Interview: Jayne of June
Adelaide born and raised singer-songwriter Jayne of June (Katina Rennie) grew up surrounded by musical opportunities. Her parents nurtured her talent throughout her life into her now late-twenties, where after a long time of writing and working on her craft, she’s ready to share the stories from her notebook. After experiencing heartache in early 2020, Jayne of June utilised the restrictions of the worldwide pandemic to focus her energy into something that would help her navigate her emotions and dig deeper into her life’s purpose. Her ongoing journey through self-love, reconnection and reflection has allowed her to write stories from real life experiences, hoping to connect with people and help them feel empowered and inspired to love who they are.
We had the pleasure of checking in with Katina and she was kind enough to respond to a few interview questions.
Hey Jayne of June! Thanks so much for chatting with us today. Congratulations on the release of your EP ‘Meraki’ . Can you give us more insight on what the EP means to you? Thank you! My EP Meraki feels like a lifetime of my journal writing finally seeing the light of day. Writing is what helped me navigate my emotions through a heartbreak and something that was always in the back of my mind was that I knew I was not the only person to experience these emotions and wanted to make music that people could relate to, connect to and that would make them feel less alone in their battles. So I used the opportunity to do something I love to hopefully help others.
What inspired your Artist name Jayne of June?
My middle name is Jayne and I'm born in June! That's as simple as it gets! But growing up my mum always called me Katey Jayne, so I often used Katina Jayne or Katey Jayne as I grew older to identify myself. When I was trying to come up with a "stage" name, I wanted an "alter ego" like a lot of artists do, so that when I went on stage I could become the person that I envisioned when writing my songs. Jayne of June is an exaggerated version of me. I love pink and glitter and all those things, and Jayne of June takes it to another level!
What’s the best life advice you’ve ever been given that you would be down to share?
"It's okay to want to better yourself or change something about yourself but it's not okay to hate yourself in the process." It changed the way I thought about a lot of things, including my professional life, my body image and my insecurities in general. It's okay to have goals (in fact I think it's really important!) but so often we set a goal and then feel dissatisfied or fill ourselves with negative self-talk until we reach it, when we should really be appreciating ourselves throughout the process and being proud of all the steps along the way.
If you could collaborate with any artist dead or alive who would it be?
Katy Perry would be my number one. She's always been an inspiration of mine. But I would also love to do a real heart-string pulling duet with Ed Sheeran or Lewis Capaldi.
Which emotions did you feel when writing Meraki?
Everything! Betrayal, emptiness, worthlessness, acceptance, resilience, self-worth, empowerment. Each song was written in a different stage and sometimes I would write about how I was feeling and other times I wrote about how I wanted to feel, almost like a "letter to myself".
What can we expect from Jayne of June in 2022?
Well first up is my very first live show! "Less Bitter, More Glitter" launches as part of the Adelaide Fringe Festival on Friday the 18th of February with a second show on the 25th of February. What's next? I have 290 voice memos in my phone, so I've got plenty more where my EP came from!
Have a listen and connect with Jayne of June:
