Jamaican bad gal, queen and revolutionary Racquel Jones is ‘Elated’

Standing atop an SUV, dressed only in a pair of pants, with duct tape preserving her modesty, Racquel Jones kinda defiantly announced to the world that she is elated. In fact, the word, “elated”, is written down the length of her pants, and Elated is also the title of her first single off her soon-to-be-released sophomore album, Grey Area.

“I’m elated about life, being alive and surviving some dark times,” Jones said during an interview. “ Elated is about celebrating victories in the face of adversity. We all face adversity and we all have things to be grateful for. Instead of commiserating the hard times, this is a song to remind us to stop, breathe and celebrate how far we’ve come.”

Racquel Jones is as complex as she is simple, sort of like that oh-so-difficult math problem where the answer was staring you in the face all along. A graduate of the Enda Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts, Jones is a painter, poet, singer, model and runner-up in a beauty contest whose trajectory has seen her join up with American electronic music duo Rob Garza and Eric Hilton of Thievery Corporation on a fantastic journey.

But make no mistake, she still reps the “ Jamaican bad gal, queen and revolutionary ... never quick to start a war but shoot whenever necessary”, who she sings about in Letter to the Editor, the first single off Thievery Corporation’s album, The Temple of I & I which was recorded at GeeJam Studios in Port Antonio in 2017.

“All day every day!”affirmed the bad gal who exudes Grace Jones and Tanya Stephens aura, but who is uniquely her own self. “Every fiber of my being! In every drip of this Maroon blood that flows through my veins! How I see it is that, my ancestors did their part to guarantee my space into this world, so I have to honour that by living in my truth, living freely and occupying these spaces unapologetically to honour the freedom they fought for me to have. Living up to the standard of humanity that was set for me. Understanding who I am and the knowledge of self I boast, and further impact and influence that legacy for the ones who’ll come after me.”

It is perhaps that knowledge of self that allows Jones to share her “manic-depressive episode that landed [her] in the hospital” and the “certain mystical, almost magical clarity in the midst of mental chaos” that led to the song, The Prayer on Grey Area. And that knowledge of self also keeps her grounded, grateful and gracious.

Hailing from the lush parish of Portland, Jones, who now resides in LA, points out that it was Letter to the Editor that launched her career as an international artiste.

“I have the privilege of collaborating and touring the world with Thievery Corporation, and developed a fan base in places I never imagined. I’m so blessed to have my music career launched on such a major platform through just one song,” she said.

Jones shared that she met Eric Hilton in 2016 at GeeJam and he was interested in a collaboration. That was Letter to the Editor. A made-in-Jamaica music video followed after which she was invited to DC to record a few more tracks for the album; re-invited to do three shows in DC; and then invited to tour with them.

“And I’ve been doing that ever since. It has been a beautiful magical chaotic psychedelic experience. I got to see the world, share my music with people from different cultural backgrounds, and expanded and deepened my understanding and appreciation of humanity in this big vast world,” Jones said.

Reflecting on her debut album ignoRANT, which was released two years ago this month, she said that not only was it the project which she always wanted to do as an artiste, it was also a piece of art.

“I’ve had this vision to do this for over 10 years. From a creative perspective, it’s a voyage into the intricacies of how my creative mind works. And conceptually, it’s all the things I wanted to address about stereotypes faced by marginalised groups. It’s a project that I’ll be proud of for the rest of my life. That’s the main upside for me,” said Jones.

With her music and art being closely intertwined, Jones admitted that she was challenged for that happy balance up until she did ignoRANT.

“That was the perfect marriage of the two disciplines for me. And proof to me that it’s possible to find that happy medium. All my life it was presented to me that I had the choose; meanwhile my dream was to be a renaissance woman of the arts. When I realised I had all the tools to make that happen and I didn’t need the validation or approval from the world, it was on. All the people I admired, like Grace Jones, Jean-Michel Basquiat, etc, were challenged at first because people didn’t see their vision. I just know I have to do it and show everyone,” said the singer, who named Bounty Killer, Rytikal, Masicka, Popcaan, Stephen Marley and Sister Nancy as Jamaican artistes with whom she would like to collaborate.

Actually, from interactions on her social media pages, it would seem that the Warlord, Bounty Killer, is a huge fan.

For 2023, Jones plans to release new music, continue to tour, do solo shows, “love hard, paint, be the best version of me daily, stay creative, continue being grateful, and pursue things that brings me peace and joy”.

And, when was her last trip to Portland?

“[In] December. I visited my family after the US fall tour and was home for Christmas. I’m sad that I didn’t get to go to my favourite beach (Winnifred beach) on my last trip ... because I was too exhausted to do anything. My mom still made me go to church though. I got some sweetie mangoes, so I was happy,” she said.

yasmine.peru@gleanerjm.com