Name 3 Songs: We talk on our podcast a lot about parasocial relationships and how social media has really shifted how those work, because there does feel like there’s so much more genuine connection between artists and fans, even if it might not actually be, because of just the access and how comfortable, especially a lot of younger artists are just being online, because you guys grew up with the Internet in a way that other generations haven’t. And so it must be really interesting because, like you mentioned, with your song Body, that song popped off on TikTok in 2020, which, was the start of all of that… Where it’s like, nobody understood what was going on. It’s uncharted water. But also, it really resonated with survivors of sexual assault, which must have been a lot for you also, because seeing all these people relate to your song with such heavy things. What was that like and how did that change your relationship, not only with the song but also with your listeners?

Jordan Suaste: That’s a good, that’s a great question. No one’s ever asked me that. It was a lot. I had to learn how to, distance myself from things for sure. I was getting messages from people just like recounting their entire, like, hundreds, you know, of messages and like, even the body comments on YouTube, I had to turn my notifications off and stuff, not because I didn’t care about these stories that were getting told to me, but it was also like, I can only handle so much. But I do have to say that the fact that it was able to create such a safe space for people, the body comments on YouTube are literally one of the most loving comment sections I’ve ever seen. And the fact that people feel comfortable enough to be able to share their stories with me is just so humbling and such a surreal experience. And so it’s not like I was like, you have to stop sending me these things. I was like, no, for sure keep sending them. I’m glad that people feel comfortable talking to me about these things. It’s just, that it was a balancing act because, for a while, I tried to respond to absolutely everything and be there. And then it was like, you know, I had a hundred DMs. 

Well, I think also sometimes it’s situations like these when there’s a really strong message that fans latch onto the idea that, you, like the artist, did so much for them. And sometimes that’s true. But it’s also the community that’s then formed around a situation like this, where your song brought all these people together. And maybe some of these people became friends and maybe some of these people helped each other through hard times. And so it’s cool that it’s like you are what sparked that and then there can also be like a fandom in a community that’s built around that message.

Yeah, one of the coolest things that I feel like I’ve ever seen is people posting videos with like, oh, we found our best friends through this song. I’m like, oh my gosh, it’s so cool. It’s like, I am in a few group chats, you know, that I’ve been in for a few years with people who are now my friends, who started as fans, and now that we’re older and stuff, we’re all best friends. Like they literally, talk in there every day. Like it’s just a thing of like, we all know each other. We’ve been on zoom calls. We’ve played Roblox together. It’s been really cool.

You were saying about like the fans connecting and commenting and doing all that. I mean, you started doing music publicly in like 2018, like putting out stuff. And so 2022, 2 years later, having a moment like that also, it’s like you got pushed straight into everybody being like, ‘oh my God, this song is everything, I want to share this, I want to share that’. For you, how did you cope with very quickly going from being just somebody putting out music, to being a person who everybody is up in the DMs of being like, your song changed my life. What was that like for you? 

Oh my, I mean, it was crazy. I put out Body on like, my first ever single that I ever put out was May 1st, 2020. And then Body came out May 15th, 2020. So it was like two weeks between my first release. I had, I, it was really like, I feel like I was in a fight or flight mode for a while there.Cause I didn’t know how to really, I was 19 and not a process, anything like that. I was just an aesthetician before microblading and waxing away. And so it was a transition, there was like a transition period. But I think that now I’ve found a good balance of, I think that learning how to put boundaries in place was really, really helpful for me.