Jessica Says - Do With Me What U Will (2017)

Do With Me What U Will is the second album by Melbourne noir pop artist Jessica Says. Jessica’s debut album We Need To Talk was released in 2009, but the following year Jessica fractured her spine and pelvis falling from a first-floor hotel window. Do With Me What U Will is Jessica’s first new album after her long recovery. Inspired by her treatment in hospital, Jessica also spent the last years studying to become a nurse, and now works in a Melbourne hospital.

The album was recorded with longtime collaborator Geoffrey O’Connor (Crayon Fields, Summer Flake, Sarah Mary Chadwick) and features production on key tracks from Travis Cook of Collarbones and Melbourne electronic auteur Darcy Baylis. A classically trained cellist, Jessica moves seamlessly between hi-sheen pop and dark, string-driven confessionals.

“The songs are about girlhood, mental illness and desire, mostly at the same time,” Jessica says.

Do With Me What U Will is a vivid account of the progression from fiery pubescent longing (‘Fun Factory’, ‘Oliver’) through adolescent anxiety/self loathing (‘Look So Good Feel So Bad’, ‘Fairest Of Them All’) and emotional numbness (‘Xanax Baby’), before discovering the possibility of an identity driven by desire rather than low self opinion (‘Rock Candy’).

“The music is inspired by the women who guided me through the strange passage of adolescence,” says Jessica. “The sublime candy pop of Britney Spears and the emotional intensity of Dory Previn. It’s also no coincidence that these two artists fought very public battles related to their mental health.”