Name: Taylor Jones, but my artist name is Stella Jones. I felt like Taylor Jones was too plain, plus Stella means star in Italian so I thought that was cool.
Year: I’m a Sophomore here at Belmont University.
Hometown: I’m from Chesapeake, VA. It’s about 30 minutes from the Atlantic Ocean so I spent a lot of time at the beach growing up.
Major: Songwriting
Why did you choose Belmont and what is your favorite thing about it: I choose Belmont because of the great majors they offered here and the location of the school. I wanted to do music and felt that music city was a perfect place to grow my career. The people here are hands down my favorite thing about Belmont. Everyone is so supportive and willing to help you with anything. I love that everyone is eager to help collaborate when creating or making music. Music and creating is encouraged here and I love that.
What are you involved with on and off campus: I was a competitive swimmer for 10 years of my life, so I’m involved with the swim club here. I am also a tutor for the Bridges to Belmont program which is awesome.
How did you get into music: I don’t really have a specific moment in my life where I started getting into music. I was always a big fan of music when I was little. My parents were also big music fans and played a lot of music around the house when I was young. I started writing songs when I was 16. I didn’t start to get serious about music till the summer of my Junior year of high school when I quit swimming. That summer I started taking guitar lessons and the rest was history.
How do you describe your music and style: I write and sing pop music. I do love to write country music which is a fun fact about me that not many people know. I actually started writing country music, but when it comes to being an artist and performing I’m strictly pop. I take a lot of musical inspiration from 80’s pop. Pop music was thriving in the 80’s. A couple of my songs off of my debut EP “Potential” have some influences from the 80’s which is fun. When it comes to my musical style, I’m all over the place. I don’t like to limit myself to one type of genre since I’m such a fan of all music. Potential had an 80’s feel to it, but my new music is leaning towards a dance/electronic feel.
You recently released a music video, what was it like filming that: It was so amazing! My friend Scott Ogilvy put together this sick mashup of “Still Falling for You” by Ellie Goulding and “Closer” by the Chainsmokers and asked me if I wanted to be on it. It came out amazing. He’s such a talented guy. We then got the talented Josh Lockhart to direct it. We filmed it all in one night and It took us about 5 hours. We used this super cool fog machine for the video that made this amazing atmosphere and it showed up so well on camera. It was a blast.
Who are some of your musical inspirations: Betty Who is one of my biggest. Every single song of hers makes you want to dance and sing along. She really makes big pop anthems. She influences me style wise and through her lyrics too. John Mayer is another huge one for me. He has some of my favorite lyrics. He really influences my songwriting. Astrid S is another one. Her style is the coolest. She’s really found her own niche when it comes to her musical style. She inspires me to find my own niche as well.
What is your goal for your music career: My main goal with my music is to communicate to people with it. Music has a magic ability to heal people and make them feel. As long as I am able to connect and communicate with people through my music then that is all I really ask.
What advice would you give anyone interested in pursuing a music career? Learn as much as you can! Learn anything and everything from producing to songwriting to playing an instrument. The more you know, the easier it is for you to grow. Most importantly NEVER GIVE UP!
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