Exclusive interview with Joss Stone

When she burst onto the scene in 2003 with her debut album, The Soul Sessions, Joss Stone was a smash sensation with her soulful, generation-spanning style that defied her mere 16 years. In the decades since then, she’s collected accolades and awards including two Brit Awards and one Grammy Award, released nine studio albums, and also launched an acting career. 

Stone took time during the European leg of her current Ellipsis Tour, which stops in San Diego on August 15 for a performance at The Epstein Family Amphitheater at UC San Diego, to share her thoughts on her career, managing work and family, and what she’s looking forward to after her tour concludes (hint: she’s a lot like us).

Ranch & Coast: Your career began when you were so young. How has that shaped your music? How do you feel about where you are now both creatively and personally, versus when you began.

Joss Stone: Starting my career very young, I think it was a good thing for me personally because I wasn’t really enamored by the standard school situation. I didn’t really love that. I went from going to school every day, which I wasn’t a fan of, to singing every day, which I really was a fan of, and I loved it. I really had a lot of fun. That was my childhood, just singing my heart out and learning who I am. I didn’t have a lot of clubbing in my early years, and wasn’t really a party animal. I don’t think I really had that phase, but I’m glad I didn’t in so many ways. I was just going where my heart took me. The type of music that I make and made then is very heart-led.

I don’t think it was a bad thing for me. I wasn’t surrounded by dodgy, unsavory characters like one would expect when a young person is thrust into a career. I think that it’s common to think “Oh God, that child’s going to be destroyed by the big, bad world.” But I wasn’t. I feel like I was very protected by everybody in my band. Everybody was always much older than me, but they were very caring people. Yeah, there were some bastards, but I managed to sniff those out and dodge them. I’ve always had a very strong personality, and I don’t suffer fools gladly. I think when I was young, I did have some moments that lasted longer than they should have, but they were all lessons. I feel like those lessons were good and I’m glad I got them early because then I got to get rid of that. I got to diminish that drama and make it smaller. I’m very well practiced in making drama very, very small, so that’s a good thing.

I don’t know how starting young shaped my music, but I think my life has shaped my music. It doesn’t matter how it happened, whether it was because I was young, or whether it was because I was born in Devon [England]. You don’t know what has shaped your music because your ear gets pulled wherever the hell it wants to be pulled. Touring the world has opened up my ears to so many different styles. I think traveling really is a big factor. I think it’s a wonderful, wonderful thing. Being creative in lots of different spaces is very eye-opening and heart opening. It opens up your brain and everything becomes more beautiful that way.

When I began, I didn’t really know what I was doing. I was learning, learning, learning. I’m still learning every day, but when I began, I had the fear and the insecurity of not knowing my craft. That was very stressful, whereas now, I have more confidence and I do know my craft. I have so much to learn every single day, but at least I have confidence in my voice, my ability to move it, and have harmonies, be creative, and come up with ideas. That confidence is there now, and it took a long time to get that. So I think that’s the difference.

R&C: Does touring still offer creative inspiration or is this time more about living in the current music?

JS: During my Ellipsis Tour, I’m really not covering that many miles. I feel like I’ve covered many more miles on past tours. When we toured in Africa between each gig, it was about five planes to get there. So I felt like I was covering a lot more ground. This tour is very succinct and we just go from spot to spot. We try to travel overnight so we can sleep. You don’t really know that you’re traveling if you’re unconscious, which is lovely.

I live for the gig. I’m just fully in it, I’m telling my stories, getting with the people, feeling their energy, and it’s really cool. I feel like when you really travel and you’re not working, that’s when you can get creative. I’m being creative on stage when we perform our gigs. But in between gigs, I’m preparing for the stage and it’s not like I’m out and about seeing the sights.

R&C: Have you played San Diego before?

JS: Yes, I have. San Diego’s great, full of lovely people, great audiences, very energetic, there are very high vibrations going on there. People seem to be really up for it. It’s a really fun place to play.

R&C: Is your young family traveling with you on all or part of your tour?

JS: They’re not traveling with me right now and I’m not sure whether I’m going to take them on the U.S. leg. 

I do think it’s nice to take them sometimes, but now they’re not tiny babies anymore. For me, taking a tiny baby is great because they don’t really mind where they are or where they go. It is not like they’re looking forward to football practice or dance class. But the second they turn into toddlers, they start to really love their routine. Not that we have too much of one, but we’ve got football every Friday and dance class every Wednesday, and [three-year-old daughter] Violet really loves that. At home, she’s got all of her toys in one place. I don’t want to take that from her just because I need to go on the road and miss them.

I’ve made the touring periods very, very short so that way I can just dip out and get back. It is a bit of a struggle for me leaving them, but it’s short enough for it to work and they’re happy. That way I can provide for my family, so it all sort of works out. I wish they could be with me all the time though.

R&C: You’ve relocated to Tennessee, which is likely vastly different than England. How are you liking life stateside?

JS: I have been in and out of America since I was 14. It sounds like I’ve just moved to Tennessee from England, but really I’ve been very nomadic. I never really properly lived anywhere since I was 14. I was signed in New York and the guy that signed me was there as well. I made my very first record in Miami. I lived in LA for a really, really long time. There was a time where I lived in New Jersey for a bit. There was another time I lived in Brooklyn. I’m very used to America and I love it. I just was always bouncing around from one country to the next, would go back to England for a bit, then go back to America for a bit. I just happened to have my baby in America and that’s what made the roots hit the ground and go deep. I love it. It is sort of an accident we’re there, but it’s a very happy accident. It’s such a lovely place to be.

