December 8, 2025 • 50 mins
You probably know Jordin Sparks from generational bangers like “No Air,” “One Step at a Time” and “Battlefield.” Or as the youngest winner in American Idol history. Or from her many show business accolades. But before Jordin became a certified pop princess, Simone knew her as just…a normal teenage girl. Today on the podcast, these two old friends reconnect to talk about the whirlwind Jordin has experienced in life, love and career since they first met two decades ago at summer camp. Jordin opens up about coming of age in the spotlight, the best wisdom she received from Whitney Houston, and how her most famous pop hit almost didn’t happen.
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Today on the bright Side, I'm joined by a very
dear friend and someone who has created this soundtrack to
our lives since two thousand and seven. Jordan Sparks is
here to share how she created massive hits like No Air,
the advice Whitney Houston imparted to her before she passed,
and the moment Jordan realized her life would never be
the same.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
I finally was like, you know what, this is my life.
I just have to remember that possibly when I go
out every day, somebody might recognize me, because it's different
going from being anonymous and a high school kids. All
of a sudden, every single person on the planet kind
of knows who you are.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
I'm simone voice and this is the bright side from
Hello Sunshine, Welcome back to the bright Side. My guest
today is someone who is bringing the sunshine. She bursts
onto the scene at just seventeen, when she became the
youngest winner in American Idol history. She's produced hit after
hit like One Step at a Time, Battlefield and No Air.
(01:03):
Whether she's performing on Broadway or at presidential inaugurations. She's
someone who leaves a little bit of sparkle everywhere she goes,
but before the American Music Awards, the People's Choice Award,
or even American Idol. I knew Jordan Sparks as just
another teenage girl, one that somehow seemed destined for big
things even back then. I can't wait for you to
(01:25):
get to know Jordan the way I know Jordan. Let's
get into it. Jordan Sparks, Welcome to the bright Side.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
Thank you, Simone. How are you girl?
Speaker 1 (01:40):
I'm so good, Jordan. This is the first time that
I've had someone I've literally known since childhood on the show,
so this is very special for me. I think that
we have to start by just telling everyone how we
know each other.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Yes, okay, well man, we went to summer camp together
and it was called Cannon Cook and we met and
call the Colorado one though, right. We met at Kay
Colorado and we just were like someone who looks like me.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
It ran towards each other and just, I don't know,
we just clicked, you know, Yes.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
I remember that so vividly. I made so many friends there,
a lot of people who didn't look like me. However,
when you have that moment when you see someone who
really does look like you and that recognition just makes
you feel seen. I remember like locking eyes with you
and your brother PJ and just being like.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
Yes, we found each other.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
You're staying, like you're gonna be here too, Like it
was so fun. I have such fond memories of that
camp too, especially the Colorado one, because it just, I
don't know, we got to be in nature and we
got to be together, and it just.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
I really loved that. I really really loved that. I
wish I could go.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
Back, Jordan. So my fondest memories from that camp was
sitting with you on a bus ride and like I remember,
I would make you sing.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
I'd like, I'm singing. That's the first thing that pounded men.
I was like, I know, I was singing. I was
singing on the bus.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
Yeah, you were singing. I was like, Jordan, and you
have to sing. And then I would harmonize with you,
and then I think we would like get other people
to harmonize.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
Yes, we started it.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
We got the ball rolling for everybody, like, Okay, we're
gonna be on this bus for a little while, so
let's have some fun.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
Here's your entertainment, y'all two hams exactly.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
And then on the lake we would play games and
we would sing on the lake as well.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
The jet skis like, oh man, good times.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
Good times. Well, Jordan, after we went to camp together.
It honestly was not long after that that you went
on American Idol and Girl. As soon as I saw
that you were on that show, I was like, she's
gonna win. I was like, she's winning because I knew.
I knew from those bus rides that you were gonna
win foretold exactly. I saw a vision like Raven. I
(03:46):
was like, oh, I see it, I see it happening.
So you win American Idol at seventeen, youngest winner in
the history of the show. Can you describe for me
what was that next morning like, up the next day,
what emotions and thoughts were running through your head?
Speaker 3 (04:04):
Okay? I love that you just asked me this because
most people are like, what was the moment? Like?
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Right?
Speaker 2 (04:08):
But the day after was absolutely insane. So I have
to start from the night before because it continued into
the next day. So I won. We get off the stage,
I go back to the crazy press room. I'm in
there for about an hour, so then I leave and
I'm supposed to go to this like American Idol after
party thing, and it was funny because it was twenty
one and up.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
So I wasn't even allowed to be in the building
in the establishment because I wasn't old enough. So I
had an escort that like walked me around the party
and I was.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
Like, hey, hey, like all these people. Then I left
and I had to hop on a red eye. I
did not sleep on the plane. I'm not very good
at sleeping on planes, and landed here and I think
we went straight to Good Morning America.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
I think.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
So it was like it was just the continuation. The
adrenaline was like up here, it was in the ether.
It was crazy, and so I hadn't had any sleep.
I went did all the morning shows that did radio.
I did the whole thing that next day, and I
just remember thinking, oh my gosh, like this is happening,
and it's happening so fast. Because I knew my life
would change, like you're on the show, like, oh, if
I win, my life is going to change. But for
(05:10):
it to just be instantaneous like.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
That was it was a lot. It was a lot
to take in.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
I was still really excited, but at the same time
I kind of didn't know how to handle like all
of the pressure and all the big emotions that were coming.
So I kind of just put everything into a box.
It was like, I'll deal with that later. And then
there was a moment where in the middle of the day,
I had maybe I'm gonna say, like a forty minute
break in between doing press stuff, and I was at
(05:36):
the Olive Garden in Times Square, so like right next
to the escalators was like a little table alcove, and
so I sat there and I had my head on
the table like this, and I was just trying to
take a just breathe.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
Like, you know, just take a moment.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
And I remember this lady and her daughter walked up
and the daughter was really small, and the lady looked
really excited and she said, Jordan, can we take a picture.
My security was like, hey, she just needs a moment.
Went to kinda breathe for a second. It's been a
really crazy day for her. Would you mind waiting for
a little bit. And this lady went off, Simon. She
went off, She was like, how dare you?
Speaker 3 (06:12):
I voted for you.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
I never should have voted for you. I hope all
of your albums fail like this. And I just was
sitting there like it was it was so much, like
it was like, Okay, you're famous. Now people know you,
and you're on all these TV shows, and here comes
a person who voted, but now she hates you. Like
it was just so much all at once. But I
(06:33):
appreciate you asking me about that, because nobody really asked
about the day after they asked about the moment, So
that was it was a crazy It was a crazy ride.
But I was like, oh, okay, it's not all rainbows
and butterflies. But you know, I'm always I've been a
sunshine girl anyway, so I'm always gonna find, like, you know,
the positive in it. So I hope that her daughter,
who was so small, she's probably in college now at
this point. But I hope that her daughter is doing
(06:54):
well and has a high thinks highly of herself.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
That's what I hope. And you're literally the best person
on the planet that you are thinking about that woman's
daughter right now, like you have a heart life, you
have a heart of gold, trinity.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Well, because I just I also remember being I don't
know if Teriff mortified just because of this mother, how
she was acting in front of her daughter, Like it
would have been one thing if she was by herself
like okay, but she had her daughter there and just
kind of like blew up on another kid, like I.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
Was just a kid.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
You were seventeen years old.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
I just was like who And the daughter looked scared
like she just didn't She was just kind of in
shock over the whole.
Speaker 3 (07:35):
The whole thing. So it was crazy. But yeah, I
hope she's having good life.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Well, we've seen each other a little bit over the years,
but I've noticed that when you know, I've checked in
with you over the years, you have always been mature.
But I think you have this real sense of maturity
at this stage in your life and a really grounded
approach to your very public career. But I can imagine
that when you were seventeen years old and thrush into
(08:00):
the spotlight, that probably did a number on you when
you reflect back on that time, you know, the months
and years that followed after American Idol, how did you
handle fame and success?
Speaker 2 (08:13):
Honestly, I don't really know if I was consciously dealing
with it, if that makes sense, Like I remember just
kind of thinking like this is my life now, and okay,
like let's go. Like I've always kind of been that
person I'm given something, or whether it's a set of
instructions or winning idol or something gets thrown at me,
it's like, all right, pivot, this is how we.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
Have to We just got to keep moving forward. Forward.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
Motion has always been in the back of my mind.
So I don't know if I was really like, wow,
this is a lot to handle right now at seventeen,
I wasn't really thinking about it that way. I was
honestly just thinking about the fact that I get to
sing for my life and I got to make an album,
and I was focused on those things really as opposed
to what people were saying or what people were trying
(08:57):
to project at that time. But when I look back
on it, I do know that it really affected. You know,
the body is always going to tell you. Body's gonna
let you know, even if you don't say it, that
something's going on. And I remember I started having heart
palpitations after Idle, after I won, and this was in
between winning and going on the Idle tour, so it
was like maybe a month in between to have like
(09:20):
a little bit of a break. But I started like
having heart palpitations and starting to feel anxious, and I
had never really experienced that before. So I went to
go to a checkup and he was like, okay, well,
the doctor said, let's get you on some magnesium. And
he was like, we'll do an EKG on you and
we'll just monitor your heart throughout the day.
Speaker 3 (09:38):
Okay. Cool.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
Something crazy happens at the hotel that we're at during
rehearsals for tour, and I'm supposed to go grab somebody.
Something was happening with another contestant. She was not feeling it.
She hadn't been feeling good for a while, and she
passed out and we were all just like, uh, what's happening.
So the guys were in there trying to help her.
(10:00):
They go get so and so and so. I have
to run all the way across the hotel. I get
the person and I'm just like, okay, there's so many
people in there. I'm not going to go in there.
But I'm walking towards the hotel and I had a
panic attack that was I had never had one before.
Speaker 3 (10:13):
My heart started pounding so hard, and I had a.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
Paper bag with me because the doctor told me to
keep a paper bag with me at the time, and
so I'm like fumbling for the bag, and I'm just
like okay, trying to breathe. And I go back for
the check up the next day and he was like,
your heart rate was at like two hundred and fifty
six feets per minute, which is.
Speaker 3 (10:31):
Basically a heart attack.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
And looking back on it now, at that time, it
didn't seem like there were filters for kids or for
younger people who are kind of just thrust into everything
because like, we don't know what we're doing. I'd been
trying to break into music, but I didn't know a
lot of producer then and a lot of people, so
it was like I just was kind of thrown into
this world where people knew me, but I didn't know anyone,
(10:55):
and that's a really weird position to be in. And
then just the pressure of life, like, oh, well, you
won the show and now there's this and you have
to put out all this music and you have to
make sure that it's good because you won. And there
were a lot of different things that kind of fed
into that, and so I dealt with panic attacks for
a little while, but they subsided when I finally was like,
(11:16):
you know what, this is my life. I just have
to remember that possibly when I go out every day,
somebody might recognize me, because it's different going from being
anonymous and a high school kids. All of a sudden,
every single person on the planet kind of knows who
you are. So I think once I reconciled with the
fact that this was like what it is and this
is what it entails, that definitely helped, you know, kind
(11:38):
of just finally coming to terms with it, like oh okay,
this is life now, Okay cool. So I just had
to adjust, right, I had to pivot forward motion, but
still pivoting, Like, Okay, I can't go to the movies
on a Friday anymore. I have to go on Tuesdays
with the old people, you know, not going to them.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
All on a Saturday.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
I got to go on another day when everybody's in school.
Different things like that. Like, I've had to kind of
like adjust in that way, but I still get to
live a really awesome life. So I honestly, it's it's crazy.
It has its ups and downs, for sure, And at
that time, just with those particular factors I just didn't
really know. I didn't know and the things like your
mental health and.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
Stuff like that. Talking about that, yeah, it.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
Wasn't as prevalent, Like they did have mental health professionals
on the show, just because that was a lot.
Speaker 3 (12:21):
There was a lot of pressure with all of that.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
So after each show there would be someone there to
kind of, hey, do you need to talk about this
or would you like to talk or get feelings off
your chest. So I really appreciated that they did have that,
But no, people weren't talking about mental health like they
are right now. So it was kind of just like, Oh,
you're not feeling good, somebody else can to sing this song,
you got to cut this album, and there's all these
(12:43):
other girls that would really love to be doing what
you're doing. You know, that kind of mentality, which I get.
