FEATURE: Modern-Day Queens: Rochelle Jordan

FEATURE:

Modern-Day Queens

PHOTO CREDIT: Amanda Elise K

Rochelle Jordan

__________

I will get to a review…

PHOTO CREDIT: Amanda Elise K

for one of this year’s best albums, Through the Wall. The work of the amazing Rochelle Jordan, I was going to include her in my Spotlight series, though she has been on the scene for a long time now. Maybe you could say she is hitting a peak now so could be seen as a rising artist but, instead, I am including her in this Modern-Day Queens. Prior to getting to a review for Through the Wall, there are some great interviews from this year that I want to get to. I am starting out with an interview from The Culture Crypt. Having been releasing music since the early-2010s, you feel that Jordan is producing her best work at the moment. She may disagree, though I do feel that Through the Wall is her greatest album yet. The Culture Crypt speak with an artist who goes from “underground R&B to genre-blending electronica, her latest album is a triumphant return to her roots—and a bold step into new territory”:

“Born in London and raised in Toronto, Jordan has always operated on her own terms—here lies a visionary who saw the connection between soulful R&B and electronic music long before those around her.

Rochelle Jordan's early work has truly stood the test of time. And she knows this. She raps, "All these sons, I watch 'em run around," on the early KLSH-produced standout "Ladida". It's not a simple viral hit or two, Rochelle's vault of material—namely R O J O and Pressure—sounds just as great today as they did in the 2010s blog era.

Then, of course, there's her enduring 2014 debut album, 1021, the true benchmark for lo-fi electro-R&B. Sure, 1021 was adored by fans in 2014. But so was "Fancy" by Iggy Azalea and Vine. Where are they now? No, offerings from 1021 like "Follow Me", "401" and "Lowkey" have enjoyed their fair share of post-TikTok revivalism. More on "Lowkey" later.

Radio silence followed—a period of quiet. But what may have seemed like a hiatus for Jordan was actually a period of intense struggle. During this time, she navigated a harsh industry and overcame a series of professional hurdles that threatened to derail her career. It was a transformative chapter, ultimately proving that "the gift remains," according to her own mental manuscript.

This journey paved the way for a creative rebirth on her 2021 comeback record and second album, Play With The Changes. Critics and fans adored it alike and new listeners were easily magnetised by her strong artistic pull. It was an evolution of her sound. R&B was very much still in the foreground, but the likes of house, breakbeat and electronica had tracks like "Love You Good", "Already" and "Got Em" under groove hypnosis.

Its sequel and subsequent remix edit was stacked in the best way possible. Featuring the likes of Kaytranada, Sango, KLSH and LSDXOXO, it was a fresh and welcome reimagining of her album, with new producers using Rochelle's voice as a vessel to commandeer the dancefloor.

2024 saw another triumphant revival for Jordan: she featured on both Kelela's remix album, RAVE:N, The Remixes and Kaytranada's TIMELESS. Equally, "Lowkey" gained real traction all over social media, accumulating just under 30 million streams in the process. These chessboard manoeuvres aligned Rochelle Jordan perfectly for her second creative ascent. With time away from music alongside creative gestation and reflection in full swing, she's found herself once again.

Speaking with The Culture Crypt, Rochelle Jordan opens up about the inspirations behind her new album, her personal growth and how she's navigating this latest chapter in her career.

The title, Through The Wall, feels like a definitive statement. Is that how you see it?

"Absolutely. The title represents so many things for me. On one hand, it's about the emotional and mental walls we build as creatives—the insecurities, fears and imposter syndrome that hold us back. This album was a process of completely breaking those walls down and realising that I deserve all the wins and positive things that are coming my way.

But the title also has a deeper, more personal meaning: it's a tribute to my brother. When we first moved from the UK to Toronto, he brought a briefcase filled with cassette tapes from the '90s. He's autistic so that he would play these same tapes over and over through the bedroom wall very loudly.

I would just be on the other side playing with my Barbies, unknowingly absorbing all this beautiful house, garage, gospel and drum and bass. That music was my first education in the fluidity of sounds, harmonies and melodies. So the album is a thank you to him for being essential to my foundation as an artist."

You've cultivated a really devoted community of fans over the past decade, much like artists such as Kelela and Solange. How does it feel to be part of that group?

