What’s the glamorous life of a global pop star? For UK pop/soul vocalist Jess Glynne, it currently involves a lot of packing. “If you could see my living space it’s got underwear in one area, makeup over to that side, sunglasses over there. I haven’t been on tour for years, the last time in America was in 2019. So I’m like, ‘Oh yeah, this again. How many pairs of socks do I need?”
Glynne plays the House of Blues on Thursday, Oct.3. Since she last hit these shores, Glynne has continued a lofty run of UK hits, she’s officially the solo female artist with the most Number Ones there. Her third album “Jess” was released this year after a long recording break, and the album’s overall theme of personal strength and survival is no coincidence.
“I’m not sure what phase of my career this is, but it’s definitely a different one. When I started on the record my head was all over the place and it was just me writing down my life — I was happy one minute, emotional the next and it was important to let people in. We all go through the same emotions, we all go through breakups and loss. And we all have those exciting ‘Pinch me’ moments in our lives — I recognize that in my fans, and the more vulnerable you are in your lyrics, the more you can connect with people. I’ll always be a pop girl and I’ll never deter too far from that — and I’m a soulful girl because that’s where a lot of my inspiration comes from. But I still love club and dance music, and I’ve been working on some new material I hope to get out next year, something that’s very different from what you’re hearing from me now.”
Turning those emotions into hit singles is where the magic comes in. “I’ve always paid attention to detail with everyone who inspired me growing up. I do my research and try to understand how a song is put together, how the vocal does this or that. I’m always interested in how something works, how you get there, and I was always the kid who asked a million questions in school — the annoying one. I saw a good interview with Amy Winehouse where she said that a song is never finished because there is always something else you can add, and someone has to force you to stop. That’s unbearable, but that’s how it always is for me.”
Glynne was barely a year into her career when she got her first Grammy for “Rather Be,” the Clean Bandit song she’s featured on (it won for Best Dance Recording in 2015). “That moment in time was so surreal, and looking back it was daunting because life was moving so fast and I couldn’t keep up. I remember sitting there and (fellow nominees) Disclosure was right in front of us, and Sam Smith had an amazing year — so I thought ‘There’s no way we’re going to win this, we’re just here to celebrate the moment’. But I know I’ve achieved something that is the dream of so many artists, and to have that ornament in my house sets more goals for me. I won the Grammy with Clean Bandit, and now I want to go back and win one as Jess Glynne.”
She also has a Boston connection via her romantic partner, UK footballer Alex Scott — who lived in Allston back when she was playing for the Boston Breakers. Glynne credits Scott for some of the stability in her life: “She’s also in the public eye, so that helps keep me grounded. Because when you let too much of the noise in, that’s when you become manic-depressive or anxious all the time.”
She has another Boston connection as well: During 2015 she had vocal surgery under Steven Zeitels, the MGH specialist who’s worked with Steven Tyler, Roger Daltrey and others. “I spent six weeks in Boston recovering, so it became like a second home.”