You know, there's always people who have dreams and want
to do this, but yeah, nobody was really talking about it.
Speaker 3 (12:53):
Then.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
Did you find that over the years as you were
dealing with panic attacks that there were certain triggers or
situation that would bring them out.
Speaker 3 (13:02):
I think then I didn't really know. Overall.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
I think it was just the pressure of everything that
I was going through. There were so many deadlines, there
were so many things like take for instance, the Idle Tour.
At the time, we did fifty nine shows in fifty
six cities over the summer after I won Idol, and
I won so I was the only person who could
not have a night off, like if I was sick
(13:26):
or if my voice wasn't working, like I had to
be there.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
I could not like be like, oh sorry, he's sick,
he can't come. I had to to do it.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
So there were plenty of nights where I just was
like my voice like I couldn't even speak, there was
like nothing coming out. And the stress of that because
it was like daily every day it was different like
is my voice gonna work today? Is my voice going
to come out today? And also at the time, I
didn't I was just thrust into this. At first, I'd
only sang maybe one or two songs. I didn't do
(13:55):
fourteen songs a night, so I didn't know how to
take care of my voice. At the time, I didn't
think about warming up. I like all of those things
that I'm like now, I'm just like, okay, I need
to make sure I do this. Those things weren't at
the forefront of my mind. I just was thrust in
and it was like, Okay, I gotta do what I
gotta do. So I don't know if there were specific things.
I just think the stress of it. Like in particular,
when our fellow contestant kind of had that moment, it
(14:16):
was like I don't know what to do, Like I
don't know what to do in this moment. It was
something outside of myself, so it was out of my
control and it was kind of just like I don't.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
Know what's happening here.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
But I think now, when I think about stress management,
you know, with kids and being a wife and a
mother and kids and traveling and people knowing me and
people needing me and having to be everything to everyone,
I realized my body will definitely tell me sometimes because
I'm a goal or into person. I'm very ambitious, so
I'm like, okay, I have said that I'm going to
do this.
Speaker 3 (14:46):
My word is my bond.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
I'm showing up, and my body will be like, no,
we're not going to do that today. We're not going
to do that. So for the most part, I like,
I hate canceling.
Speaker 1 (14:56):
I hate it.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
It's not something that I like to do.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
So I really try to get as much which rest
as possible when I'm at home, and I really check out.
To be honest, I leave it at the door. I'm like,
I'm just going to leave it outside, and whatever happens
in here is family, and obviously there's creative moments and
stuff like that. But as much as I can leave
at the door, I do because I carry it. I
carry it on my shoulders. I carry it in my
lower back, and my back will go out or I'll
(15:19):
get a criok in my neck. You know, it's like, oh,
I'm carrying too much. I need to kind of just
slow down and decompress for a second.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
Stay tuned for more Jordan Sparks after this quick break
and we're back with Jordan Sparks. Okay, So moving after
American Idol after the tour. Ye, No Air comes out
in two thousand and seven, Yes, two thousand and seven,
is that right?
Speaker 2 (15:43):
Well, I recorded it in two thousand and seven, but
it came out February two thousand and eight.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
I listen to No Air all the time, still all
the time. It is a generational banger, thank you. So
my question is when you are making No Air, did
you know that it would be the hit that it
was where you're like, oh, this is good, like this
this don't be good.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
I remember it so vividly because I went into the
studio to meet up with Harvey and Damon, who were
the underdogs at the time, and we were in the
studio and they were like, hey, we have some songs
to play you. They played me a couple songs. I
was like, okay, cool, and then they looked at each
other and kind of did this like should we know?
Speaker 3 (16:23):
And I was like I'm sitting right here, you know,
like I'm right here, and they were like, should we
play it?
Speaker 2 (16:27):
And I said, yes, whatever you're talking about, you should
absolutely play for me because now you have to Now
my interest is speak and they played the song and
it was somebody else was saying it was another artist
at the time, and I was speechless. And you know me,
I'm never speechless. I always got something to say. And
I honestly, I just was speechless. And I turned around
(16:49):
to my manager at the time and I said, I
have to sing this song. I have to put my
voice on this song. And so I knew how powerful
it was to me, and I just was like, I
know that I can sing this song. I know that
I can tell the story, you know. And they were like, well,
it belongs to somebody else, and I was just like, Okay,
(17:10):
well that was really sad that you played it for
me and I can't even give it to me.
Speaker 3 (17:14):
But then I looked at my manager and to my
an R at the time, and I.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
Was like, I really really really want this song, like
if we can make this work. So they knocked on
the proverbial door for months and then they finally said
yes that I could sing it, and then I went
and put my vocals on it, and it was a
solo at first. To be honest, it was a solo song.
So there is a version with just me on it.
(17:39):
I don't know where it is. It's like a couple
laptops ago.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
You have so many bangers from the early adds that
I still listened to all the time, not just No Air,
but Tattoo Battlefield, One Step at a Time, Yeah, the
iconic opening of one Step at a Time, the little
Yet and it now a sound like did you flip
when you saw that people were using it as a
(18:01):
TikTok sound?
Speaker 2 (18:02):
Honestly I was, I was like, yes, please, it reintroduced me,
re introduce me to this next generation. But honestly, it
really is an iconic sound. As soon as you hear it,
you just know what it is. And it's funny because
I'm pretty sure I walk to that beat now just
throughout life, like that is how I walk. It's like
wunt dune, dune dune, and I walk into the room
(18:23):
that way.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
I'm pretty sure every millennial has that soundtrack playing when
they walk into an important meeting or something. Which song
of yours from that era makes you the most emotional
or nostalgic when you perform it? Now?
Speaker 2 (18:37):
Ooo ooh, that's a good question. Okay, it's kind of
a multifaceted answer. So with no air and one step
at a time, they are so like up it's above
me now, you know, they have lives of their own.
Speaker 3 (18:53):
It's above me. Now. I'm just the best lie. I
just get to sing the song.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
But I think when I sing Tattoo, I just kind
of tap into this place of honestly nostalgia.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
But that was the first song that was mine, you know.
That was my first single, was the first song that
I like. It wasn't this is mine now from Idle.
This was Jordan Spark's single Tattoo, And when it played
on the radio for the first time, I was actually
here in New York.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
We were on the tour bus coming to New York
and I was on an interview with Z one hundred
and I went into my hotel room and I was
doing the interview and they were like, Okay, we're going
to play your.
Speaker 3 (19:35):
Song now, are you ready? And I was like, yeah,
I'm ready. I was not ready. They started playing the
song and I just burst into tears.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
I was weeping because I was like, this is my
song and I can't control it, Like anybody who's listening
to this radio station right.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
Now is going to hear my voice.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
And I cried for a good half hour, I think
after because they were like, we're going to play your song,
and then you know, the interview was over and I
got off the phone. So I was in my room
just cry and cry and crying. So grateful, so excited.
But I think with that one, I really get nostalgic
and it just brings me back to that place like,
oh my gosh, like I get to do this, you know,
(20:12):
I get.
Speaker 3 (20:12):
To do what I dreamt about.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
It also changes, you know, for me as I got older,
because at the time I was thinking about, you know,
my friend that I had lost, I'd lost my best friend.
I had lost a few people when I was on
the show, and I was thinking about them and how
I carried them with me, And I think it's kind
of changed. Like you know, sometimes people come in and
out of your life. Sometimes people are there for a season,
sometimes they're there for a long time, and.
Speaker 3 (20:33):
You carry all those people.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
All those people continuously become tattooed on you because they
leave a mark. So yeah, that song changes every time,
but that's the one for sure that I definitely feel
a little bit more emotional. Sometimes I'll cry, to be honest,
when I sing it, but not all the time.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
You've lost a lot of people, Jordan, You've been through
a lot of grief.
Speaker 3 (20:52):
Yeah. Yeah, Do you ever.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
Wonder like why why me? What does this have to
happen to me?
Speaker 3 (20:58):
I don't know if it's like why me per se,
but just like why did it have to happen to
good people and people who had so much to give? Still?
Speaker 2 (21:09):
And I think, honestly, that's how I feel about anybody
who passed away. I feel like there's always more that
they could have shared, or more that they could have
done here. But when it's our time, it's our time.
I've been I don't want to say in the face
of death that sounds so depressing, But I've been around
it since I was very young, so I don't know
if I got used to it as much as it's like, well,
(21:31):
it's a part of life, like that happens, And I
think the shock happens when because you don't know who
it's going to be. We know that our time is
going to come, but we just don't know who it's
going to be or when, and so I think those
are the moments where it's just like they're not here anymore,
and like how do you move forward from that? And
you're like missing those pieces or those conversations or you
know their presence basically.
Speaker 3 (21:51):
So it's just it's hard.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
Obviously we all go through loss and it's hard, but
I always look at what I have, you know, what
I have left my family, My niece is now. I
had dogs at one point and I was like, well,
I got y'all, so we're good. In those moments, that's
always when I kind of look at what I'm doing
and I kind of reassess, like, am I really giving
what I could be giving?
Speaker 3 (22:14):
Am I being the best mom that I can be?
Am I being the best wife that I.
Speaker 2 (22:17):
Can be am I really giving and using my gift
to the best of my ability.
Speaker 3 (22:21):
So yeah, those are definitely reflection points for me.
Speaker 1 (22:24):
I want to ask you about one of those reflection
points because I looked at time in your career that
seems like it might have been where one of those
took place. So your first album, Jordan Sparks, comes out
in two thousand and seven, then Battlefield in two thousand
and nine, and then you didn't release a new album
until twenty fifteen. What was behind that decision? Oh?
Speaker 2 (22:45):
Man, Well, it's funny because hold on, let me think.
I actually think that that was a time. I actually
don't think I lost anybody during that time, because the
not working was not for lack of me wanting to.
Speaker 3 (23:01):
And this is a whole.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
Other hour of a podcast that we could do Bring
me Back. We'll do a part two, okay, but basically
in a nutshell because that was a good six years,
six years, right, Yeah, two thousand and nine was Battlefield
mm hm, So.
Speaker 3 (23:14):
It was a good six years.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
But like I had been recording and the label was like, yeah,
keep recording, here you go, Like again, the sessions, we'll
put on an album and then they just kept kind
of dangling a carrot. And then I was like, okay, well,
if music isn't working, then I have to pivot. And
I had already been auditioning for movies and doing a
little TV appearances and things like that, and then I
(23:35):
booked Sparkle and I was so excited to do Sparkle,
and so that took up a lot of time, about
a year and a half of like promo and filming
and everything that went into that. And I was still
wanted to make music. I was still in the studio,
but the label just would not. And then I walked
in one day and they were like, well, you're not
focused on music, and I was like, I would be
(23:59):
if you would actually do what you say you're gonna do.
Speaker 3 (24:02):
But I need to pay my bills. I need to
put food on my table.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
So I took this movie, but they took it as
that I wasn't serious as music or they just you know, gaslit,
you know, you know, So that was happening, and then
they still didn't put anything out, and I mean, now,
like looking back on it, it's like, Okay, they got
their budgets, they have their ideas for who's coming out,
(24:27):
what's going on? All that stuff like cool I just
didn't get written into any of those, which I didn't
understand at the time because nobody was really telling me that.
There was just a lot of miscommunication, I think. And
so Salaam Remi, who was the musical director and composer
on Sparkle, he saw me, like he really saw me.
(24:48):
He was like, I know you want to do this,
like what's up? And so I was, you know, telling
him what was happening in my frustrations and I was like,
I don't know what to do.
Speaker 3 (24:55):
I don't know how to kind of rectify this or
handle it. And he I was like, well, I have
my own label.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
Would you like to come under my label and we
can you know, work on an album together.
Speaker 3 (25:07):
And I was like I would love that. He was like,
I want to help you, and I was like I
would love that.
Speaker 2 (25:12):
And so I moved over under his label called Louder
than Life. He was like, what do you want to do?
What do you how do you want it to sound?
Who do you want to work with? And he brought
me in some great rooms, like I got to work
with Babyface and I worked.
