Born in London to British-Jamaican parents, Rochelle Jordan relocated with her family to Toronto’s east end in the early ’90s. Since breaking through in the early 2010s, she has honed a loyal and evolving fanbase, dedicated to the contagious rhythms of her music that effortlessly blends electronic R&B with the pulse of UK club music.
I meet her in the dark, and exceedingly warm, basement dressing room of Säälchen. It’s a bitterly cold Thursday night in Berlin, but the crowd has gathered regardless; the energy upstairs hums excitedly. “I feel like Berlin is my place, everyone is dressed in black,” she grins, wrapped in a sweeping black fur coat. