Inside The Bubble: Exclusive Interview With Jhariah

Once in a generation, a musician leaps up on everyone’s radar like a UFO blip the size of Texas. We have a very special treat for our readers, an online exclusive with the very talented Jhariah. This artist is premiering the lyric video to his brand new single “Flight Of The Crows” today. Jhariah is an over the top, theatrical rock star that is a blend of Freddie Mercury and Fall Out Boy. Not only is this young man strapped to a bottle rocket musically, but he is also a gifted animator. He applies those talents to bring his own lyrics to life in a remarkable way. We got a chance to do a Q & A about life with the young prodigy, but first, let’s find out what the artist had to say about the song itself.

That is an amazing introspective view on songwriting. Let’s find out what Jhariah has to say about everything else below.

Q & A

Bubbling Box: Can you tell us about your name? How did you come up with it?

Jhariah: It’s just the name my parents gave me! Originally my first name was going to be Jahai. Someone with that name saved my father’s life when he was younger, so that was the plan before I was born, but in the end, my parents ended up naming me after a nurse who delivered me. They never found out how it was spelled originally, so my dad made up his own spelling based on the sound so that it would be unique. In hindsight, that’s very on-brand for him haha. He’s not an artist in the traditional sense, but I’ve always known him to be a creative thinker. In the end, they settled on Jhariah Jahai Clare. For a long time, I felt really insecure about that name. No one ever knew how to pronounce it when they read it or spell it when they heard it. I remember being a kid and saying I wanted to change it when I got older. That started to change years later as I found my voice, both literally and figuratively. Before starting this musical project, I spent a lot of time just trying to build confidence in myself, because I knew I’d need it if I seriously wanted to pursue music. The singing ended up being the big thing that helped me become more comfortable in my own skin. When it finally came time to decide what name I’d release these songs under, I realized my entire mindset around it had changed as a result of that growth. I realized that I’d been given the gift of this beautiful name and it would be a waste to not use it. I’d been online under a moniker for years, but using my first name to represent myself and my art for the first time felt so freeing.

Bubbling box: What do you want the world to know about you?

Jhariah: If there’s one thing anyone needs to know about me, it’s that I’m unstoppable!! I’ve decided I wanna make art and I will literally make it the entire world’s problem!

Bubbling Box: What made you want to make music? What are your short-term and long-term goals concerning your career?

Jhariah: For as long as I can remember, every interest or hobby I’ve ever picked up, I’ve aspired to participate in it on the highest level I could. When I was 4 I wanted to be an illustrator, at 8 I wanted to be a graphic novelist, then a pianist, a YouTuber, all the while finding it impossible to commit to the idea of doing any one of those exclusively, or even primarily. I loved the fact that I could endlessly pour myself into those things and express myself in a way that was unique to me. As I started to look up to musicians and really immerse myself in the world of being a fan, I realized how all-encompassing that world is. Music is so much more than writing songs. There’s a visual element, there’s storytelling, worldbuilding, I could go on forever. I remember seeing how much My Chemical Romance embraced that artistry and going “Wait, I wanna do that!” This career just seemed like the only thing that could fully satisfy my desire to create. The short-term goals right now are to build a real, sustainable career doing this thing and bring up all the amazing, talented people around me in the process. Huge shoutout to Cole Raser, who’s had a hand in pretty much of all of the music I’ve released from 2020 onward. These songs would not be what they are without his weird sound engineer brain. I’m hoping the next LP really changes things. What that could look like, I have no idea. Long-term, I guess the goal is world domination? Seems like the logical step from here. On a serious note though, I hope I can just make art that touches people and push music as a whole forward. I rarely was able to have role models doing what I want to do, especially not ones that look like me. It has always, and still does feel like I’m kind of paving my own unusual path. I really hope I can inspire someone else to chase their weird, hard-to-define dreams and do it regardless of what anyone else says.

Bubbing Box: Your recent single “Debt Collector” quickly surpassed 100k views? Did that surprise you?

Jhariah: I’d be lying if I said we didn’t have high expectations for this song. I think it’s our best release to date, and I put a lot of effort into building buzz around it so I hoped it would be bigger than our last song to some degree. That being said, I couldn’t have possibly predicted that it would get THAT response! 100k is unbelievable! I know we put in the work for it to happen, but it still felt partially like a fluke. Weirdly enough, now that the buzz is dying down now is when it’s begun to feel real. Seeing that people are still listening to it without me constantly shouting about it online is really comforting. Tik Tok was a huge part of this song taking off the way it did. That platform is absolutely amazing and has allowed me to connect with so many people that really appreciate what we’re doing. Seeing people using the song for their characters, animations, cosplays, etc has been so touching. That’s never happened before and it makes me so happy seeing people pull inspiration from the music to be creative and express themselves.

Bubbling Box: What music artists do you follow/listen to the most?

Jhariah: Oh god, it changes so much. Right now I’m really excited about Waterparks‘ upcoming album. I think they’re an extremely inventive band and they inspire me so much. Pinkshift’s new EP has also been on repeat! They’re taking over the world and I’m proud to call them friends. To name a few others, Lous and The Yakuza, DE’WAYNE, and McKinley Dixon are all occupying large parts of my brain right now. I could go on forever honestly. There are so many artists that make me excited to be making music right now.

Bubbling Box: Do you plan to stay in New York? If not, where can you see yourself relocating to and why?

Jhariah: Everyone who knows me says that I’m a New Yorker through and through haha. I probably love it here more than most people that live here, for better or worse. I don’t see myself ever living anywhere else permanently. This city pretty much feels like an embodiment of me. Or maybe it’s the other way around. Either way, I’d probably have to learn how to drive before I can consider living anywhere without the subway.

Bubbling Box: You are very talented as an animator, will you continue to have that element in your videos?

Jhariah: Animation and visual art are crucial parts of me, so they’ll always be a part of this project in some capacity! If anything I think that will continue to a bigger part of it as we grow and (hopefully) have more resources to work with.

Bubbling Box: What artists would you like to collaborate with?

Jhariah: If I’m being honest, most of them are already on the next album in some form! That info will be revealed when it’s time, but I’m extremely excited to be able to make music with people who inspire me.  Besides that, if I had to throw out some dream collabs, Hayley Williams, KennyHoopla, Jean Dawson, Halsey, Rina Sawayama, Lil Nas X (I think we’d really vibe), and Sammy Rae all come to mind. Trying to manifest these into existence haha.

Bubbling Box: If you were on the outside looking in, who would you compare yourself to?

Jhariah: I guess My Chemical Romance? That’s what I hear the most often and it definitely resonates. It’s a huge honor that people would even make that comparison. But honestly, it’s hard for me to make any good comparisons. I’m not sure if the vision I have for this project is quite like anything I know about right now.

Bubbing Box: Now that “Flight of Crows” Is finished recording, what’s next?

Jhariah: A bunch! We have an EP coming soon, and a bunch of really cool projects that I can only describe as “music-adjacent” in the works. Once the EP is out, the plan is to continue working on the next full-length, and then get the ball rolling on that release cycle. Things are gonna be busy for a while!

We are delighted that Jhariah took the time to sit down and chat with us. He is exactly the type of artist that we created Bubblingbox to support.

Check out the electrifying video below.