Speaker 3 (25:24):
With Shaggy and just it was amazing the stuff that
we got to do.
Speaker 2 (25:29):
And then we put we finally put that album out.
So it took a while, but it wasn't for lack
of trying. But I was still in the spotlight because
just not for music.
Speaker 3 (25:40):
I was acting.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
And then I had hired a personal publicist and her
name is Victoria Varrella.
Speaker 3 (25:46):
She's amazing.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
I love her, love her, love her still, and she
was like, well, we'll keep your name out there. We'll
keep your name out there, and once you have music,
you know, it's going to be like you were never gone.
And so we did what we had We did what
we had to do. Okay, So it was like I
was doing Freebok and I was like Women's running magazine
and like all these different things. I had to be
strategic at that point because it was like Battlefield did
(26:10):
so well and then all of a sudden, it was
like crickets on that side. So Sparkle really really helped
kind of bridge the gap between the time, the interim
time between albums, and obviously that time was just incredible.
Speaker 1 (26:25):
We've got to take a quick break, but we'll be
right back, and we're back with Jordan Sparks. Well, I
want to ask you about Sparkle because you worked with
Whitney Houston on her very last film project before she died.
That seems wow, that's like heavy to carry that and
(26:47):
meaningful to carry that. How do you reflect on those
final moments with her?
Speaker 2 (26:53):
Oh Man, Whitney, Ah, she really taught me, to be honest.
We know, I think I just mentioned it, like sometimes
people are seasonal in your life, and sometimes you know,
you get to know people for a short amount of
time and you kind of don't remember it, or it's
a long time and you sometimes don't remember that either.
But there are people who can make an impact on
(27:13):
you and timing doesn't matter. I knew Whitney for probably,
let me think, six months total, like got to know
her and be with her and see her and experience
her in real life. And she made such an impact
on me, not only as a singer obviously because I
(27:35):
looked up to her, but as a person. I just
really loved how she just was like, you know, people
like to throw things back in your face. This is
nothing new, but she would be standing there and be
like and and I just I loved that because I
was a people pleaser and I was like Okay, I'll
do whatever and really want people to like you. But
she just was like those things happened, and like, what
(27:56):
are we even talking about? Why are we talking about this?
Admired that I don't even want to call it courage,
but I admired how she just stood for herself. She
stood for herself, and I wanted to be that way
in my own self because sometimes I'd be so worried
about letting someone down or making someone feel bad at
the cost of myself sometimes, and I really admired that
(28:18):
about her. And I also admired that she was the
consummate professional, and she was funny, and her voice was
still just ugh. She opened her mouth and nobody, nobody
was immune to what happened when she would sing, and
I just was so I was devastated. I was devastated.
When we got the news. I just was like, what
(28:41):
are we supposed to do without her? In general? Like
how did we lose this voice? And how are we
supposed to do this movie without her?
Speaker 3 (28:49):
And do the promo?
Speaker 2 (28:50):
And that was another thing that was wild, because after
she was gone, that's all anybody wanted to talk about.
And as the lead as Sparkle, it all fell on me,
and I was so I was so emotionally fragile at
that time. When I look at it, like in interviews,
I just would break down and cry. It was just
a lot. It was a lot of pressure. It was
a lot of pressure again. So it almost felt like
(29:13):
when I won Idle again. That just like immense amount
of pressure. Because I'd never done a movie before. This
is my first film. I didn't know all this worked.
I didn't know how all of it worked, and I just.
Speaker 3 (29:24):
Was like, Okay, I got it. So I got to
carry it.
Speaker 2 (29:28):
I really try and carry the memory and the mark
that she left with me, and I really try to
represent her in the best way that I know how.
And you can hear her sometimes when I sing some
of her phrasing and things and inflections. I don't mean
to do it, but it's like, thll, this would sound
good here, and she would do that.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
So can you give me an example, Like what do
you mean by that?
Speaker 3 (29:48):
So I just sang.
Speaker 2 (29:51):
I was on another podcast over in Australia and she
asked me to sing his Eyes on the Sparrow. And
I've never performed that song for anybody. I've never performed
at church It's something that I kind of just sing
to myself. And the only version I know is Whitney's
version from Sparkle, and so I have sang her version
to myself so many times that when it was time
for me to actually sing it, there were so many
(30:12):
pieces of her, like she says.
Speaker 3 (30:14):
Why, Lord, why, and it's.
Speaker 2 (30:17):
So her, you know, like I probably wouldn't have thought
to put that there, but that's what she put in
her version, and so it just when I was singing
and trying to sing it on my own, I just
was like, I have to leave this here.
Speaker 3 (30:28):
I have to leave this here. But I also think,
like sometimes I'll do ad libs like she used to do.
Speaker 2 (30:34):
She'd go like bah, and like she'd like push it
off and kind of throw it away like things like that.
Speaker 3 (30:39):
Sometimes I do that and I don't mean to, they
just pop out.
Speaker 2 (30:42):
So I'm glad that she's like pressing a little button
like no, no, I'll put that there, put that there.
Speaker 1 (30:47):
And I also love to think that she helped you
combat your people pleasing. I never would have thought.
Speaker 2 (30:53):
Yes, yes, She just was like, you know, speak up.
And that was the other thing that I loved. You know,
they're always hitting women again each other, and like, you
know she's doing this and now she doesn't want these
women here.
Speaker 3 (31:04):
And that wasn't the case.
Speaker 2 (31:05):
On the set of Sparkle, Whitney literally put myself, Carmen, Tika,
and any anybody else who was there on her shoulders
and was like, what do you need? She always was
making sure that we were comfortable. She was always making
sure that we were good, not just like are you
having a good day today? Like are you comfortable with
this scene? Are you how are you in this outfit?
(31:25):
Like do you feel comfortable in this dress? Do you
feel comfortable in these clothes? And I just really loved
that because I just wasn't thinking that was I wasn't
expecting that. I guess not that I assume that she
wouldn't be that way. I just wasn't really expecting her to.
I wasn't expecting her to go out of her way
to make sure that we were okay like that. And
it was every day and we would wake up, we
(31:45):
would be in the trailer and she would come in
and she had her there's like a sliding door, she
had her own separate side and there was like the
big trailer. She would come in and go, good morning,
how my baby's doing this morning, and we'd be like,
we're good, mama, and she'd be like, God is good.
We'd be like all the time, and then that's how
we would start our day. So like it just she
was awesome.
Speaker 3 (32:03):
She was awesome.
Speaker 1 (32:04):
You sounded like Whitney just now. Like it was like
she just yes, you have a good Whitney impression. It
was like her soul just came through you just now.
Speaker 3 (32:13):
See. I don't even try. I don't even try.
Speaker 2 (32:15):
I like, I try to lower my voice, because she
definitely had more of a she had like a smokey
your voice.
Speaker 3 (32:20):
But yeah, I miss her. She was awesome.
Speaker 1 (32:23):
Okay, Jordan, we've talked about the pressure that you faced
as a singer as an individual artist, I also want
to talk about the pressure that you have experienced in
romantic relationships, because yeah, let's go there, let's go in
that time when you kind of took a step back
from music between twenty eleven to twenty fourteen, you dated
Jason Derulo, and I can remember seeing the headlines and
(32:45):
I was like, yes, I'm so happy for my girl.
But then also it started to turn and it became
very invasive and salacious about your personal life, and I
can only imagine that that was a crash course in
dating in the public What did you learn about the
pressure of being a public figure and how that impacts
(33:06):
your romantic life too.
Speaker 2 (33:08):
I learned a lot about myself and how I respond
to things in terms of, like you said, like your
privacy being invaded and people just feeling like they can
ask you all these questions and You're just like, whoa,
this is between me and the person over there. Like
that was odd because I had seen it, you know,
I grew up the tabloid magazine, so I saw it happen.
(33:29):
I just never thought that it would happen to me.
So when it happened, I really learned a lot about myself.
I realized that I am very much a person who
is only going to have a conversation with the person
that it's about.
Speaker 3 (33:40):
I don't want to talk to everybody else about this.
Speaker 2 (33:42):
And the other thing as well, is like, you're not
going to make me come out of my character. You're
not going to take me there. You're not going to
get me out of my character. If I have to
have a breakdown or whatever, it'll be in the comforts
of my own home, but you are not going to
try and pull me out to get whatever clickbait or
or you know, make it become this thing. Because you know,
people were just like what about this and what about this?
(34:04):
And I was like, no comment, I have nothing to
say to you. And it also showed me that people
are not the same and people are going to respond
in the best way that they know how and how
they feel like they're protecting themselves. So I just was like,
I don't really need to say anything about this, Like
I know the truth. If I keep saying all of
(34:26):
these different things, then it's just gonna go like this,
and then it's just gonna become bigger than it needs
to be because it was already everywhere.
Speaker 3 (34:32):
I just was like, I don't need any more of this.
Speaker 2 (34:36):
I'm good, while at the same time being devastated, you know,
emotionally devastated. I'm trying to figure out what's going on still,
and the whole world wants to know. So that was
definitely an interesting time. But you know, hindsight is twenty twenty.
Everything is a lesson. Every single thing is a lesson.
And I don't regret anything. I don't regret anything, and
(34:58):
I don't regret.
Speaker 3 (34:58):
The choices that I made. My mental health looks.
Speaker 2 (35:02):
A little crazy when you look at the chart on
the choices that I made, But I don't regret it
because it brought me to where I am now. And
I don't think that I would appreciate my husband and
everything that he is to me and everything that he
is as a person himself. If I didn't go through
the things that I went through. And I also know
now that like, I have to keep something for me,
you know, I have to keep and I have to
(35:22):
keep that safe. As much as I love to talk
about it and I love to be, you know, be
an open book, there's still a lot that I keep
for myself.
Speaker 1 (35:30):
Yes, that's You're right. You deserve to keep whatever feels
right to your private Have you ever written about that
chapter with your public relationship with Jason Derulo and your music?
Speaker 2 (35:42):
Oh yeah, there are some songs that never got released.
Oh my gosh, where, Oh my god, I think there's
I think I wrote a song called shattered.
Speaker 3 (35:51):
Oh my god, I'm so dramatic. I wrote a song
that sounds pretty emo.
Speaker 1 (35:54):
Jordan, I wrote a.
Speaker 3 (35:55):
Song called shattered.
Speaker 2 (35:56):
I was like I just was like, I don't know
what's happen happening right now, and it was just it
was a lot. Everything was just so weird, and I
was like, how did we get here?
Speaker 3 (36:07):
Who is this? Like I just didn't understand. So yes,
I did write a song like that.
Speaker 2 (36:11):
And then there were a couple songs on right here
right Now that kind of like I wrote kind of
about the situation, but weren't as like in depth. I
think left Right is one of those songs. And then
casual Love.
Speaker 3 (36:26):
I think I don't want to be just another girl
that you don't want to be, just like a casual lover.
Da da da.
Speaker 2 (36:32):
Artists we take from our real life, you know, it's
the only way we know how to do it.
Speaker 3 (36:36):
So we turned to the page, exact page.
Speaker 1 (36:38):
The page is a refuge. Even if I think there's power,
even if the song doesn't get released, or even if
that email that you need to write to that person
never gets sent, there's just power in writing it.
Speaker 3 (36:47):
Yep, I do that a lot. Actually, I do that
a lot.
Speaker 2 (36:50):
I think this is actually it would be a good
tip for people with social media, because not everything needs
to be said, not everything needs.
Speaker 1 (36:56):
To send The drag.
Speaker 3 (36:59):
Put it in your notes. Put it in your notes
and write it out, get it all out, and then
leave it there.
Speaker 1 (37:06):
We've got to take a quick break, but we'll be
right back, and we're back with Jordan Sparks. Well, you
mentioned your marriage to your husband, Dana Isaiah. You got
married in twenty seventeen. How did you know he was
the one?
Speaker 2 (37:25):
It's weird to think of, because you know, people are
just like when you know, you know, okay. People have
said that a lot, and I do have a few
friends whose parents they like saw and instantly knew that
that was the person for them, And I was like, wow,
So I knew it existed. I just I did not
think I thought it was going to happen to me.
And we had talked before we met, it was only text.
