.
On the pop-vocal showcase “Love Like This,” Andrea delivers a powerfully honest confessional about an unfamiliar yet welcome level of emotion taken straight from her own experience. With the help of the songwriting and production team of Melanie and Lindgren Fontana (BTS, Dua Lipa), she mined a stash of trace notes and voice memos about a new flame that resulted in the song’s raw lyrics.
“When I was around this guy that I was talking to, I would always write down feelings that I felt for him,” Andrea tells Billboard. “So I would be at a bar with him and I’d go to the bathroom and write down exactly what I was feeling … I wanted to bottle up this feeling so that no matter what happened between me and this guy, I’d remember.”
The process of baring those private memories and keepsakes to the Fontana duo and now a wider audience reflect the fearlessness that characterizes Andrea as an artist. She notes Katy Perry as an inspiration in the way that “her songs always remind me of somebody,” and arrived at the session with the specific intention to use every cherished moment because “it takes me back to the place of actually being with him in person.”
The accompanying production fits the blissful exuberance of the lyrics, with Andrea’s vocals reaching for new heights as the synthy pop arrangement swells around her. She likens the sonic flow of the song to “floating on a cloud and dreaming of this person,” while the prevailing tone is undeniably cheerful and perky.
“I try to make my songs feel like they could be in a teenage romantic movie,” she says. “It’s OK and it’s fun to have crushes and fall in love and be yourself and be vulnerable, and that’s what I want [listeners] to take away.”
Though “Love Like This” officially reignites her musical passion, Andrea promises to go out blazing with a “for-sure summer song” on the way next.
Check out “Love Like This” exclusively on Billboard below before its wide release on Friday (May 15).