"It's beautiful. I never take it for granted. 'Day Ones'—my official fanbase—go all the way back to '09, so we have this very deep-rooted love for each other. I also love that my fan base seems to have the same taste as me. I think the reason they love artists like Solange or Kelela is that they recognise a shared sense of leadership in sound and self-knowing.

I have much respect for those women. It's a privilege, because there are millions of artists in the world, and to be in the small percentage of people that listeners truly care for is something special. I thank God for that every day."

I have to touch on the resurgence of "Lowkey" going viral on TikTok. For the new listeners, what do you want them to know about your journey so far?

"It's so crazy. I think the first thing I'd want them to grasp is the history, the deep-rooted history. As they are learning a song like 'Lowkey' and probably stumbling across my new album. I would love for them to go back even further. It's inspiring to listen to the blocks that built the house.

I would love for them to recognise that I am a mother, I'm no one's daughter [laughs]. Well, I'm the daughter of Mariah Carey, Aaliyah and Beyoncé as well. My music branches out from all of them."

Finally, for both longtime fans and newcomers, how would you define this new era of Through The Wall?

"The overall synopsis of this album is simple: Rochelle Jordan has broken through the wall. I'm just happy for people to come along on this journey because the train is moving, and it's only going to get better. Every single time I go into a project, my mindset is, 'How do I top the last one?' I hope the people coming along feel that same magic and get to enjoy the ride”.

Let’s move to NME. The British-Canadian artist started out in the 2010s, in the days of the music blog. When it was quite prolific asnd fresh. Then, her career sort of went into limbo. There was a period of inactivity and self-doubt. That is now behind her. On her third album, Through the Wall, that period of imposter syndrome is well and truly behind her. Great to see her free, released and confident:

“In retrospect, Jordan is grateful her career has been a slow burn. “When ‘1021’ came out, I was irritated that I wasn’t signed to a major and things weren’t connecting,” she recalls. “Now, I thank God. Because what would have happened is I would have been boxed into creating R&B – and I’m not the type of artist who likes to be boxed in. It would not have been easy for me to create different soundscapes and leave an impact, culturally push things forward and be in the conversation now. It’s not easy being the person that’s a forward thinker. It’s going to be painful, but it all connects in the end.”

Now, in 2025, the tectonic plates have shifted. Arguably, the ‘90s revival that she was at the vanguard of has never been more prevalent in pop, while ‘Lowkey’ – a cut from her debut – blew up on TikTok last year, a decade on from its initial release. “The TikTok girls! They’re so funny,” smiles Jordan. “I love that community – they’re tastemakers. It was very vindicating and victorious for ‘Lowkey’ to have its moment, ‘cause it’s a new generation. I’m like, god, you guys are ageing me!”

She feels the shapeshifting ‘Play With The Changes’, which saw her dig into club culture, is finally receiving its dues, too. “I believe I was part of that cultural reset, especially for R&B girls to be curious about house music,” she says, shouting out her forebears Azealia Banks and AlunaGeorge. She credits Beyoncé’s 2022 dancefloor opus ‘Renaissance’ with helping to “create a lane” for her now. “As much as I could have felt like, ‘Damn ‘Play With The Changes’ is not getting its shine for the door it kicked down in terms of the psyche of R&B girls moving into this space’, now when I look back, I’m like, ‘Yo, Beyoncé did me a favour man because she’s opened up the world’s mind to a Black woman coming into the electronic space merging with R&B.’”

PHOTO CREDIT: Amanda Elise K

Before ‘Through the Wall’ was released, Jordan predicted her fans would view “Charli XCX doing her thing”, with ‘Brat’’s slime-green chokehold on the zeitgeist, and ponder “Is Rochelle going to go deeper into the EDM/techno space?’”. While she did delve further into nocturnal club atmospherics, it was through honing and refining her core principles. Aided by a nexus of producers – KLSH, Kaytranada, storied Chicago house icon Terry Hunter, Initial Talk, Jimmy Edgar, and DāM FunK have all been invited behind the velvet rope – she’s carved a pummelling beat-filled sound of her breaking down her self-imposed final wall and dancing in its rubble.