I was like, I'm not doing facetimes with you. I'm
(37:47):
not doing phone calls like you got to earn those like.
I was in that space like nah. So I was like,
we can text and that'll be great. And it was
really cool because I just was like, hey, this is
a cool guy, Like he really helped restore my faith
in the male species. I did not even want to
be in a room alone with a man. I was
that like scarred after the things that had happened, and
(38:08):
so he just was so.
Speaker 3 (38:12):
Normal. I guess he didn't put on any airs.
Speaker 2 (38:15):
I could talk to him about anything, and it was
really really cool. The conversation just flowed, and initially I
was just like, Wow, this is gonna be just a
cool person to know, you know. It was strictly platonic.
And then he was like, Hey, I have a trip
coming to LA. Can we have that conversation about La
and what it's like? Because that was initially how we met.
Our moms put us on a group chat because he
(38:37):
wanted to pursue modeling and I had met his mom
and his mom was like, I don't know if I
want him to move to LA and all that stuff,
and I had done something for their charity and she
was like to my mom was like, hey, do you
think Jordan would talk to him just kind of about
what it's like? And because I had met her, I
was like, you know what, Okay, fine, I will have
this conversation. And that's how we started talking. His trip
(39:01):
came and he was like, hey, I'm landing. I said,
why don't you come by and we can talk my
brother was on his way.
Speaker 3 (39:06):
That was the only reason why I invited it more
to my house because my brother was on his way there,
and I was like, come over, we'll just chat. And
he knocked on the door.
Speaker 2 (39:17):
I opened the door and my dogs ran up to
him first, and I was like, okay.
Speaker 3 (39:22):
Usually you know, they bark or they like stay back.
Speaker 2 (39:24):
They went straight to him, and then he stood up
and our eyes locked and I just was like.
Speaker 3 (39:30):
No, oh, no, oh no. I was like, this is
not what I know. No, because I just wasn't that space.
Speaker 2 (39:37):
I didn't think that that was gonna be the thing,
and it just instantly I was just like whoa, there
you are, Like my whole body. It was almost like
an adrenaline rusher when you look out of a building
and it's really really high in your stomach kind of
is like whoa, And that's what it felt like.
Speaker 1 (39:53):
Also, girl, we have to say, for anybody who doesn't know,
your husband is very handsome.
Speaker 3 (39:58):
So I'm sure that, yeah, he's good, that man is fine.
Speaker 2 (40:01):
But the funniest thing is that I wasn't really thinking
that because I saw, you know, I saw his Instagram
in a few pictures, but I did not let myself
go there at all, and so when we met, I
was just like, oh shit, I am in trouble. And
so we ended up talking until like four am the
(40:21):
next morning. And that second day I called my auntie
and I was like, you need to come over here.
Speaker 3 (40:28):
I have to tell you about this guy I met.
Speaker 2 (40:30):
And as we're talking, she looks at me and goes,
did you just meet your husband? And I was like, yes,
yes I did. I did not tell him that, but
I knew. I knew the second day and then yeah,
Now it's been eight years and it's just it's crazy.
Speaker 3 (40:46):
It's crazy, and you.
Speaker 1 (40:47):
Have a beautiful son together, DJ.
Speaker 3 (40:49):
Yes, DJ, my little Blue?
Speaker 1 (40:51):
How old is DJ? Now?
Speaker 3 (40:53):
He's seven.
Speaker 1 (40:54):
I have a four year old and a five year
old and they're just growing so fast.
Speaker 3 (40:57):
It's crazy, so fast, it's insane.
Speaker 2 (41:00):
And I think that's the other thing with my career
and kind of I don't know if balance is everything
anybody ever achieves, but with my career and my home life,
I really am very particular about my time and what
I say yes to. Now it's like, is that gonna
be worth me flying across country and taking three days
away from being home in my family?
Speaker 3 (41:21):
No.
Speaker 2 (41:22):
Sometimes my husband's like, but this no, no, it's a no.
We have DJ has a thing tomorrow morning. We got
to go to that. That is what we need to
go to. I'm very grateful, but he is just man.
I do everything for that little boy.
Speaker 1 (41:36):
Well, you did say yes to Marry Little Mystery. That
is your Christmas movie that's on Roku.
Speaker 3 (41:43):
Yes, ma'am.
Speaker 1 (41:44):
It is so cute and you're so natural. You're so
natural on screen, Jordan. I was truly like blown away
by your performance. There was not a moment that felt
false or inauthentic. It was just so organic and real.
Speaker 3 (41:59):
Think you thank you. I really appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (42:03):
I've heard there are some tricks of the trade when
it comes to filming a Christmas movie like this, because
you film them perhaps when it's not necessarily Christmas, right,
and you got to manufacture some of those winter magic elements, right, Yes,
I want the behind the scenes tea, Like, what is
something we wouldn't expect about the experience of filming a
Christmas movie?
Speaker 3 (42:23):
Okay, Well, to be honest with you, Mary, Little Mystery
was the first Christmas movie that I filmed that I
was actually in real snow.
Speaker 1 (42:30):
Oh really, it was real snow.
Speaker 3 (42:31):
Yes, it was real snow.
Speaker 2 (42:33):
We filmed it in Montreal, and I didn't know this
about Montreal, but in March the weather is just all
over the place. So it can snow one day and
then be like seventy five degrees the next day in
sunny and there's no snow on the ground.
Speaker 3 (42:45):
I was like, can this place make up its mind?
It was beautiful.
Speaker 2 (42:49):
So the first time that I got to film in
snow for a Christmas movie, my first scene a whole
fresh set of snow had fallen that day and I
was like, oh yay. And then after five minutes, I
was like, I'm good. Can somebody please, somebody please bring
me inside. So I feel like with this particular film,
I had on a heat invest underneath my clothes, and
(43:10):
underneath the heat in vest were long John's so like
you are in so many layers. I think for the
trick of the trade to make it look authentic. In
the movies that I that where it was called, some
of them were just based in California, and obviously you
know there are no white Christmases.
Speaker 3 (43:23):
You have to remember to shiver.
Speaker 2 (43:26):
You have to remember to be like or like or
you know, like the movements, because if you're just out
there like this and there's you know, snow falling, and
you just don't look like you're cold, and then it
kind of like blows everything out of proportion.
Speaker 3 (43:39):
I think the other thing too.
Speaker 2 (43:41):
I don't know if it's a trick really, but I
think with Christmas movies, it's fun for a lot of
people and a lot of actors because everybody's got Christmas
memories and so it's easy to tap in to the
emotions of what Christmas brings for people.
Speaker 3 (43:55):
So, you know, sometimes there's the.
Speaker 2 (43:56):
Sad movies and everybody has gone through feeling like they
wish a certain person was with them at that time.
And then there's just the warmth and warm fuzzies where
everybody just needs it. And I think of my son,
or I think of baking with my nana. So I
think with Christmas movies, it's just something that we need.
It's been a crazy year, girl, It's been a crazy year,
so we need all the warm fuzzies we can get.
Speaker 1 (44:19):
You know, one of the themes in Mary Little Mystery
involves family values and traditions that are passed down through generations.
Is there a part of your family's legacy that you
take pride in inheriting.
Speaker 3 (44:33):
Ooh, I like how you framed that.
Speaker 2 (44:35):
Look you guys, Simon, everybody call her please, Well the
silly one is the why Elephant gives exchange for the holidays,
like love that. I think for me, my nana and
my nana, both of my grandmothers, they're like historians, almost
like the timekeepers of our family. My nana literally did
(44:58):
the genealogy of that of my mom's side of the
family herself, like she did the research. She called all
the people, she got all the records, and she made
a book of my mom's side of the family. My
Nana will tell me stories from forty years ago in
vivid detail, and I think for me, I've inherited my
love of the stories that we share and the stories
(45:21):
that we carry and the memories that.
Speaker 3 (45:23):
We have, because that's all we are.
Speaker 2 (45:25):
All we are are stories and how we made people feel,
and those are the things that we leave behind. And
so I want to be able to do that for them.
I want to be able to talk about who they
were and what they loved and you know, how they
impacted me and what I carry from them. And I
think that's really important, especially now, and I don't know
(45:45):
wh I'm getting emotional, but especially now, there's so much
that so many of the things that we need to
cherish get pushed to the side because there's so much
input and we're not filtering all those things, and so
many things are getting lost, so many things are getting
changed and lost and edited. And as a storyteller, that
(46:06):
just breaks my heart. You know, sorry, I was not.
It just breaks my heart to see that happening and
people not really knowing either where they came from or
why they do the things that they do. And it's
so important. So that is what I want to carry.
That is something that I've heard it from them. It's
(46:27):
my love of stories and my love of sharing them
and being able to.
Speaker 3 (46:34):
Kind of take people on a journey. That's what I
do with my music.
Speaker 2 (46:37):
I put my emotions into the music and I try
to take people to a certain place I want them
to feel, whether it's having to kind of maybe look
at kind of that thing that's irritating or is a
little tender, or bringing joy to somebody or lifting somebody
up and like, hey, I'm going into this meeting and
I can do this like that is what I've been
(46:59):
called to do Jordan.
Speaker 1 (47:01):
Last question. We are about to enter a new year.
Speaker 3 (47:04):
Oh yes, please, who I'm ready?
Speaker 1 (47:07):
How would you describe the era that you're claiming for
yourself in twenty twenty six?
Speaker 2 (47:12):
Ooh honestly, okay, I know we're supposed to wrap this up,
but I feel like this is a much deeper question
than like that.
Speaker 3 (47:19):
I can really answer. I'm sorry, I can't do a
surface answer.
Speaker 2 (47:22):
So you know how every seven years you're new, right,
your whole body is new.
Speaker 3 (47:26):
Everything has I've turned over? Yeah? Cellularly, everything is new.
Your bones are.
Speaker 2 (47:30):
New, hair, teeth, skin sells, everything turns over. Everything in
your body turns over at a different rate. So but
every seven years everything is new. And DJ is seven
years old. So I am now, I think finally out
of postpartum. Technical postpartum is seven years long. And I
(47:51):
feel like a new person, to be honest, like, I
feel like I'm at the start of something new. I
don't know exactly what it is yet, but I'm like
at this precipice and I'm about to jump, Like that
is what this new season feels like.
Speaker 3 (48:04):
So I just know there's so many.
Speaker 2 (48:06):
Opportunities that are gonna come, and I can't wait to see,
like who this next person is, Like what this next
version of myself is going to be.
Speaker 3 (48:15):
I can't wait to meet her.
Speaker 2 (48:16):
I'm so excited, Like I'm already, like, okay, six months
until May. I'm starting right now. I'm already. I was
journaling last night, Actually, what am I leaving behind? What
have I evolved out of? What relationship am I leaving behind?
Whether with myself or other people or with a thing.
I'm really trying to like understand all the things that
I went through this year and why I went through them,
(48:37):
and what I'm taking and what I'm leaving because this
is a new door, and some of the bags I'm
carrying can't fit through this new door, and.
Speaker 3 (48:43):
So I gotta leave them bars, yeah, bar leave them.
I gotta leave them.
Speaker 1 (48:47):
So I'm can't fit through this door.
Speaker 2 (48:50):
No, no, they cannot, and if I want to walk
through that door, I have to leave them behind. I'm
I'm really excited for this next year. I don't think
you can tell or anything, but I'm very excited.
Speaker 1 (49:00):
You packed an entire ted talk into the last fifteen seconds.
I'm so impressed, Jordan. This has been amazing I love
you so much. I'm so proud of you.
Speaker 3 (49:12):
Oh I wish I could fuck you.
Speaker 1 (49:14):
I'm giving you a hook.
Speaker 3 (49:15):
This is for you, This is for you, This is
for you.
Speaker 1 (49:17):
This is for you. Jordan Sparks is an award winning
recording artist and actor. You can stream her new movie
Mary Little Mystery on the Roku channel Now. The bright
Side is a production of Hello Sunshine and iHeart Podcasts
and is executive produced by Reese Witherspoon and me Simone Boyce.
