Artist Interview: Viral “WYD Now?” artist Sadie Jean

By Daja Long •

Sadie Jean,  a young artist who went viral on TikTok, hails from Orange County, Calif. After releasing “WYD Now?” in 2021 and seeing it blow up online, Jean began to focus more on her music career. In 2023, she went on tour with various artists, including Johnny Orlando and Rod Wave. She also landed on the Billboard charts and dropped her debut album, “Simple Like 17.”

Listen to or read the full interview with Mako Radio below.

How do you feel after having a phenomenal past year of accomplishments?

“Yeah, it’s definitely been the craziest last year of my life. It feels good. It’s kind of just hard to process. It feels like none of it happened. Honestly, it feels like a dream or something. It’s been good to be home from the tour and try and process it all.”

People might recognize you from your first single “WYD Now?” which blew up on TikTok. However, you’ve previously collaborated with other artists in the past. How long have you pursued music before this?

“I’ve always been writing music for as long as I can remember. I probably started taking it more seriously once I went to college. I went to NYU for music. That’s the first time I met other songwriters and other people with big dreams that were similar to mine. That was when I started to feel like I could actually do it. I feel like when I was in high school, and before that, I didn’t grow up in a place where I was very encouraged to do anything. Not like conventional. I think college helped me a lot with that. It was a long time in the making, for sure.”

What does your writing process look like?

“It kind of depends. Sometimes, I’ll play something on guitar or piano until I love it. Then, I start writing whatever I’m feeling. Sometimes, I’ll work with my producer and other writer-like friends. A producer I work with a lot is my next-door neighbor. So sometimes, I’ll walk over to his studio and together, we’ll maybe make a beat or something. Honestly, I would say most of the time, my writing process is to start on an instrument, and then just focus on making a good song. Then think about the production and everything else later.”

How did you take the leap and transition from pursuing music in an academic setting to fully pursuing your passion for music?

“I was lucky that my school was also about music which made that transition a little bit easier. It was definitely weird. My song came out in finals week. It was like the most stressful week. It was nice to have my friends. I wrote that song with my friends in college. We all could experience it together, which was special.”

Was there an opportunity window? Or was it a natural transition?

“I think there was some pressure because the song just started going crazy online. All the labels and everyone were starting to hit me up. I could feel the pressure of having to put it out soon. That did feel like a window. I moved quickly. We wrote the song at the end of October. I posted it at the beginning of November. It came out Dec. 1. Normally, you’re supposed to submit a song seven or eight weeks before it can come out. It’s a really slow process when releasing music. We definitely expedited that song because of that window of time where I was like, ‘I don’t want people to forget about me.'”

Who would you say inspired your musical creativity?

“I love Coldplay. I’m a huge Coldplay fan. I love Carole King. I think my biggest musical songwriting influences are anyone on the radio when I was little. I listened to the radio a lot. I think that really affected my songwriting. Katy Perry was a big musical influence on me. Also Taylor Swift. I’ll hear it now and be like, ‘that made an impact on me growing up.’”

Your music has landed you on tour with artists like Rod Wave. How does it feel to be on stage in front of a larger audience?

“On the tour before the Rod Wave tour, I was playing for like 200 people. I was still nervous about that. To me, that’s still a lot of people. A few weeks later, it was like 16 to 20,000. That was a big jump and I didn’t know if I would be able to do it. I do sometimes struggle with stage fright. It happened, and I did like 32 shows. I’m proud of myself for not panicking on stage. It was cool of Rod Wave to give me that opportunity.”

Listen to the interview on Friday Feb. 9 at noon on Mako Radio at WKPX 88.5 FM Sunrise or on nova.edu/makoradio