What she’s learned from the journey is perhaps best summed up at the start of the masterful ‘90s Janet Jackson-recalling throwback pop-dance of ‘Doing It Too’ when she earnestly advises: “Don’t be afraid to take up space.” Eventually, sticking to your vision will pay off.

“The road of being an independent artist isn’t easy,” she says. “You’re going to be gaslit. You’re not going to be given your flowers so openly. I’ve been in this game for a very long time, and when you’re creating with great intention and you’re upping the quality each time, at some point, the world is going to wake up. It’s a testament to resilience, and I knew I would be able to tell my story – and it would be a story of champions.” Like any good diva, Jordan is ready for her close-up. “I believe in divine alignment and timing. I’ve earned my bragging rights,” she smiles. “It’s time to talk a little shit!”.

Two more interviews I want to cross off before getting to a glowing review of Through the Wall. One to Watch spent some time with an artist whose then-upcoming album was a love letter to freedom. Many people hailing this as a comeback or return. The truth is that Rochelle Jordan never went anywhere. However, I can appreciate the importance of the album, as it comes four years after Play the Changes:

“OnesToWatch: You are made up of so many different cultures at once. Being born in London, raised in Toronto, a British Jamaican, how do all of these different cultures make up one unified version of self?

Rochelle Jordan: That's a very interesting question. I think just naturally, I've been able to adapt very well in my whole life, almost like a chameleon. Not in a sense where I'm putting on a costume by any means, but I'm able to have a deep-rooted understanding for different cultures and have a very open mind to differences. Even down to the seasons. Being in Canada, you see all the different seasons all the time. Living in LA for 15 years and just kind of seeing one season, I was like, “I need the changes. I really need that spiritually.” For the most part, I had a very good upbringing, being around different cultures and everyone meshing in well with each other. It kept my mind open and wondering and very curious, all of that leads into the music at the end of the day.

That's what's so magnetic about your music; it's unconfined. What were you listening to growing up that informed your eclectic taste for music?

Oh, my goodness, so much stuff. My parents were obviously playing old stuff like Marvin Gaye, Aretha Franklin, and a lot of Vybez Kartel. My brothers were playing a lot of real deep cut UK garage. I grew up listening to a lot of pop music when I was younger, like my obsession with the Spice Girls, Janet, Britney. I was paying attention and not paying attention, just living through the music. And then suddenly, it just kind of struck something. My mom recently sent me my agenda from elementary school, and it was like asking questions like “What do you want to be when you're older?” And I just kept saying, “I want to be a singer.” I also used to write, which is kind of sad, “I want to be pretty. I want to be pretty.” I was so hard on myself, even at a young age. But it's very interesting to see the footprints of your thought process and the little things that you were thinking about when you were younger. All of it manifested into something that I hold so closely to my heart as an adult.

That little girl grew up to be someone so uninhibited. I think a woman who is healed is a woman who is the fullest expression of herself. How do you tend to that on a day-to-day basis?

For me, it's very much about holding true to the things that inspire me. That is the most important thing. I'm not somebody who is entertained much by trends. I’m pretty rebellious in that sense; if something is going one way, I try to dance the opposite way. I can understand why things have come out the way they have, and why things are the way they are for me. I'm very strong in who I am. I'm an independent thinker, and I am somebody who appreciates silence as well. I like to hear the voice of God, my inner voice as well. Social media is very noisy. My body, my spirit, my chakras don’t like that feeling too much, so I have to keep a certain balance. All of these things combined really help me hold on to who I am authentically. I think for everybody, you got to find out how to manage yourself personally in order to hold on to who you are authentically.

This is the calm before the storm. Soon, the project will be in the world’s hands. Are you ready for it, or do you still feel protective?

Oh, I'm ready for it to be in the world. I was very protective up until last week. I just want to make sure that my baby is still mine. But I'm excited about it going out to the world. I find that every single time I release music into the world, it sounds different. I can't put my hand on it. I just hear it differently. I can hear what the people are hearing, and it really excites me. I think it's because before it goes out, you are in an analytical mindset. I might be hearing things and paying attention to things that are more on the creative side. Once it's out, it's like freedom. It's gone. It no longer belongs to me. It belongs to the world, to the universe, and it's such a good feeling to let go”.