Production is by a Cast Creative Studios. Our producers are
(49:40):
Taylor Williamson, Abby Delk, and Adrian Bain. Our production assistant
is Joya putnoy A Casts executive producers are Jenny Kaplan
and Emily Rudder. Maureen Polo and Reese Witherspoon are the
executive producers for Hello Sunshine. Ali Perry and Lauren Hansen
are the executive producers for iHeart Podcasts. Our Theme the
(50:00):
song is by Anna Stump and Hamilton Lakehouser
Today on the bright Side, I'm joined by a very
dear friend and someone who has created this soundtrack to
our lives since two thousand and seven. Jordan Sparks is
here to share how she created massive hits like No Air,
the advice Whitney Houston imparted to her before she passed,
and the moment Jordan realized her life would never be
the same.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
I finally was like, you know what, this is my life.
I just have to remember that possibly when I go
out every day, somebody might recognize me, because it's different
going from being anonymous and a high school kids. All
of a sudden, every single person on the planet kind
of knows who you are.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
I'm simone voice and this is the bright side from
Hello Sunshine, Welcome back to the bright Side. My guest
today is someone who is bringing the sunshine. She bursts
onto the scene at just seventeen, when she became the
youngest winner in American Idol history. She's produced hit after
hit like One Step at a Time, Battlefield and No Air.
(01:03):
Whether she's performing on Broadway or at presidential inaugurations. She's
someone who leaves a little bit of sparkle everywhere she goes,
but before the American Music Awards, the People's Choice Award,
or even American Idol. I knew Jordan Sparks as just
another teenage girl, one that somehow seemed destined for big
things even back then. I can't wait for you to
(01:25):
get to know Jordan the way I know Jordan. Let's
get into it. Jordan Sparks, Welcome to the bright Side.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
Thank you, Simone. How are you girl?
Speaker 1 (01:40):
I'm so good, Jordan. This is the first time that
I've had someone I've literally known since childhood on the show,
so this is very special for me. I think that
we have to start by just telling everyone how we
know each other.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Yes, okay, well man, we went to summer camp together
and it was called Cannon Cook and we met and
call the Colorado one though, right. We met at Kay
Colorado and we just were like someone who looks like me.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
It ran towards each other and just, I don't know,
we just clicked, you know, Yes.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
I remember that so vividly. I made so many friends there,
a lot of people who didn't look like me. However,
when you have that moment when you see someone who
really does look like you and that recognition just makes
you feel seen. I remember like locking eyes with you
and your brother PJ and just being like.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
Yes, we found each other.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
You're staying, like you're gonna be here too, Like it
was so fun. I have such fond memories of that
camp too, especially the Colorado one, because it just, I
don't know, we got to be in nature and we
got to be together, and it just.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
I really loved that. I really really loved that. I
wish I could go.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
Back, Jordan. So my fondest memories from that camp was
sitting with you on a bus ride and like I remember,
I would make you sing.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
I'd like, I'm singing. That's the first thing that pounded men.
I was like, I know, I was singing. I was
singing on the bus.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
Yeah, you were singing. I was like, Jordan, and you
have to sing. And then I would harmonize with you,
and then I think we would like get other people
to harmonize.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
Yes, we started it.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
We got the ball rolling for everybody, like, Okay, we're
gonna be on this bus for a little while, so
let's have some fun.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
Here's your entertainment, y'all two hams exactly.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
And then on the lake we would play games and
we would sing on the lake as well.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
The jet skis like, oh man, good times.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
Good times. Well, Jordan, after we went to camp together.
It honestly was not long after that that you went
on American Idol and Girl. As soon as I saw
that you were on that show, I was like, she's
gonna win. I was like, she's winning because I knew.
I knew from those bus rides that you were gonna
win foretold exactly. I saw a vision like Raven. I
(03:46):
was like, oh, I see it, I see it happening.
So you win American Idol at seventeen, youngest winner in
the history of the show. Can you describe for me
what was that next morning like, up the next day,
what emotions and thoughts were running through your head?
Speaker 3 (04:04):
Okay? I love that you just asked me this because
most people are like, what was the moment? Like?
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Right?
Speaker 2 (04:08):
But the day after was absolutely insane. So I have
to start from the night before because it continued into
the next day. So I won. We get off the stage,
I go back to the crazy press room. I'm in
there for about an hour, so then I leave and
I'm supposed to go to this like American Idol after
party thing, and it was funny because it was twenty
one and up.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
So I wasn't even allowed to be in the building
in the establishment because I wasn't old enough. So I
had an escort that like walked me around the party
and I was.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
Like, hey, hey, like all these people. Then I left
and I had to hop on a red eye. I
did not sleep on the plane. I'm not very good
at sleeping on planes, and landed here and I think
we went straight to Good Morning America.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
I think.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
So it was like it was just the continuation. The
adrenaline was like up here, it was in the ether.
It was crazy, and so I hadn't had any sleep.
I went did all the morning shows that did radio.
I did the whole thing that next day, and I
just remember thinking, oh my gosh, like this is happening,
and it's happening so fast. Because I knew my life
would change, like you're on the show, like, oh, if
I win, my life is going to change. But for
(05:10):
it to just be instantaneous like.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
That was it was a lot. It was a lot
to take in.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
I was still really excited, but at the same time
I kind of didn't know how to handle like all
of the pressure and all the big emotions that were coming.
So I kind of just put everything into a box.
It was like, I'll deal with that later. And then
there was a moment where in the middle of the day,
I had maybe I'm gonna say, like a forty minute
break in between doing press stuff, and I was at
(05:36):
the Olive Garden in Times Square, so like right next
to the escalators was like a little table alcove, and
so I sat there and I had my head on
the table like this, and I was just trying to
take a just breathe.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
Like, you know, just take a moment.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
And I remember this lady and her daughter walked up
and the daughter was really small, and the lady looked
really excited and she said, Jordan, can we take a picture.
My security was like, hey, she just needs a moment.
Went to kinda breathe for a second. It's been a
really crazy day for her. Would you mind waiting for
a little bit. And this lady went off, Simon. She
went off, She was like, how dare you?
Speaker 3 (06:12):
I voted for you.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
I never should have voted for you. I hope all
of your albums fail like this. And I just was
sitting there like it was it was so much, like
it was like, Okay, you're famous. Now people know you,
and you're on all these TV shows, and here comes
a person who voted, but now she hates you. Like
it was just so much all at once. But I
(06:33):
appreciate you asking me about that, because nobody really asked
about the day after they asked about the moment, So
that was it was a crazy It was a crazy ride.
But I was like, oh, okay, it's not all rainbows
and butterflies. But you know, I'm always I've been a
sunshine girl anyway, so I'm always gonna find, like, you know,
the positive in it. So I hope that her daughter,
who was so small, she's probably in college now at
this point. But I hope that her daughter is doing
(06:54):
well and has a high thinks highly of herself.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
That's what I hope. And you're literally the best person
on the planet that you are thinking about that woman's
daughter right now, like you have a heart life, you
have a heart of gold, trinity.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Well, because I just I also remember being I don't
know if Teriff mortified just because of this mother, how
she was acting in front of her daughter, Like it
would have been one thing if she was by herself
like okay, but she had her daughter there and just
kind of like blew up on another kid, like I.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
Was just a kid.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
You were seventeen years old.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
I just was like who And the daughter looked scared
like she just didn't She was just kind of in
shock over the whole.
Speaker 3 (07:35):
The whole thing. So it was crazy. But yeah, I
hope she's having good life.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Well, we've seen each other a little bit over the years,
but I've noticed that when you know, I've checked in
with you over the years, you have always been mature.
But I think you have this real sense of maturity
at this stage in your life and a really grounded
approach to your very public career. But I can imagine
that when you were seventeen years old and thrush into
(08:00):
the spotlight, that probably did a number on you when
you reflect back on that time, you know, the months
and years that followed after American Idol, how did you
handle fame and success?
Speaker 2 (08:13):
Honestly, I don't really know if I was consciously dealing
with it, if that makes sense, Like I remember just
kind of thinking like this is my life now, and okay,
like let's go. Like I've always kind of been that
person I'm given something, or whether it's a set of
instructions or winning idol or something gets thrown at me,
it's like, all right, pivot, this is how we.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
Have to We just got to keep moving forward. Forward.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
Motion has always been in the back of my mind.
So I don't know if I was really like, wow,
this is a lot to handle right now at seventeen,
I wasn't really thinking about it that way. I was
honestly just thinking about the fact that I get to
sing for my life and I got to make an album,
and I was focused on those things really as opposed
to what people were saying or what people were trying
(08:57):
to project at that time. But when I look back
on it, I do know that it really affected. You know,
the body is always going to tell you. Body's gonna
let you know, even if you don't say it, that
something's going on. And I remember I started having heart
palpitations after Idle, after I won, and this was in
between winning and going on the Idle tour, so it
was like maybe a month in between to have like
(09:20):
a little bit of a break. But I started like
having heart palpitations and starting to feel anxious, and I
had never really experienced that before. So I went to
go to a checkup and he was like, okay, well,
the doctor said, let's get you on some magnesium. And
he was like, we'll do an EKG on you and
we'll just monitor your heart throughout the day.
Speaker 3 (09:38):
Okay. Cool.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
Something crazy happens at the hotel that we're at during
rehearsals for tour, and I'm supposed to go grab somebody.
Something was happening with another contestant. She was not feeling it.
She hadn't been feeling good for a while, and she
passed out and we were all just like, uh, what's happening.
So the guys were in there trying to help her.
(10:00):
They go get so and so and so. I have
to run all the way across the hotel. I get
the person and I'm just like, okay, there's so many
people in there. I'm not going to go in there.
But I'm walking towards the hotel and I had a
panic attack that was I had never had one before.
Speaker 3 (10:13):
My heart started pounding so hard, and I had a.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
Paper bag with me because the doctor told me to
keep a paper bag with me at the time, and
so I'm like fumbling for the bag, and I'm just
like okay, trying to breathe. And I go back for
the check up the next day and he was like,
your heart rate was at like two hundred and fifty
six feets per minute, which is.
Speaker 3 (10:31):
Basically a heart attack.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
And looking back on it now, at that time, it
didn't seem like there were filters for kids or for
younger people who are kind of just thrust into everything
because like, we don't know what we're doing. I'd been
trying to break into music, but I didn't know a
lot of producer then and a lot of people, so
it was like I just was kind of thrown into
this world where people knew me, but I didn't know anyone,
(10:55):
and that's a really weird position to be in. And
then just the pressure of life, like, oh, well, you
won the show and now there's this and you have
to put out all this music and you have to
make sure that it's good because you won. And there
were a lot of different things that kind of fed
into that, and so I dealt with panic attacks for
a little while, but they subsided when I finally was like,
(11:16):
you know what, this is my life. I just have
to remember that possibly when I go out every day,
somebody might recognize me, because it's different going from being
anonymous and a high school kids. All of a sudden,
every single person on the planet kind of knows who
you are. So I think once I reconciled with the
fact that this was like what it is and this
is what it entails, that definitely helped, you know, kind
(11:38):
of just finally coming to terms with it, like oh okay,
this is life now, Okay cool. So I just had
to adjust, right, I had to pivot forward motion, but
still pivoting, Like, Okay, I can't go to the movies
on a Friday anymore. I have to go on Tuesdays
with the old people, you know, not going to them.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
All on a Saturday.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
I got to go on another day when everybody's in school.
Different things like that. Like, I've had to kind of
like adjust in that way, but I still get to
live a really awesome life. So I honestly, it's it's crazy.
It has its ups and downs, for sure, And at
that time, just with those particular factors I just didn't
really know. I didn't know and the things like your
mental health and.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
Stuff like that. Talking about that, yeah, it.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
Wasn't as prevalent, Like they did have mental health professionals
on the show, just because that was a lot.
Speaker 3 (12:21):
There was a lot of pressure with all of that.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
So after each show there would be someone there to
kind of, hey, do you need to talk about this
or would you like to talk or get feelings off
your chest. So I really appreciated that they did have that,
But no, people weren't talking about mental health like they
are right now. So it was kind of just like, Oh,
you're not feeling good, somebody else can to sing this song,
you got to cut this album, and there's all these
(12:43):
other girls that would really love to be doing what
you're doing. You know, that kind of mentality, which I get.
You know, there's always people who have dreams and want
to do this, but yeah, nobody was really talking about it.
