Jasmine Thompson

 TantrumJas

Since she made her debut on the British charts in 2013 with a spare deconstruction of Rufus & Chaka Khan’s “Ain’t Nobody,” and attracted more than 1.2 million YouTube subscribers, London-born singer-songwriter Jasmine Thompson has become something of a muse to a host of DJs and EDM producers. German DJ Felix Jaehn was so inspired by Thompson’s version of the classic R&B hit that he created a remix, which climbed to No. 5 on the Top US Viral 50 Spotify Chart and has become an international iTunes chart-topper. (Jaehn has called her “a talented and rising superstar.”) Multi-platinum DJ/producer Avicii is also a fan and personally asked Thompson to cover his single “The Days.” Thompson’s version is a wistfully elegant piano ballad that Avicii has called “breathtaking” on Twitter. It has racked up more than 1.7 million views on YouTube. Thompson’s crystalline vocals have also captured the attention of Kygo and Naughty Boy, as well as Passenger, who, after Thompson posted a cover of his track “Let Her Go,” mentioned her in aninterview with Billboard saying “she’s got an incredible voice and is going to be a massive star.” Her cover of “Let Her Go” has attracted over 21 million YouTube views.

In 2014, Thompson caught the ear of another German DJ/producer, Robin Schulz, who tapped her to feature on his track “Sun Goes Down,” which has become a Top 10 international dance hit with a video that has attracted more than 68 million YouTube views and counting. “Jasmine's vocals on ‘Sun Goes Down’ were a perfect accompaniment to my production,” Schulz says. “Her voice has a global sensibility and the potential to reach the world." For her part, Thompson says: “That was the first time that I heard myself on a dance track. I liked how the sound was different from the style of my covers, which are very stripped-down with just piano and vocals. It was a great feeling to know that I could branch out into the dance world and not just stay in the piano ballad world.”

Thompson’s affinity for sparkling dance-pop can be heard in her debut single “Adore,” which melds her breathy, emotionally resonant delivery with a pulsating electronic buoyancy. Though “Adore” could be interpreted as a straight-up love song, for Thompson, the lyrics reflect her relationship with music. “The chorus is, ‘I adored you / Before I laid my eyes on you,’ which for me is about how music was there for me even before I realized I wanted to be a singer,” she says.

Born to a Chinese mother and English father, both computer engineers, Thompson began singing and playing piano at age eight. “My brother had singing and piano lessons and I used to sit and watch,” she says. “I kept joining in with him and my brother would get really annoyed, so my mom got me my own lessons so he could learn in peace.” Neither of Thompson’s parents is musical, but she remembers hearing them play albums by The Beatles and U2 around the house when she was growing up. Once Thompson began discovering her own music, she gravitated toward such artists as Adele, Florence + the Machine, and James Blake. “I also recently started listening to Carole King,” she says. “She is proof that you don’t need to belt to be a powerful singer. I also love Adele, who does belt, and has so much emotion in her voice. You feel what she’s feeling when she sings.”

Thompson began posting cover videos to YouTube when she was ten and hit No. 32 on the U.K. Singles chart with “Ain’t Nobody” after her version was featured in a TV commercial for British supermarket chain Sainsbury’s. Encouraged by the response, Thompson self-released two EPs (Under The Willow Tree and Take Cover) and two albums (Bundle of Tantrums and Another Bundle of Tantrums). In June 2014, she toured the U.K. and got her first taste of performing for a large audience, which has been good training for performing with Robin Schulz and Felix Jaehn on such European television shows as MTV Live Sessionsin Dusseldorf and NRJ Fashion Night.

Now signed to Atlantic Records, Thompson spent several weeks in New York and Los Angeles earlier this year working on songs that will be featured on her upcoming Adore EP, collaborating with such songwriters as Jesse Shatkin (Sia), Amy Wadge (Ed Sheeran),Josh Grant and Scott Harris (Shawn Mendes), and Emily Warren (Jessie J). Each of the songs delivers an uplifting, empowering message bolstered by bright melodies and gently urgent rhythms. On “Let Myself Try” Thompson finds herself feeling scared of failure but encouraged to keep going. On “Do It Now,” she urges the listener to accept what can’t be changed, learn from it, and move on. “Loud and Clear” is about spending time in someone else’s shadow but eventually finding your voice and standing up for yourself. And “Crystal Heart” is about feeling afraid to open up to people for fear of being judged, but ultimately realizing it’s a healthy thing to do. “I am drawn to writing about what’s happened to me, but I want my songs to feel universal so that others can connect with them,” she says. “Because when that happens, it makes a song 10 times better.”