One more interview with Rochelle Jordan before closing up with a review for Through the Wall. There are chunks of this interview with PASTE that I want to include, as Rochelle Jordan talked about what being a diva meant to her. Using audience anticipation and longing as a tool for longevity. A fascinating and deep conversation with an artist that everyone should know about. Through the Wall is undoubtably up there with the best albums of this year:

“Jordan believes not just in the authenticity of her intentions, but in making those intentions known. “People will understand, because they’re going to hear that you’re doing the right thing,” she assures. “I just wanted to create a world for people to get lost in and to move into, especially in this time that we’re living in. People need a healthy escape, and I wanted for this album to be that healthy escape.” Short album, long album, it never mattered to her. It’s always been about bodies of work that deserve to be celebrated. It’s about artists no longer being afraid of being sincere about what they’ve made. “When I started making music seriously, that was the pact that I made with myself. Your responsibility is to pull people into a world and make them feel magic in music,” Jordan adds. “If you can do that, then you’re doing your job. It’s been a lot of epiphanies along the way. I know I’m on the right path.” There is one thing about the music industry that Jordan has her reservations about: how fast artists are putting out their albums. “That’s personally going to be a problem for me,” Jordan, whose two pre-Through the Wall releases came out seven years apart, clarifies.

The seven years separating 1021 and Play With the Changes were practically a lifetime, as far as the music business is concerned. “I spent years on a hope and a wish that an A&R that I entrusted with what would be Play With the Changes would be able to take me over the finish line,” she tells me. “And it was slowly unveiled that they wouldn’t be able to do that. And that slow unveiling takes up a lot of time, and it creates a lot of fear in the mind, especially being independent, because it’s like… all you have is your music, and you want to make sure that the train keeps on going.” That period was a disappointment for Jordan but not always. “It was very exciting, thinking that I had the right support. This person was a support, they were just not the right one, in order for me to get off what I was essentially trying to do. The journey of being an independent artist is hard. Even being a major artist is hard. Pick your poison, at the end of the day.”

THROUGH THE WALL BELONGS in the conversation of greatest contemporary dance music releases, alongside Dawn Richard’s Second Line, Kelela’s Raven, and Beyoncé’s Renaissance—the latter having opened the mind of the mainstream to, as Jordan puts it, “accept that sound of a Black woman being on dance and house records.” While the language Jordan is speaking on Through the Wall may be easier to understand now because Renaissance came out in 2022, one year earlier she was performing curious, palatable music that mixed R&B vocals with house, electronic, and D&B samples on Play With the Changes. Jordan has always been on the cutting edge but rarely given her due for it. Her nineties vocal on top of trap beats throughout Pressure in 2012 was called “trap soul” by 2015; in 2014, she wrote “Follow Me” and “Lowkey” before Kehlani and Ella Mai could write “Distraction” and “Boo’d Up.” “I know that I set a lot of groundwork that would, in the future, be doors that are wildly, widely open,” she attests, crediting Azealia Banks and AlunaGeorge for their soulful stance on dance music changing the culture first. “I think I opened my own door. Sometimes where I had resentment… I realize now that it’s all about timing.”

Through the Wall communicates with Black exemplars from then and now, like Janet, Diana, Chaka, and Sade, and Jordan aims for the “boldness, the bigness, the enchantment” of songs like the Spice Girls’ “Say You’ll Be There” or Mariah Carey’s “Fantasy.” You can hear those motivations in the album’s addictive, acrobatic DNA, in the Brandy-summoning “Sweet Sensation,” the bouncing, provocative “Crave,” and the serpentine, four-on-the-floor “Sum.” “Get It Off” sounds like an aughts pop record, while “The Boy” is this plush, feral synth hit that exists not in the post-R&B or electronic tracts, but in a campy, escapist pantheon of its own. The colors streak and the repetition tastes so good you don’t even realize the party ended hours ago. After releasing Play With the Changes, it would have been reasonable to assume that Jordan would plunge even deeper into a techno space. That was her initial plan, at least, she reveals, “but I’m just so in love with nostalgia. I’m so in love with the past and mixing that with the future. I’m happy that I stuck to my guns and took the risk to do that, because you never know what people are going to take to.” She’s not a revivalist, though, but a tastemaker ready to talk her shit.

