Jeanne Louise Galice (French pronunciation:[ʒanlwizɡalis]; born 7 February 1992), better known by her stage name Jain (/dʒeɪn/), is a French singer-songwriter and musician.
Jain began her career in 2013 when she met
Mr. Flash, who introduced her to musical programming. She then published her demo tracks on
MySpace, where she was noticed by Dready, who remained her longtime manager.
Yodelice was interested in her so he invited her to Paris. Her debut album, Zanaka, was released on 6 November 2015. Her second album, titled Souldier, was released on 24 August 2018.
Biography
Early years
Jain was born on 7 February 1992 in
Toulouse, France.[2] Her mother is half French and half
Malagasy.[2][3] Jain had learned to play the guitar at the age of 16, and even though she is left-handed, she learned to play the guitar right-handed.
Her family moved around the world due to her father's position at a French oil company. She left France at the age of nine for
Dubai, where she spent three years; then lived for four years in
Congo-Brazzaville, which she credits for her taste for danceable melodies; and then spent a year in
Abu Dhabi, before moving to Paris where she started a pre-art-school foundation course. These trips influenced her musical style. She also learned how to play drums in
Pau, Arabic percussion in the Middle East, and musical programming in Congo.[4]
Career beginnings
Jain began composing demo tracks in
Pointe-Noire,
Congo-Brazzaville. There she met
Mr. Flash, who introduced her to musical programming. She then published her demo tracks on
Myspace, where she was noticed by Dready, who became her manager and remains so today.
Yodelice also discovered these tracks and invited Jain to meet him in Paris. They began to work together, and Yodelice helped to launch her career.[5] Her stagename comes from a saying off
Jainist philosophy that she takes a liking to which is "Don't be sorry if you lose and don't be proud if you win".[2]
Jain was a supporting artist for Yodelice's tour.[6] They appeared together on the television show Taratata in 2013 and performed a duet cover of "
Redemption Song".[7]
Hope EP and Zanaka
Yodelice became her producer and worked on her first EP, Hope. It was released on 22 June 2015 and included four songs including the single "
Come" which met with considerable success in France and Spain. A music video for "Come" was released on 2 June 2015 to Jain's official YouTube channel. In November 2016, "Come" was certified Diamond in France.[8] The song has also been used as a jingle by the Polish television channel
Polsat[9] and in 2017 it was featured in the American
horror comedy web television series Santa Clarita Diet. It also was featured in the second episode of the first season of the Amazon series Hanna.
Jain performed at the 2015
Solidays Festival, the BIG Festival (Biarritz International Groove) in
Biarritz and Bebop Festival.[6][10]
On 21 September 2015, Jain revealed the cover of her debut album Zanaka.[11] "Zanaka" means "child" in
Malagasy, and the title is a tribute to her mother who is of Franco-Malagasy origin. The album's release date was announced as 6 November 2015 along with the track listing on 8 October 2015.[12] It included 10 songs including the singles "Come" and "
Makeba". Makeba was used on a Levi's commercial which showed dancers (wearing the jeans) in an ethnic beat setting. On 9 October 2015, the album's second track "Heads Up" was released as a
pre-order bonus.[13] It was followed by "Hob" on 19 October 2015.[14]Zanaka was certified gold in February 2016 for sales exceeding 50,000 copies in France.[15] In December 2018, it was certified diamond in France for sales exceeding 500,000 copies.[8][16]Zanaka was later released in the United Kingdom and the United States on 21 October 2016.[17][18][19] It was preceded by the release of "Heads Up" and "Mr Johnson" as pre-order bonuses on 8 October 2016 and 14 October 2016 respectively.[20][21] In 2016, she was one of the nominees at the
Victoires de la Musique Awards in the category "Album Révélation" for Zanaka.[22] On 25 November 2016, a
deluxe version of Zanaka was released.[23] It added the songs "City" (originally from the Hope EP), "Son of a Sun" and "Dynabeat" as well as an extended version of "Come" and two remixes.[24]
A music video for the single "
Makeba" was released to Jain's official YouTube channel on 30 November 2016. The music video was nominated for
Best Music Video at the
60th Annual Grammy Awards in 2018.[25]
On 25 May 2018, "Alright" was released as the
lead single from her second studio album Souldier, which was released on 24 August 2018.[32][33] A music video for "Alright" was released on 25 June 2018. "Alright" peaked at number 6 in France, spending three weeks in the top 10.[34] In 2018, "Alright" was the 51st biggest selling single of the year in France.[35]
The album's title, cover and tracklist were announced on 29 June 2018 and it was made available for pre-order along with "Star" as a pre-order bonus and
promotional single.[36][37][38][39] The album's title is a
play on words between 'soldier' and 'soul'. The song "Star" is about the position of young women in the
music industry.[40] On 17 August 2018 "Souldier" was released as the album's second promotional single.[37][41] The song was inspired by the
Orlando nightclub shooting and describes a soldier who seeks redemption.[42] The album was a commercial success, particularly in Jain's native France, where it debuted atop the charts and sold over 200,000 copies.[43] Furthermore, Souldier was the 45th best selling album of 2018 in France.[44]
On 8 October 2018, "Oh Man" was released as the album's second single.[45][46] A music video for the song was released on 21 December 2018. It was filmed at the
Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya.[47]
In April 2019, Jain performed at
Coachella.[48] On 19 April 2019, she released the single "Gloria".[49][50] The song personifies
glory and describes it as something that tries to charm and divert attention from what is essential.
Rolling Stone described it as "an upbeat dance track that describes the perils of fame and promotes being true to one's own creativity".[48] On 7 June 2019, Jain performed "Gloria" as well as "
Makeba" and "Heads Up" at the opening ceremony of the
2019 FIFA Women's World Cup.[51][52]
The Fool
On 21 April 2023, she released her third album, The Fool.[53]