Speaker 3 (12:53):
Then.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
Did you find that over the years as you were
dealing with panic attacks that there were certain triggers or
situation that would bring them out.
Speaker 3 (13:02):
I think then I didn't really know. Overall.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
I think it was just the pressure of everything that
I was going through. There were so many deadlines, there
were so many things like take for instance, the Idle Tour.
At the time, we did fifty nine shows in fifty
six cities over the summer after I won Idol, and
I won so I was the only person who could
not have a night off, like if I was sick
(13:26):
or if my voice wasn't working, like I had to
be there.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
I could not like be like, oh sorry, he's sick,
he can't come. I had to to do it.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
So there were plenty of nights where I just was
like my voice like I couldn't even speak, there was
like nothing coming out. And the stress of that because
it was like daily every day it was different like
is my voice gonna work today? Is my voice going
to come out today? And also at the time, I
didn't I was just thrust into this. At first, I'd
only sang maybe one or two songs. I didn't do
(13:55):
fourteen songs a night, so I didn't know how to
take care of my voice. At the time, I didn't
think about warming up. I like all of those things
that I'm like now, I'm just like, okay, I need
to make sure I do this. Those things weren't at
the forefront of my mind. I just was thrust in
and it was like, Okay, I gotta do what I
gotta do. So I don't know if there were specific things.
I just think the stress of it. Like in particular,
when our fellow contestant kind of had that moment, it
(14:16):
was like I don't know what to do, Like I
don't know what to do in this moment. It was
something outside of myself, so it was out of my
control and it was kind of just like I don't.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
Know what's happening here.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
But I think now, when I think about stress management,
you know, with kids and being a wife and a
mother and kids and traveling and people knowing me and
people needing me and having to be everything to everyone,
I realized my body will definitely tell me sometimes because
I'm a goal or into person. I'm very ambitious, so
I'm like, okay, I have said that I'm going to
do this.
Speaker 3 (14:46):
My word is my bond.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
I'm showing up, and my body will be like, no,
we're not going to do that today. We're not going
to do that. So for the most part, I like,
I hate canceling.
Speaker 1 (14:56):
I hate it.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
It's not something that I like to do.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
So I really try to get as much which rest
as possible when I'm at home, and I really check out.
To be honest, I leave it at the door. I'm like,
I'm just going to leave it outside, and whatever happens
in here is family, and obviously there's creative moments and
stuff like that. But as much as I can leave
at the door, I do because I carry it. I
carry it on my shoulders. I carry it in my
lower back, and my back will go out or I'll
(15:19):
get a criok in my neck. You know, it's like, oh,
I'm carrying too much. I need to kind of just
slow down and decompress for a second.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
Stay tuned for more Jordan Sparks after this quick break
and we're back with Jordan Sparks. Okay, So moving after
American Idol after the tour. Ye, No Air comes out
in two thousand and seven, Yes, two thousand and seven,
is that right?
Speaker 2 (15:43):
Well, I recorded it in two thousand and seven, but
it came out February two thousand and eight.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
I listen to No Air all the time, still all
the time. It is a generational banger, thank you. So
my question is when you are making No Air, did
you know that it would be the hit that it
was where you're like, oh, this is good, like this
this don't be good.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
I remember it so vividly because I went into the
studio to meet up with Harvey and Damon, who were
the underdogs at the time, and we were in the
studio and they were like, hey, we have some songs
to play you. They played me a couple songs. I
was like, okay, cool, and then they looked at each
other and kind of did this like should we know?
Speaker 3 (16:23):
And I was like I'm sitting right here, you know,
like I'm right here, and they were like, should we
play it?
Speaker 2 (16:27):
And I said, yes, whatever you're talking about, you should
absolutely play for me because now you have to Now
my interest is speak and they played the song and
it was somebody else was saying it was another artist
at the time, and I was speechless. And you know me,
I'm never speechless. I always got something to say. And
I honestly, I just was speechless. And I turned around
(16:49):
to my manager at the time and I said, I
have to sing this song. I have to put my
voice on this song. And so I knew how powerful
it was to me, and I just was like, I
know that I can sing this song. I know that
I can tell the story, you know. And they were like, well,
it belongs to somebody else, and I was just like, Okay,
(17:10):
well that was really sad that you played it for
me and I can't even give it to me.
Speaker 3 (17:14):
But then I looked at my manager and to my
an R at the time, and I.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
Was like, I really really really want this song, like
if we can make this work. So they knocked on
the proverbial door for months and then they finally said
yes that I could sing it, and then I went
and put my vocals on it, and it was a
solo at first. To be honest, it was a solo song.
So there is a version with just me on it.
(17:39):
I don't know where it is. It's like a couple
laptops ago.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
You have so many bangers from the early adds that
I still listened to all the time, not just No Air,
but Tattoo Battlefield, One Step at a Time, Yeah, the
iconic opening of one Step at a Time, the little
Yet and it now a sound like did you flip
when you saw that people were using it as a
(18:01):
TikTok sound?
Speaker 2 (18:02):
Honestly I was, I was like, yes, please, it reintroduced me,
re introduce me to this next generation. But honestly, it
really is an iconic sound. As soon as you hear it,
you just know what it is. And it's funny because
I'm pretty sure I walk to that beat now just
throughout life, like that is how I walk. It's like
wunt dune, dune dune, and I walk into the room
(18:23):
that way.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
I'm pretty sure every millennial has that soundtrack playing when
they walk into an important meeting or something. Which song
of yours from that era makes you the most emotional
or nostalgic when you perform it? Now?
Speaker 2 (18:37):
Ooo ooh, that's a good question. Okay, it's kind of
a multifaceted answer. So with no air and one step
at a time, they are so like up it's above
me now, you know, they have lives of their own.
Speaker 3 (18:53):
It's above me. Now. I'm just the best lie. I
just get to sing the song.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
But I think when I sing Tattoo, I just kind
of tap into this place of honestly nostalgia.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
But that was the first song that was mine, you know.
That was my first single, was the first song that
I like. It wasn't this is mine now from Idle.
This was Jordan Spark's single Tattoo, And when it played
on the radio for the first time, I was actually
here in New York.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
We were on the tour bus coming to New York
and I was on an interview with Z one hundred
and I went into my hotel room and I was
doing the interview and they were like, Okay, we're going
to play your.
Speaker 3 (19:35):
Song now, are you ready? And I was like, yeah,
I'm ready. I was not ready. They started playing the
song and I just burst into tears.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
I was weeping because I was like, this is my
song and I can't control it, Like anybody who's listening
to this radio station right.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
Now is going to hear my voice.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
And I cried for a good half hour, I think
after because they were like, we're going to play your song,
and then you know, the interview was over and I
got off the phone. So I was in my room
just cry and cry and crying. So grateful, so excited.
But I think with that one, I really get nostalgic
and it just brings me back to that place like,
oh my gosh, like I get to do this, you know,
(20:12):
I get.
Speaker 3 (20:12):
To do what I dreamt about.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
It also changes, you know, for me as I got older,
because at the time I was thinking about, you know,
my friend that I had lost, I'd lost my best friend.
I had lost a few people when I was on
the show, and I was thinking about them and how
I carried them with me, And I think it's kind
of changed. Like you know, sometimes people come in and
out of your life. Sometimes people are there for a season,
sometimes they're there for a long time, and.
Speaker 3 (20:33):
You carry all those people.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
All those people continuously become tattooed on you because they
leave a mark. So yeah, that song changes every time,
but that's the one for sure that I definitely feel
a little bit more emotional. Sometimes I'll cry, to be honest,
when I sing it, but not all the time.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
You've lost a lot of people, Jordan, You've been through
a lot of grief.
Speaker 3 (20:52):
Yeah. Yeah, Do you ever.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
Wonder like why why me? What does this have to
happen to me?
Speaker 3 (20:58):
I don't know if it's like why me per se,
but just like why did it have to happen to
good people and people who had so much to give? Still?
Speaker 2 (21:09):
And I think, honestly, that's how I feel about anybody
who passed away. I feel like there's always more that
they could have shared, or more that they could have
done here. But when it's our time, it's our time.
I've been I don't want to say in the face
of death that sounds so depressing, But I've been around
it since I was very young, so I don't know
if I got used to it as much as it's like, well,
(21:31):
it's a part of life, like that happens, And I
think the shock happens when because you don't know who
it's going to be. We know that our time is
going to come, but we just don't know who it's
going to be or when, and so I think those
are the moments where it's just like they're not here anymore,
and like how do you move forward from that? And
you're like missing those pieces or those conversations or you
know their presence basically.
Speaker 3 (21:51):
So it's just it's hard.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
Obviously we all go through loss and it's hard, but
I always look at what I have, you know, what
I have left my family, My niece is now. I
had dogs at one point and I was like, well,
I got y'all, so we're good. In those moments, that's
always when I kind of look at what I'm doing
and I kind of reassess, like, am I really giving
what I could be giving?
Speaker 3 (22:14):
Am I being the best mom that I can be?
Am I being the best wife that I.
Speaker 2 (22:17):
Can be am I really giving and using my gift
to the best of my ability.
Speaker 3 (22:21):
So yeah, those are definitely reflection points for me.
Speaker 1 (22:24):
I want to ask you about one of those reflection
points because I looked at time in your career that
seems like it might have been where one of those
took place. So your first album, Jordan Sparks, comes out
in two thousand and seven, then Battlefield in two thousand
and nine, and then you didn't release a new album
until twenty fifteen. What was behind that decision? Oh?
Speaker 2 (22:45):
Man, Well, it's funny because hold on, let me think.
I actually think that that was a time. I actually
don't think I lost anybody during that time, because the
not working was not for lack of me wanting to.
Speaker 3 (23:01):
And this is a whole.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
Other hour of a podcast that we could do Bring
me Back. We'll do a part two, okay, but basically
in a nutshell because that was a good six years,
six years, right, Yeah, two thousand and nine was Battlefield
mm hm, So.
Speaker 3 (23:14):
It was a good six years.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
But like I had been recording and the label was like, yeah,
keep recording, here you go, Like again, the sessions, we'll
put on an album and then they just kept kind
of dangling a carrot. And then I was like, okay, well,
if music isn't working, then I have to pivot. And
I had already been auditioning for movies and doing a
little TV appearances and things like that, and then I
(23:35):
booked Sparkle and I was so excited to do Sparkle,
and so that took up a lot of time, about
a year and a half of like promo and filming
and everything that went into that. And I was still
wanted to make music. I was still in the studio,
but the label just would not. And then I walked
in one day and they were like, well, you're not
focused on music, and I was like, I would be
(23:59):
if you would actually do what you say you're gonna do.
Speaker 3 (24:02):
But I need to pay my bills. I need to
put food on my table.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
So I took this movie, but they took it as
that I wasn't serious as music or they just you know, gaslit,
you know, you know, So that was happening, and then
they still didn't put anything out, and I mean, now,
like looking back on it, it's like, Okay, they got
their budgets, they have their ideas for who's coming out,
(24:27):
what's going on? All that stuff like cool I just
didn't get written into any of those, which I didn't
understand at the time because nobody was really telling me that.
There was just a lot of miscommunication, I think. And
so Salaam Remi, who was the musical director and composer
on Sparkle, he saw me, like he really saw me.
(24:48):
He was like, I know you want to do this,
like what's up? And so I was, you know, telling
him what was happening in my frustrations and I was like,
I don't know what to do.
Speaker 3 (24:55):
I don't know how to kind of rectify this or
handle it. And he I was like, well, I have
my own label.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
Would you like to come under my label and we
can you know, work on an album together.
Speaker 3 (25:07):
And I was like I would love that. He was like,
I want to help you, and I was like I
would love that.
Speaker 2 (25:12):
And so I moved over under his label called Louder
than Life. He was like, what do you want to do?
What do you how do you want it to sound?
Who do you want to work with? And he brought
me in some great rooms, like I got to work
with Babyface and I worked.
Speaker 3 (25:24):
With Shaggy and just it was amazing the stuff that
we got to do.
Speaker 2 (25:29):
And then we put we finally put that album out.
So it took a while, but it wasn't for lack
of trying. But I was still in the spotlight because
just not for music.