And Jordan is braggadocious on the mic but never obnoxiously so, after years of staying “modest” in an industry that’ll eat you alive if you ever blow your cool. There’s a method to her madness, she says. After the album’s hour is up, there’s no doubting that Jordan has come completely into her own, attacking every song with a time capsule of seductive vocal struts, disciplined and slinking rhythms, and lightweight, chrome-dipped improvisations. “That gives you bragging rights, when you have some history and lore and growth and dedication behind you that you can be proud of,” she declares. “There’s no Grammy or accolade that can replace the time that I’ve spent developing myself as an artist and trusting in my vision and, moving forward, that’s what I’m celebrating. When I’m singing a track like ‘Ladida’ and I’m saying, ‘got my dreams and got these dollar bills,’ it’s because I know. I know honestly and deep from within”.

I am going to complete things with a review from The Line of Best Fit. Awarding Through the Wall 9/10, it is great to see this album get such love and enthusiasm. I had not dug Rochelle Jordan’s music for a while, but Through the Wall reignited that fascination. She is a wonderful artist and a definite queen of the contemporary scene. Someone that should be on your radar:

“Helmed by her light vocals, Rochelle Jordan’s earlier records indulged in frothy, dark R&B, but her 2021 breakthrough Play with the Changes captured a breakbeat vision of club music: frenetic, dizzying, rapturous. Her follow-up, the sleek and luxurious Through The Wall, doubles down and delivers the purest distillation of her vision so far, and on top of that, it’s one of the best pop albums of the year.

Through The Wall bursts with energy; its sly mix of house, R&B and dance-pop demand movement. Her breathy desire on “The Boy” or “Bite The Bait” clash with their pummeling beats – there’s no choice but to submit, and it sounds like she does, too. But elsewhere she drives the beat and commands attention, like rapping on “Around” or “Ladida”. On the pulsating “Doing It Too”, she winks that “boys will be boys but the girls will too…the girls should do,” before kicking off one of the most infectious choruses of the year. It’s as if KAYTRANADA mixed Kelela’s “Contact” while on uppers; any club playing it less than twice an hour would be malpractice. It’s one of those endlessly addictive pop songs, and better yet, Through The Wall has about five more of those.

“TTW” could assist a poolside Ibiza resort or a sweaty club night. “Ladida” flips “Gypsy Woman (La Da Dee)” into a skipping, hip house anthem. The moans on “Close 2 Me” ache against its buzzy, erratic beat. “Eyes Shut” reckons with creative stagnation (“I don’t know who I’m working for”) with broader commentary (“It’s a heartbroken nation / And the money down, inflation”). It doesn’t totally come together, but points are given for singing about bureaucracy against an aqueous, dripping beat. “Get It Off” and “Sweet Sensation” are buzzy odes to early-aughts pop and R&B: breathy, dreamlike. Her command of vibe – across a similar but not homogenous tracklist – probes different areas and impressively never loses momentum. Its hour is weighty but svelte, generous and not bloated.

With beats so vigorous, and, to use a technical term, fierce, Jordan is right to position herself as the queen of the club. She’s in complete charge of the night; catty, sexy, yet still making sure everyone has a good time. This attitude is what makes a title like “I’m Your Muse” work, or an interlude on “Sum” bragging about her power to hypnotize. On that song, which is basically about how hot she is, she cuts the song short to foster for an encore, a crowd chanting “One more time!”, eventually integrated within the beat. But since she storms right after with “The Boy”, a throbbing track about missed connection, it works – one moment she’s liberated and twirling, then desperately lusting on her knees. Such is the politics of the dance floor.

Through The Wall’s heavy pleasure borders on indulgence, like eating an entire box of rich chocolates, but its novelty, cheek, and brash commitment to fun buoys likely one of the most fun hours of music since RENAISSANCE. Rochelle Jordan’s second album in her house matriarch makeover is proof she’s found her artistic voice – an alluring vision of deep house superstardom. It has the cadence of a glamorous, unforgettable night out, and better yet, you can relive this one over and over”.

If you have not heard of Rochelle Jordan, then do make sure that you follow her. Through the Wall is an unforgettable and hypnotic album. Such an arresting album, I am thinking about which song is my favourite. I think that it might be Doing it Too. It left the biggest impression on me, yet every track on Through the Wall is amazing. Go and listen to the album and follow…