Jemily Rime is an artist who blends jazz, pop, and storytelling into music that feels both deeply personal and universally relatable. Born and raised in Paris, she moved to London at 17 to pursue her studies. Now based in Cambridge, she finds inspiration in nature and the space to develop her unique sound. “I love being closer to nature and not having to take the tube daily,” she says. Her music, which she describes as “emo Norah Jones,” is built on jazz influences, singer-songwriter intimacy, and a modern pop sensibility. Drawing inspiration from artists like Jamie Cullum, Laufey, and Olivia Dean, she creates songs that feel like a warm hug for overthinkers—comforting, introspective, and emotionally rich. Jemily’s background in astrophysics and quantum mechanics has also shaped the way she approaches music. She sees a connection between science and songwriting, balancing emotions like equations and experimenting with sound the same way she once tested theories in a lab. Recently, she released her new single, “Kinda Liked It,” a bass-driven track that blends alternative pop and jazz influences. Written after a night out in a new city, the song captures the mix of excitement and discomfort that comes with social situations. Serving as the lead single from her upcoming EP, Phantom Feels, the track sets the stage for a collection of songs that explore nostalgia, existential reflection, and self-acceptance. As Jemily embarks on this new era, she chatted with us about her new single, scientific studies, and her upcoming EP.
What’s your musical genre?
I usually say jazz-pop, because I don’t see it as either completely jazz or completely pop. I rely on a lot of traditionally jazz musical elements (specific harmonies, odd meters, instrumental solos etc.), but I am a singer-songwriter at heart: I want people to be able to sing along to my music and have a great time doing so.
How would you describe your music?
Someone at a gig this year told me I reminded them of “emo Norah Jones.” I can definitely see that! I write songs for people who ask themselves too many questions. My music should feel like a soft hug from a friend as you are trying to sort out a thousand thoughts – at least that’s what I want. It takes influence from “classic” jazz-pop artists (Jamie Cullum, Joss Stone, Esperanza Spalding…), and sits alongside contemporaries of the genre (Laufey, Raye, Olivia Dean…), perhaps with a little more heavy-handed use of electronic instruments and processing – I’m a bass player, so I have a bit of a bias for bass-driven music.
Your music blends jazz influences with pop and other genres. How do you approach combining these different styles?
The choice to borrow codes from jazz, soul, R&B, folk or rock always serves the songwriting. Storytelling is at the centre of any arrangement decision I make. For instance, an acoustic guitar is only added when it serves the narrative; a fretless bass stands out with a super-jazzy lick only when it contributes something to the story; saturated guitars playing odd meter gimmicks in a borderline-math-rock way only appear when that element carries meaning in the song. I want the genre-bending to be intentional!
You have a background in astrophysics and quantum mechanics. Do you find that your scientific studies influence your songwriting or the way you see music?
I graduated from a Physics undergraduate degree back in 2018. I started releasing music around the same time and, to be perfectly honest, I didn’t feel like much of a musician or scientist then. When I listen now to the songs I released then, I can hear I wasn’t trying to reconcile these two parts of my life, and just compartmentalising my interests. Later down the line, I ended up doing a doctorate in a music computing lab at the University of York looking at informatics for audio production, and I think it was only then that I started acknowledging science was just as big a part of my identity as music was. I started loving how much balancing a mix was like balancing an equation and grew to enjoy musical experimentations as much as I liked scientific ones. I stopped trying to separate these aspects of my personality: I enjoy being a scientist in a studio and a musician in a lab.
Can you tell us about your new single, “Kinda Liked It”?
“Kinda Liked It” is an alternative pop track with strong jazz colours. Have you ever wondered what a drum and bass track written by Laufey would sound like? “Kinda Liked It” is as close of a guess as I can put together. It’s a bass-led introvert’s party anthem, which contemplates the mixed bag of emotions a shy person goes through at a party.
What’s the meaning behind this song?
I never want to influence how people understand my songs, but I can tell you I wrote this one coming back from a night out with a bunch of people I barely knew, shortly after moving to a new city post-pandemic. I suddenly remembered how much I both loved and loathed loud clubs, how much mental gymnastics it took to curate yourself in front of new friends, and how much holding on to what feels right in the moment can salvage an evening. The song was so cathartic to write, and after playing it live for the past year, I still love the beat drop on the second chorus just as much as on day one.
“Kinda Liked It” serves as the first single from your upcoming EP “Phantom Feels.” Can you give us a glimpse of what we can expect from the project?
“Phantom Feels” is a collection of songs I wrote over the last five years, all of them capturing bygone thoughts, sometimes fleeting, sometimes soul-consuming. It’s about resurrecting feelings and giving a voice and space to the emotions I’ve buried along the way. It will live in the same jazz-alternative-pop space as “Kinda Liked It,” featuring bass-heavy tracks and (hopefully) catchy melodies, bound by odd time signatures and fusion inspired arrangements. I don’t want to spoil too much, although some people who have been to my gigs in 2024/2025 will have heard some more of “Phantom Feels,” so I’ll simply say the other tracks deal with existential crises, being stuck in the past, yearning, learning, and embracing all versions of yourself through time.
Looking back at your previous work, how do you think your music has evolved, and what can fans expect from this new era of Jemily Rime?
I wrote some of the songs in my first EP when I was 14 – I’m 26 now, I’ve written hundreds of songs, and with each song, I’ve gotten to know myself better, both as an artist and as a person. I look at the songs in “Phantom Feels” and I see pieces of a puzzle that make up who I am now: every moral crisis, every fleeting feeling, every bit of sadness and joy contributing to whatever weird tableau I’ve ended up as. From a songwriting perspective, I think listeners can expect more sincerity from these new tracks than I’ve ever put into music before.
What is a message you would like to give through your music and why?
It’s okay to be unsure, to embrace the not-knowing and the conflicting emotions. I spent most of my life with no idea what to do with my own lot of over-thinking and over-feeling and I’m trying hard now to just sit back and accept it all. It’s all me, including the strange 2 am anxieties, the “should have” fantasies and the hopeful imagined realities. There is a lot of underappreciated magic in the in-between, the weird, the liminal, and I hope my music reflects that.
Is there anything else you’d like people to know?
My next song will be out soon, it’s called “I don’t think about you” and it’s a feel-good break up song that made the Alanis Morissette fan in me so happy to make. Aside from upcoming releases, I have a busy gig calendar for 2025: my next shows are on the 5th of April 2025 at the Sunset Sunside (Paris) and on the 2nd of May 2025 at 93 Feet East (London). You can find all my live shows details on my website (https://www.jemilyrime.com) or on Instagram (@jemily_rime).
Listen to Jemily Rime’s new single “Kinda Liked It” on our Spotify playlist:
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