Speaker 3 (25:40):
I was acting.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
And then I had hired a personal publicist and her
name is Victoria Varrella.
Speaker 3 (25:46):
She's amazing.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
I love her, love her, love her still, and she
was like, well, we'll keep your name out there. We'll
keep your name out there, and once you have music,
you know, it's going to be like you were never gone.
And so we did what we had We did what
we had to do. Okay, So it was like I
was doing Freebok and I was like Women's running magazine
and like all these different things. I had to be
strategic at that point because it was like Battlefield did
(26:10):
so well and then all of a sudden, it was
like crickets on that side. So Sparkle really really helped
kind of bridge the gap between the time, the interim
time between albums, and obviously that time was just incredible.
Speaker 1 (26:25):
We've got to take a quick break, but we'll be
right back, and we're back with Jordan Sparks. Well, I
want to ask you about Sparkle because you worked with
Whitney Houston on her very last film project before she died.
That seems wow, that's like heavy to carry that and
(26:47):
meaningful to carry that. How do you reflect on those
final moments with her?
Speaker 2 (26:53):
Oh Man, Whitney, Ah, she really taught me, to be honest.
We know, I think I just mentioned it, like sometimes
people are seasonal in your life, and sometimes you know,
you get to know people for a short amount of
time and you kind of don't remember it, or it's
a long time and you sometimes don't remember that either.
But there are people who can make an impact on
(27:13):
you and timing doesn't matter. I knew Whitney for probably,
let me think, six months total, like got to know
her and be with her and see her and experience
her in real life. And she made such an impact
on me, not only as a singer obviously because I
(27:35):
looked up to her, but as a person. I just
really loved how she just was like, you know, people
like to throw things back in your face. This is
nothing new, but she would be standing there and be
like and and I just I loved that because I
was a people pleaser and I was like Okay, I'll
do whatever and really want people to like you. But
she just was like those things happened, and like, what
(27:56):
are we even talking about? Why are we talking about this?
Admired that I don't even want to call it courage,
but I admired how she just stood for herself. She
stood for herself, and I wanted to be that way
in my own self because sometimes I'd be so worried
about letting someone down or making someone feel bad at
the cost of myself sometimes, and I really admired that
(28:18):
about her. And I also admired that she was the
consummate professional, and she was funny, and her voice was
still just ugh. She opened her mouth and nobody, nobody
was immune to what happened when she would sing, and
I just was so I was devastated. I was devastated.
When we got the news. I just was like, what
(28:41):
are we supposed to do without her? In general? Like
how did we lose this voice? And how are we
supposed to do this movie without her?
Speaker 3 (28:49):
And do the promo?
Speaker 2 (28:50):
And that was another thing that was wild, because after
she was gone, that's all anybody wanted to talk about.
And as the lead as Sparkle, it all fell on me,
and I was so I was so emotionally fragile at
that time. When I look at it, like in interviews,
I just would break down and cry. It was just
a lot. It was a lot of pressure. It was
a lot of pressure again. So it almost felt like
(29:13):
when I won Idle again. That just like immense amount
of pressure. Because I'd never done a movie before. This
is my first film. I didn't know all this worked.
I didn't know how all of it worked, and I just.
Speaker 3 (29:24):
Was like, Okay, I got it. So I got to
carry it.
Speaker 2 (29:28):
I really try and carry the memory and the mark
that she left with me, and I really try to
represent her in the best way that I know how.
And you can hear her sometimes when I sing some
of her phrasing and things and inflections. I don't mean
to do it, but it's like, thll, this would sound
good here, and she would do that.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
So can you give me an example, Like what do
you mean by that?
Speaker 3 (29:48):
So I just sang.
Speaker 2 (29:51):
I was on another podcast over in Australia and she
asked me to sing his Eyes on the Sparrow. And
I've never performed that song for anybody. I've never performed
at church It's something that I kind of just sing
to myself. And the only version I know is Whitney's
version from Sparkle, and so I have sang her version
to myself so many times that when it was time
for me to actually sing it, there were so many
(30:12):
pieces of her, like she says.
Speaker 3 (30:14):
Why, Lord, why, and it's.
Speaker 2 (30:17):
So her, you know, like I probably wouldn't have thought
to put that there, but that's what she put in
her version, and so it just when I was singing
and trying to sing it on my own, I just
was like, I have to leave this here.
Speaker 3 (30:28):
I have to leave this here. But I also think,
like sometimes I'll do ad libs like she used to do.
Speaker 2 (30:34):
She'd go like bah, and like she'd like push it
off and kind of throw it away like things like that.
Speaker 3 (30:39):
Sometimes I do that and I don't mean to, they
just pop out.
Speaker 2 (30:42):
So I'm glad that she's like pressing a little button
like no, no, I'll put that there, put that there.
Speaker 1 (30:47):
And I also love to think that she helped you
combat your people pleasing. I never would have thought.
Speaker 2 (30:53):
Yes, yes, She just was like, you know, speak up.
And that was the other thing that I loved. You know,
they're always hitting women again each other, and like, you
know she's doing this and now she doesn't want these
women here.
Speaker 3 (31:04):
And that wasn't the case.
Speaker 2 (31:05):
On the set of Sparkle, Whitney literally put myself, Carmen, Tika,
and any anybody else who was there on her shoulders
and was like, what do you need? She always was
making sure that we were comfortable. She was always making
sure that we were good, not just like are you
having a good day today? Like are you comfortable with
this scene? Are you how are you in this outfit?
(31:25):
Like do you feel comfortable in this dress? Do you
feel comfortable in these clothes? And I just really loved
that because I just wasn't thinking that was I wasn't
expecting that. I guess not that I assume that she
wouldn't be that way. I just wasn't really expecting her to.
I wasn't expecting her to go out of her way
to make sure that we were okay like that. And
it was every day and we would wake up, we
(31:45):
would be in the trailer and she would come in
and she had her there's like a sliding door, she
had her own separate side and there was like the
big trailer. She would come in and go, good morning,
how my baby's doing this morning, and we'd be like,
we're good, mama, and she'd be like, God is good.
We'd be like all the time, and then that's how
we would start our day. So like it just she
was awesome.
Speaker 3 (32:03):
She was awesome.
Speaker 1 (32:04):
You sounded like Whitney just now. Like it was like
she just yes, you have a good Whitney impression. It
was like her soul just came through you just now.
Speaker 3 (32:13):
See. I don't even try. I don't even try.
Speaker 2 (32:15):
I like, I try to lower my voice, because she
definitely had more of a she had like a smokey
your voice.
Speaker 3 (32:20):
But yeah, I miss her. She was awesome.
Speaker 1 (32:23):
Okay, Jordan, we've talked about the pressure that you faced
as a singer as an individual artist, I also want
to talk about the pressure that you have experienced in
romantic relationships, because yeah, let's go there, let's go in
that time when you kind of took a step back
from music between twenty eleven to twenty fourteen, you dated
Jason Derulo, and I can remember seeing the headlines and
(32:45):
I was like, yes, I'm so happy for my girl.
But then also it started to turn and it became
very invasive and salacious about your personal life, and I
can only imagine that that was a crash course in
dating in the public What did you learn about the
pressure of being a public figure and how that impacts
(33:06):
your romantic life too.
Speaker 2 (33:08):
I learned a lot about myself and how I respond
to things in terms of, like you said, like your
privacy being invaded and people just feeling like they can
ask you all these questions and You're just like, whoa,
this is between me and the person over there. Like
that was odd because I had seen it, you know,
I grew up the tabloid magazine, so I saw it happen.
(33:29):
I just never thought that it would happen to me.
So when it happened, I really learned a lot about myself.
I realized that I am very much a person who
is only going to have a conversation with the person
that it's about.
Speaker 3 (33:40):
I don't want to talk to everybody else about this.
Speaker 2 (33:42):
And the other thing as well, is like, you're not
going to make me come out of my character. You're
not going to take me there. You're not going to
get me out of my character. If I have to
have a breakdown or whatever, it'll be in the comforts
of my own home, but you are not going to
try and pull me out to get whatever clickbait or
or you know, make it become this thing. Because you know,
people were just like what about this and what about this?
(34:04):
And I was like, no comment, I have nothing to
say to you. And it also showed me that people
are not the same and people are going to respond
in the best way that they know how and how
they feel like they're protecting themselves. So I just was like,
I don't really need to say anything about this, Like
I know the truth. If I keep saying all of
(34:26):
these different things, then it's just gonna go like this,
and then it's just gonna become bigger than it needs
to be because it was already everywhere.
Speaker 3 (34:32):
I just was like, I don't need any more of this.
Speaker 2 (34:36):
I'm good, while at the same time being devastated, you know,
emotionally devastated. I'm trying to figure out what's going on still,
and the whole world wants to know. So that was
definitely an interesting time. But you know, hindsight is twenty twenty.
Everything is a lesson. Every single thing is a lesson.
And I don't regret anything. I don't regret anything, and
(34:58):
I don't regret.
Speaker 3 (34:58):
The choices that I made. My mental health looks.
Speaker 2 (35:02):
A little crazy when you look at the chart on
the choices that I made, But I don't regret it
because it brought me to where I am now. And
I don't think that I would appreciate my husband and
everything that he is to me and everything that he
is as a person himself. If I didn't go through
the things that I went through. And I also know
now that like, I have to keep something for me,
you know, I have to keep and I have to
(35:22):
keep that safe. As much as I love to talk
about it and I love to be, you know, be
an open book, there's still a lot that I keep
for myself.
Speaker 1 (35:30):
Yes, that's You're right. You deserve to keep whatever feels
right to your private Have you ever written about that
chapter with your public relationship with Jason Derulo and your music?
Speaker 2 (35:42):
Oh yeah, there are some songs that never got released.
Oh my gosh, where, Oh my god, I think there's
I think I wrote a song called shattered.
Speaker 3 (35:51):
Oh my god, I'm so dramatic. I wrote a song
that sounds pretty emo.
Speaker 1 (35:54):
Jordan, I wrote a.
Speaker 3 (35:55):
Song called shattered.
Speaker 2 (35:56):
I was like I just was like, I don't know
what's happen happening right now, and it was just it
was a lot. Everything was just so weird, and I
was like, how did we get here?
Speaker 3 (36:07):
Who is this? Like I just didn't understand. So yes,
I did write a song like that.
Speaker 2 (36:11):
And then there were a couple songs on right here
right Now that kind of like I wrote kind of
about the situation, but weren't as like in depth. I
think left Right is one of those songs. And then
casual Love.
Speaker 3 (36:26):
I think I don't want to be just another girl
that you don't want to be, just like a casual lover.
Da da da.
Speaker 2 (36:32):
Artists we take from our real life, you know, it's
the only way we know how to do it.
Speaker 3 (36:36):
So we turned to the page, exact page.
Speaker 1 (36:38):
The page is a refuge. Even if I think there's power,
even if the song doesn't get released, or even if
that email that you need to write to that person
never gets sent, there's just power in writing it.
Speaker 3 (36:47):
Yep, I do that a lot. Actually, I do that
a lot.
Speaker 2 (36:50):
I think this is actually it would be a good
tip for people with social media, because not everything needs
to be said, not everything needs.
Speaker 1 (36:56):
To send The drag.
Speaker 3 (36:59):
Put it in your notes. Put it in your notes
and write it out, get it all out, and then
leave it there.
Speaker 1 (37:06):
We've got to take a quick break, but we'll be
right back, and we're back with Jordan Sparks. Well, you
mentioned your marriage to your husband, Dana Isaiah. You got
married in twenty seventeen. How did you know he was
the one?
Speaker 2 (37:25):
It's weird to think of, because you know, people are
just like when you know, you know, okay. People have
said that a lot, and I do have a few
friends whose parents they like saw and instantly knew that
that was the person for them, And I was like, wow,
So I knew it existed. I just I did not
think I thought it was going to happen to me.
And we had talked before we met, it was only text.
I was like, I'm not doing facetimes with you. I'm
(37:47):
not doing phone calls like you got to earn those like.
I was in that space like nah. So I was like,
we can text and that'll be great. And it was
really cool because I just was like, hey, this is
a cool guy, Like he really helped restore my faith
in the male species. I did not even want to
be in a room alone with a man. I was
that like scarred after the things that had happened, and
(38:08):
so he just was so.
