While relatability is a worthwhile goal within a song, specificity can unlock dimensions of an artist’s storytelling. On her latest single, Brooklyn-based jessa proves she’s capable of achieving new heights in her songwriting by standing fully in her perspective. Each lyric is conveyed with first-person conviction, from her emotions to her location. “And I’m disappointed / That my healing’s stunted,” jessa delivers on the track, each line bleeding into the next without urgency: “Now I’ve got a headache / In the Hannaford parking lot.” To see things from jessa’s point of view is to feel welcomed into her space; her feelings of helpless retrospection are not forced on a listener, but rather offered with consideration – a heartfelt gesture with take-it-or-leave-it intentions. Helping to establish her position are supportive guitars that offer comfort as their tone softens as the track plays. Just as jessa’s head begins to spiral into past memories, the song follows suit: the warm, spacious instrumental warps into an eerie outro that brings the track to an inconspicuous end. 

“Hannaford Parking Lot” fits squarely in jessa’s moody, R&B-flavored catalog, which she has been building since her first releases in 2016. Her dream of being a performer is nearly life-long: when she was just four years old, she asked her grandpa to build her a purple stage in the basement of her childhood home so that she could practice her craft. All these years later, jessa’s vision is materializing, manifesting itself in some of the most realized and pointed music of her career.

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