Tennessee is great. The people are so happy, kind, and nice. We live in a part of Tennessee that’s very close to Nashville, so it’s very full of all sorts of different music, and lots of different cultures. I really like it when you go into the city and you don’t feel like you’re in the sticks anymore. But then I love being in the sticks where I’m actually living. Up the road, there are horses and cows, which makes me feel at home. Where I’m from in England has a very country vibe, with cows, pigs, and sheep. It’s great, and it’s just proper country. I feel very happy in both places, but I do love America. I think it’s an awesome place to be.

R&C: Where is your favorite place you’ve ever performed?

JS: It’s so difficult to answer that. There was a place in Swaziland that I played called House On Fire and the venue was totally gorgeous. There were mosaics everywhere and poems written on the wall. It was just stunning and the show was full. I was very shocked; I didn’t think anybody would come to the show because it’s Swaziland and I had never played in Swaziland. There were so many people in a very small space. There were maybe 700 or 800 people in there, maybe a thousand. But the energy was great and the band had such a great time. It was such a good and surprising gig — that one comes to my mind.

R&C: You have worked with an impressive list of artists. What is your dream collab — or have you already done it?

JS: I’m not sure what my dream collab is. I think collaborating is my favorite thing to do. I’ve collaborated with a lot of people and I’ve had so much fun doing it. Just the other day I was listening to an artist named Tom Misch. I really love his vibe; it’s like hip-hop R&B. He’s lovely and I’d like to collaborate with him. When I play his tunes, I can’t help myself but to start writing new melodies over the top of it. It’s nice.

R&C: When artists win awards for their work, bios tend to lead with that info, but if you were writing your own bio, what would you lead with? 

JS: I think when you first begin as an artist, you think that those things are very important because of the way that the press uses and leads with that. It will be, “This is a Grammy Award-winning artist,” and just that sentence alone tells the reader that this person is good at what they do. They’re so good that someone gave them an award. I’ve learned as I’ve walked through this life, the award sometimes isn’t always given to the best person. That’s for sure, including me. Sometimes I’m not even the best person to get it. Sometimes it’s just political. I’ve learned that it doesn’t mean as much as you thought it meant. As far as getting people’s attention, I think it does help because everyone thinks it means so much. It’s quite funny, isn’t it really?

For me, I would open with “a mom of two.” I think that’s the thing I’m most proud of. And I know it has nothing to do with my career, but in my life, that’s the thing I’m happiest about. I know anyone with a working womb can make a baby. I get that. For me, that’s the thing I dreamed of the most. That’s the thing that brings me the most joy and helps me to feel like my life hasn’t been a waste, because I’ve got my babies and I gave them life. That’s the most special thing that I can do, I just hope I do a good job with it.

I’ve sung a lot of times with a lot of people. I am also most proud of my Total World Tour. Maybe I would open with, “I’ve played in every country in the world.” Apart from the last one, which I got deported from just for being a woman. My Total World Tour was another thing that I didn’t really do any press about. I just went and did it because it was for me and for my personal mission. It wasn’t a business move or even a career move. I guess if it was, I would’ve made more of a hoo-ha about it. It was just something I really needed to happen. I suppose I was trying to right what I thought was wrong. That is who I am, and that’s who I try to be. I try to be someone that gives goodness. That’s what I want to do. Give goodness.

R&C: Talk about your work on screen. How does that side of your career compare to your music? Was that always a goal to branch into that side of performing or did it develop organically?

JS: The work on screen, I wish I’d done more and I would love to still do more. I find it really fun, and I do think I have a tendency to make mountains into molehills in order to climb them. I’ve taken the stress out of things by doing that. 

With music, that’s really worked for me. With a huge gig where there are a hundred thousand people in the audience, I take that and I will mentally make it smaller, smaller, and smaller. So then I can have the ovaries to do it, and it’s helped.

In acting, I think that I’ve made it from something very serious into something not serious. Every time I’ve done any role, I’ve just been like, “Oh, we’re just making-pretend and we’re just playing.” It’s a different environment with different people, and those people are very serious. They take that sh— very seriously. I think what I need to do is embrace that a bit more, and really, fully get involved. It’s just a totally different head space to music.

With music, we go play for a living. They say, “Are we going to play tonight?” Yes, we’re going to play, and it is “a play.” When you are acting, sometimes they call it “a play,” but really, you are deep. It is deep. You have to get into the headspace of “I do want to do it, and I’m up for that.” I just don’t know whether that will come whilst I’m in the “play” head space. I’ll give it a bash. Here I am making it small again, but I do love it and I’ve had so much fun. The fact that actors work Monday to Friday is pretty cool. That’s the only time in my life that I ever knew what day of the week it was, was when I was acting.

R&C: What is on the horizon for you following the conclusion of this tour?

JS: When I’m done with my Ellipsis Tour, I’ll just go home, make some bread, make some cakes, plant some flowers, cuddle my babies, do some fun things with them, ABC’s, all that kind of stuff. And then I do more touring. I’ve got a lot of things going on and I’m always making stuff. I go into my little studio and write a little song. I’m always coming up with ideas.

R&C: What do you do when you’re not working?

JS: Play with my babies. I’m a mom, I’m “Mom.” I go from work to momming and it’s the best.