Jacqui Beaa On the Making Of “Conditional”
Can you tell us about the inspiration behind "Conditional" and the story it tells?
“Conditional” was born out of a friendship betrayal that happened earlier this year. It rocked my world and came from someone that I never ever could have imagined would ever break my heart and trust the way that they did - this person was one of my nearest and dearest friends, we spoke everyday and saw each other most weekends and we had even just spent the weekend away together with some mutual friends. I have never felt a loss so large, even out of any of my romantic relationships, so I wanted to express the gravity of platonic friendship and loss.
How did you work with the producer or engineers to bring your vision for "Conditional" to life?
I showed the track in its early stages to a lifelong musician friend of mine, not knowing whether it was even worth pursuing. He saw so much potential in the song and we spent our first session together arranging the song - He added in instrumental parts and helped the song find dynamic. Over the next few months we would meet up at his studio and work out instrument parts and refine the lyrics and melody. A big part of the process was talking about the friendship breakup in-depth and really understanding the place that this song comes from.
After working with my friend on the arrangement, I then took the song to a producer and gave him a few inspirational songs from some of my favourite artists and let him do the rest. He is just so good at what he does he didn’t even need me there to tell him.
Have you noticed any particular interpretations or connections that listeners have made with this song?
A lot of people connect to this song from the perspective of heartbreak, which is kind of what I wanted anyway because this is a heartbreak song. For me personally, it was not a romantic heartbreak, but I wanted people to be able to relate to it like that as well and find meaning in ways that suit each listener. A lot of people have said that dating it to 2016 immediately makes them feel nostalgic. I had one friend tell me it feels like I’m singing about their week long situationship as well as their 5 year long relationship - I am glad it can resonate with many different experiences.
Can you tell us more about you as an artist?
I have been writing music for over a decade, but never thought to release any of it before, until now. I am an artist with many interests, I love the creative industry as a whole, I have always battled with the desire to pursue many different creative interests at once. But the one constant in my life has always been music. I am originally a guitarist and singer, but have mostly self-taught myself piano which is now my preferred instrument to write songs on.
Prior to releasing “Conditional” I dabbled in the musical comedy scene by co-writing a 50 minute comedy musical for the Melbourne International Comedy Festival in 2023. Before that, in 2019, I co-wrote the musical score for a university production. So I have always had a skill for writing music, and now I am so glad to finally start releasing my music.
What are your future goals or aspirations as a musician?
I look forward to releasing more music and tapping into my younger self to rework old songs that have stayed in my voice memo app for far too many years. I hope to start gigging around Melbourne again (and beyond) to showcase my new songs. Next year I intend to release 1 or 2 more singles which will ultimately be part of an EP project to be released later in the year.
But most of all I just wish to have fun with it, music is and always will be my passion.
