“Water Made Us” examines her relationship cycles
by Jeff McCord
Jamila Woods has an uncommon focus. As an R&B singer, you first notice her melodic gifts, the barbed hooks that catch in your unconscious mind. Then you realize she also has something to say. Her work has depth that peels back like an onion. I call it absorbing.
“I like that. I think it’s just something about the process of telling a story across a body of work that really excites me.”
At the last minute, we booked Woods into Studio 1A for a session before her February 10th Emo’s show. There was no time to invite an audience, so just a few of us fortunate staff members stood around while she delivered as if it was a sold-out arena.
Afterward, as the gear is being packed away, we sit around to talk. I marvel at how, just three albums in, she has already delivered a remarkable body of work. Heavn was a manifesto on Black feminism, Legacy! Legacy! examined her roots, and Water Made Us, her new record, turns the microscope on – Jamila Woods. In an age where most singers are just throwing out one single after another, what makes Woods feel the need to make actual albums?
“Actually,” she says, “when I was going into the third album, I was trying to switch up my process. I just wanted to do that thing where people write a bunch of songs and then they just pick their favorite ones on the whiteboard and put those out. I was doing that and I was really not enjoying it. Okay, I realize I only get that spark of excitement when I figure out what the story is, the world that I’m trying to create. I don’t know, it’s probably something how my astrology is set up.”
She laughs.
Woods is more than a singer, of course. She’s a published poet, and a Brown graduate of Africana studies and theater. And a community organizer. Does all of this lend to her focus?
“I did some dramaturgy work after I graduated. And that person’s job is to make sure that the world of the play is established. So, if they’re in Chicago, they’re eating takeout from the local Chicago restaurant, everything in the world is intact to make you believe that you’re there. So I do think that there’s something about making music that does feel like I’m constructing a physical or metaphysical world or space that I want to inhabit. I think that comes from my theater and poetry background.”
The space she inhabits on Water Made Us (the title is taken from a Toni Morrison quote, “Water always runs back where it came from”) is her own mind. When she first began writing songs for the new album, she found she was writing about relationships. Through journaling, therapy, and yes, a trusted astrologer, Woods began to see her patterns emerge. This is the kind of work people undertake to better themselves. Woods was searching for material.
“It kind of emerged over time. It wasn’t until I connected with McLenney, who’s a producer based in LA. We would really have sessions that were purely just conversations. We met on Zoom during the pandemic, so I think that helped us just talk about what was going on in our lives and kind of what was on my mind. We might not have even connected the way we did if it wasn’t for us both having so much time to just sit and meet each other. So it was a lot of time alone for self-reflection. But there was also this window of opportunity for a depth of connection with people across distance.”
“We had this idea of constructing an album that took you through the phases of relationships that I go through. We had some songs like “Tiny Garden” that are in that beginning stage where you’re like, ‘Okay, I have a crush, like I have to figure this out.’ And then the kind of conflict or power struggle phase, then the rupture of a breakup phase, and then the period after that where you’re like, ‘Oh, will I get back together with this person? How does that work?’ Obviously, every person has their own version of how they show up in that cycle. So that became the guiding structure for the album.”
So what did Woods learn about herself from this process?
“I’m not so unique, I guess, because, for example, writing a poem called “I Miss All My Exes”, [I thought] who’s gonna relate to that? You know, everyone’s ‘I don’t like my ex. I don’t ever think about them.’ So that’s been nice to realize that other people feel like I do. I’ve also learned that, while I did call it my most vulnerable album, some of my friends [say], ‘You’re always talking about being lonely. You’re always talking about your feelings.’ And that’s true. So I learned certain types of vulnerability feel safe for me and certain types feel more scary. And I think by writing a whole album about the more scary parts, I feel a bit more confident and a bit more comfortable in my own skin.”
And now Woods is taking this intensely personal album on the road, performing at nightclubs throughout America and Europe. As our conversation winds down, I wonder if she feels this material feels out of place on stage.
“I love performing with the band. Before the pandemic, I was going in so many ways at the same time. I was working full-time at a nonprofit. I was in a band, and then I was doing my solo music and working with a lot of other artists. I don’t know how I was able to do all those things at once, but, yeah, I think music was always going to be a part of my path. It’s one of my favorite feelings and it could be opposed. But, you know, there’s a time for crying in the club. A lot of people after the show, they’re like, ‘I cried.’ And I’m like, ‘Yea!’ Yeah, it’s a good release. Spaces can be transformed through this thing, too.”
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Set List:
“Tiny Garden”
“Good News”
“Sulu”
Album: Water Made Us (Jagjaguwar 2023)
Musicians:
Jamila Woods – vocals; Aminata Burton – keys; Justin Canavan – guitar; Matthew Skillz – bass; DJ Abernathy – drums
Credits:
Producer: Deidre Gott; Production Assistant: Confucius Jones; Audio Engineer: Jake Perlman, Rene Chavez; Audio Mix: Jake Perlman; Cameras: Michael Minasi, Lorianne Willett, Patricia LIm; Edit: Patricia Lim; Host: Jody Denberg