Speaker 3 (38:12):
Normal. I guess he didn't put on any airs.
Speaker 2 (38:15):
I could talk to him about anything, and it was
really really cool. The conversation just flowed, and initially I
was just like, Wow, this is gonna be just a
cool person to know, you know. It was strictly platonic.
And then he was like, Hey, I have a trip
coming to LA. Can we have that conversation about La
and what it's like? Because that was initially how we met.
Our moms put us on a group chat because he
(38:37):
wanted to pursue modeling and I had met his mom
and his mom was like, I don't know if I
want him to move to LA and all that stuff,
and I had done something for their charity and she
was like to my mom was like, hey, do you
think Jordan would talk to him just kind of about
what it's like? And because I had met her, I
was like, you know what, Okay, fine, I will have
this conversation. And that's how we started talking. His trip
(39:01):
came and he was like, hey, I'm landing. I said,
why don't you come by and we can talk my
brother was on his way.
Speaker 3 (39:06):
That was the only reason why I invited it more
to my house because my brother was on his way there,
and I was like, come over, we'll just chat. And
he knocked on the door.
Speaker 2 (39:17):
I opened the door and my dogs ran up to
him first, and I was like, okay.
Speaker 3 (39:22):
Usually you know, they bark or they like stay back.
Speaker 2 (39:24):
They went straight to him, and then he stood up
and our eyes locked and I just was like.
Speaker 3 (39:30):
No, oh, no, oh no. I was like, this is
not what I know. No, because I just wasn't that space.
Speaker 2 (39:37):
I didn't think that that was gonna be the thing,
and it just instantly I was just like whoa, there
you are, Like my whole body. It was almost like
an adrenaline rusher when you look out of a building
and it's really really high in your stomach kind of
is like whoa, And that's what it felt like.
Speaker 1 (39:53):
Also, girl, we have to say, for anybody who doesn't know,
your husband is very handsome.
Speaker 3 (39:58):
So I'm sure that, yeah, he's good, that man is fine.
Speaker 2 (40:01):
But the funniest thing is that I wasn't really thinking
that because I saw, you know, I saw his Instagram
in a few pictures, but I did not let myself
go there at all, and so when we met, I
was just like, oh shit, I am in trouble. And
so we ended up talking until like four am the
(40:21):
next morning. And that second day I called my auntie
and I was like, you need to come over here.
Speaker 3 (40:28):
I have to tell you about this guy I met.
Speaker 2 (40:30):
And as we're talking, she looks at me and goes,
did you just meet your husband? And I was like, yes,
yes I did. I did not tell him that, but
I knew. I knew the second day and then yeah,
Now it's been eight years and it's just it's crazy.
Speaker 3 (40:46):
It's crazy, and you.
Speaker 1 (40:47):
Have a beautiful son together, DJ.
Speaker 3 (40:49):
Yes, DJ, my little Blue?
Speaker 1 (40:51):
How old is DJ? Now?
Speaker 3 (40:53):
He's seven.
Speaker 1 (40:54):
I have a four year old and a five year
old and they're just growing so fast.
Speaker 3 (40:57):
It's crazy, so fast, it's insane.
Speaker 2 (41:00):
And I think that's the other thing with my career
and kind of I don't know if balance is everything
anybody ever achieves, but with my career and my home life,
I really am very particular about my time and what
I say yes to. Now it's like, is that gonna
be worth me flying across country and taking three days
away from being home in my family?
Speaker 3 (41:21):
No.
Speaker 2 (41:22):
Sometimes my husband's like, but this no, no, it's a no.
We have DJ has a thing tomorrow morning. We got
to go to that. That is what we need to
go to. I'm very grateful, but he is just man.
I do everything for that little boy.
Speaker 1 (41:36):
Well, you did say yes to Marry Little Mystery. That
is your Christmas movie that's on Roku.
Speaker 3 (41:43):
Yes, ma'am.
Speaker 1 (41:44):
It is so cute and you're so natural. You're so
natural on screen, Jordan. I was truly like blown away
by your performance. There was not a moment that felt
false or inauthentic. It was just so organic and real.
Speaker 3 (41:59):
Think you thank you. I really appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (42:03):
I've heard there are some tricks of the trade when
it comes to filming a Christmas movie like this, because
you film them perhaps when it's not necessarily Christmas, right,
and you got to manufacture some of those winter magic elements, right, Yes,
I want the behind the scenes tea, Like, what is
something we wouldn't expect about the experience of filming a
Christmas movie?
Speaker 3 (42:23):
Okay, Well, to be honest with you, Mary, Little Mystery
was the first Christmas movie that I filmed that I
was actually in real snow.
Speaker 1 (42:30):
Oh really, it was real snow.
Speaker 3 (42:31):
Yes, it was real snow.
Speaker 2 (42:33):
We filmed it in Montreal, and I didn't know this
about Montreal, but in March the weather is just all
over the place. So it can snow one day and
then be like seventy five degrees the next day in
sunny and there's no snow on the ground.
Speaker 3 (42:45):
I was like, can this place make up its mind?
It was beautiful.
Speaker 2 (42:49):
So the first time that I got to film in
snow for a Christmas movie, my first scene a whole
fresh set of snow had fallen that day and I
was like, oh yay. And then after five minutes, I
was like, I'm good. Can somebody please, somebody please bring
me inside. So I feel like with this particular film,
I had on a heat invest underneath my clothes, and
(43:10):
underneath the heat in vest were long John's so like
you are in so many layers. I think for the
trick of the trade to make it look authentic. In
the movies that I that where it was called, some
of them were just based in California, and obviously you
know there are no white Christmases.
Speaker 3 (43:23):
You have to remember to shiver.
Speaker 2 (43:26):
You have to remember to be like or like or
you know, like the movements, because if you're just out
there like this and there's you know, snow falling, and
you just don't look like you're cold, and then it
kind of like blows everything out of proportion.
Speaker 3 (43:39):
I think the other thing too.
Speaker 2 (43:41):
I don't know if it's a trick really, but I
think with Christmas movies, it's fun for a lot of
people and a lot of actors because everybody's got Christmas
memories and so it's easy to tap in to the
emotions of what Christmas brings for people.
Speaker 3 (43:55):
So, you know, sometimes there's the.
Speaker 2 (43:56):
Sad movies and everybody has gone through feeling like they
wish a certain person was with them at that time.
And then there's just the warmth and warm fuzzies where
everybody just needs it. And I think of my son,
or I think of baking with my nana. So I
think with Christmas movies, it's just something that we need.
It's been a crazy year, girl, It's been a crazy year,
so we need all the warm fuzzies we can get.
Speaker 1 (44:19):
You know, one of the themes in Mary Little Mystery
involves family values and traditions that are passed down through generations.
Is there a part of your family's legacy that you
take pride in inheriting.
Speaker 3 (44:33):
Ooh, I like how you framed that.
Speaker 2 (44:35):
Look you guys, Simon, everybody call her please, Well the
silly one is the why Elephant gives exchange for the holidays,
like love that. I think for me, my nana and
my nana, both of my grandmothers, they're like historians, almost
like the timekeepers of our family. My nana literally did
(44:58):
the genealogy of that of my mom's side of the
family herself, like she did the research. She called all
the people, she got all the records, and she made
a book of my mom's side of the family. My
Nana will tell me stories from forty years ago in
vivid detail, and I think for me, I've inherited my
love of the stories that we share and the stories
(45:21):
that we carry and the memories that.
Speaker 3 (45:23):
We have, because that's all we are.
Speaker 2 (45:25):
All we are are stories and how we made people feel,
and those are the things that we leave behind. And
so I want to be able to do that for them.
I want to be able to talk about who they
were and what they loved and you know, how they
impacted me and what I carry from them. And I
think that's really important, especially now, and I don't know
(45:45):
wh I'm getting emotional, but especially now, there's so much
that so many of the things that we need to
cherish get pushed to the side because there's so much
input and we're not filtering all those things, and so
many things are getting lost, so many things are getting
changed and lost and edited. And as a storyteller, that
(46:06):
just breaks my heart. You know, sorry, I was not.
It just breaks my heart to see that happening and
people not really knowing either where they came from or
why they do the things that they do. And it's
so important. So that is what I want to carry.
That is something that I've heard it from them. It's
(46:27):
my love of stories and my love of sharing them
and being able to.
Speaker 3 (46:34):
Kind of take people on a journey. That's what I
do with my music.
Speaker 2 (46:37):
I put my emotions into the music and I try
to take people to a certain place I want them
to feel, whether it's having to kind of maybe look
at kind of that thing that's irritating or is a
little tender, or bringing joy to somebody or lifting somebody
up and like, hey, I'm going into this meeting and
I can do this like that is what I've been
(46:59):
called to do Jordan.
Speaker 1 (47:01):
Last question. We are about to enter a new year.
Speaker 3 (47:04):
Oh yes, please, who I'm ready?
Speaker 1 (47:07):
How would you describe the era that you're claiming for
yourself in twenty twenty six?
Speaker 2 (47:12):
Ooh honestly, okay, I know we're supposed to wrap this up,
but I feel like this is a much deeper question
than like that.
Speaker 3 (47:19):
I can really answer. I'm sorry, I can't do a
surface answer.
Speaker 2 (47:22):
So you know how every seven years you're new, right,
your whole body is new.
Speaker 3 (47:26):
Everything has I've turned over? Yeah? Cellularly, everything is new.
Your bones are.
Speaker 2 (47:30):
New, hair, teeth, skin sells, everything turns over. Everything in
your body turns over at a different rate. So but
every seven years everything is new. And DJ is seven
years old. So I am now, I think finally out
of postpartum. Technical postpartum is seven years long. And I
(47:51):
feel like a new person, to be honest, like, I
feel like I'm at the start of something new. I
don't know exactly what it is yet, but I'm like
at this precipice and I'm about to jump, Like that
is what this new season feels like.
Speaker 3 (48:04):
So I just know there's so many.
Speaker 2 (48:06):
Opportunities that are gonna come, and I can't wait to see,
like who this next person is, Like what this next
version of myself is going to be.
Speaker 3 (48:15):
I can't wait to meet her.
Speaker 2 (48:16):
I'm so excited, Like I'm already, like, okay, six months
until May. I'm starting right now. I'm already. I was
journaling last night, Actually, what am I leaving behind? What
have I evolved out of? What relationship am I leaving behind?
Whether with myself or other people or with a thing.
I'm really trying to like understand all the things that
I went through this year and why I went through them,
(48:37):
and what I'm taking and what I'm leaving because this
is a new door, and some of the bags I'm
carrying can't fit through this new door, and.
Speaker 3 (48:43):
So I gotta leave them bars, yeah, bar leave them.
I gotta leave them.
Speaker 1 (48:47):
So I'm can't fit through this door.
Speaker 2 (48:50):
No, no, they cannot, and if I want to walk
through that door, I have to leave them behind. I'm
I'm really excited for this next year. I don't think
you can tell or anything, but I'm very excited.
Speaker 1 (49:00):
You packed an entire ted talk into the last fifteen seconds.
I'm so impressed, Jordan. This has been amazing I love
you so much. I'm so proud of you.
Speaker 3 (49:12):
Oh I wish I could fuck you.
Speaker 1 (49:14):
I'm giving you a hook.
Speaker 3 (49:15):
This is for you, This is for you, This is
for you.
Speaker 1 (49:17):
This is for you. Jordan Sparks is an award winning
recording artist and actor. You can stream her new movie
Mary Little Mystery on the Roku channel Now. The bright
Side is a production of Hello Sunshine and iHeart Podcasts
and is executive produced by Reese Witherspoon and me Simone Boyce.
Production is by a Cast Creative Studios. Our producers are
(49:40):
Taylor Williamson, Abby Delk, and Adrian Bain. Our production assistant
is Joya putnoy A Casts executive producers are Jenny Kaplan
and Emily Rudder. Maureen Polo and Reese Witherspoon are the
executive producers for Hello Sunshine. Ali Perry and Lauren Hansen
are the executive producers for iHeart Podcasts. Our Theme the
(50:00):
song is by Anna Stump and Hamilton Lakehouser
Host
Simone Boyce
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