New music just dropped on the North Shore, and the debut album from singer-songwriter Jordan Flemming touts the sounds of a Kauai summer with hints of pop, inde and folk music.
The 16-year-old’s album, entitled “Call My Name,” brings eight original songs to the table, written and composed by Flemming — stage name “JORDY” — when she was 15.
Three of the eight are already released as singles on iTunes, Spotify, Pandora and the rest of the digital music stores and Thursday the album went live.
“‘Summer 17,’ that’s my first song and I wrote that in 20 minutes when I was 15,” the Hanalei teen said. “Some songs just go like that. I had a really good summer and there were a lot of great times, so the song is about one of those summer nights.”
Jeff Flemming, Jordan’s dad, said she wrote the song a month after picking up the guitar for the first time.
“She got a guitar for her birthday in June and then in July she had a song,” Jeff said.
By November it was recorded and then downloaded to Soundcloud and other platforms in December.
“The response was amazing,” Flemming said.
Summer 17 has racked up more than 20,000 plays and with the release of “Call My Name,” that number is growing.
“I didn’t expect that at all,” Flemming said.
In addition to guitar, Flemming plays piano and ukulele. She started self-taught and also takes lessons from Kirk Smart in Kilauea.
While the album is a first for Flemming, she’s no stranger to the stage.
At 13 she played keys in an all-girl band called “The Bombshells,” spitting out a mixture of pop and classic songs for crowds around the island.
Her first performance was at talent show in the fifth grade when the shy singer finally broke out of her shell and wowed an audience with a ukulele performance of “Let it Be” by the Beatles.
“I grew up singing but I was super shy,” Flemming said. “But after that performance, I absolutely loved it. So many people came up and thanked me for the performance.”
She went solo on stage again at 13, when all the other members of “The Bombshells” backed out of a Cancer Society Relay for Life performance.
“My mom said I couldn’t flake out, that’s not how you treat people, so I went up there and went solo,” Flemming said.
So, she threw together a 45-minute gig with singing, piano and ukulele. Her dad says it’s the best thing that’s happened for his daughter’s music career.
“It was a big success,” he said.
“I was so nervous,” Flemming added.
The Hanalei girl is graduating high school a year early this May and said she’s aiming to make music her career.
“I’m going to take a gap year (a year off between high school and college) and travel, maybe to Europe, and work on music. Then, I’m looking at music schools,” she said.
Meanwhile, Flemming is gearing up to open for singer-songwriter Citizen Cope in December at a private Hawaii Life conference on Hawaii Island. She’ll be playing in front of about 200 people.
And on Oct. 13, JORDY will be celebrating the release of “Call My Name” at Hanalei Strings, one of the places you can buy her CD.
“Call My Name” will also be for sale at the Hanalei Surf Shop and online on all the major music stores and on her website.
Yay, another article about someone who’s beautiful. If she were 50 would you listen to her music?
…say what was the name of that website again, I didn’t catch it…?
Charlie
Happy for the girl. Somewhat disheartened that she has to perform in front a bunch of constipated Hawaii Life types. Same thing for Citizen Cope.