Del Osei-Owusu talks to artists on the FOTN radar and gets them to tell their origin story over a cup of tea and biscuits. This week it’s the turn of Jodie Langford and she brought Fox’s chocolate rounds.

Hello Jodie how are you?

Hey love! I’m doing okay thank you.
I’ve been beaten up a bit by the dreaded lurgy but I’m starting to feel a bit more human now.
I hope you’re doing great!

I’m grand thanks for asking!
Congratulations on the release of Softly Spoken. How does it feel?

It feels incredible to finally have this body of work out there. We’ve been patiently waiting all year for this time to come, so now there’s both a surge of relief and excitement. It’s also a bit nerve wracking as we’ve poured so much of ourselves into this album and we really hope people enjoy it as much as we do.

It’s a ten-track project, describe it in three words.

Scatty
Radgey
Bangers

What was the inspiration behind it? 

There’s not one sole inspiration or underlying theme to be fair. It’s a mix of personal experiences, statements on society and then just a bit of nonsense. Some things that inspired the album are: toxic work culture, bolognese stains, gross house shares, misogyny and pressures of the music biz.

What are your three favourite tracks?

My three favourite tracks are STBY, Breastmilk Cheesecake and RATZ!

You worked with Endoflevelbaddie on this, how did that collaboration come about? 

I’ve known about Baddie for a lot longer than I’ve been making music with him. I’d see him smashing out killer sets around Hull at Polar Bear Music Club and Humber Street Sesh and always admired his party vibe. He remixed a spoken word track I did for an album called Three minute Heroes – after that we just started making tunes together and now we’re inseparable! 

How does a typical recording session begin?

To be honest it really does vary. On a typical day, I head to Baddies’ studio in his house and we usually chat nonsense for half an hour or gossip about the weekend’s antics. I then lay down some lyrics and he works beats around it, or he offers concepts for me to work from. It’s nice and easy because it’s just the two of us so the sessions are super chilled.

You’re a spoken word artist from Hull, the birthplace of The Housemartins and the legendary hitman Rod Temperton, how did it all begin for you?

It all began when I walked through the doors of The Warren Youth Project in 2016. I had dropped out of college and had felt for a long time that I didn’t belong anywhere and was very unsure of who I was and what I could actually offer to the world. The youth workers there built up my confidence and helped me find value in myself and creative outlets. Writing and ranting became my passion and support system. From there, I started performing at open mics and compering local events/festivals before receiving commissioned work. The music stuff all came a bit later.

What did you listen to growing up?

I listened to all sorts growing up to be honest. I remember my mum always having Scissor Sisters and Mika on in the car. When I was about 11 I had a brief Jedward phase and would often use the words ‘Jepic’ and ‘OMJ!’  After that I nosedived into an emo phase and would listen to My Chemical Romance and similar artists. I didn’t start getting into The Streets until around 16.

You’ve played the Reading/Leeds Festival for BBC Introducing what was that like? 

Reading & Leeds was wild! I’ve never played a festival on that scale before so it was very eye-opening for me. I tell you what though, I got so nervous! I had to lock myself in my mate’s car in the baking heat to calm myself down and go through my lyrics over and over. It was so lovely to have my friends and family be there for those performances too though. Seeing their faces in the crowd brought me peace and happiness. I’ve got a lot better at managing gig anxiety since then.

Your tracks are based around poetry. Who’s your favourite poet and why? 

Kae Tempest sparked my interest in spoken word. I love their social commentary and beautiful storytelling. Their performance of People’s Faces at Glastonbury is probably one of my favourite performances of all time. They give me goosebumps and I feel so connected to their work on an emotional level. I’ve seen them live quite a few times and every time it feels like such a unique, special and warming experience.

What are you listening to at the moment? 

At the minute I’m absolutely loving trashy 2000s club bangers. I spent most of the year feeling sorry for myself, crying & listening to Celeste, Keaton Henson, Radiohead and Tom Odell…. but now I’ve broken out of that and I’m in my hype-hot-girl tunes era. I have Dizzee Rascal, Kesha, Britney Spears and Tinie Tempah on repeat.

What are you looking forward to doing next year?

I am really looking forward to making more music with Baddie and watching our sound and craft develop. Even just spending quality time with him is one of my favourite things. We’re taking a little break from gigs over the next couple of months, so I also know that I’ll be proper hyped when gigging opportunities come back around again. If we have the time and money hopefully we’ll get a chance to do a second tour as well.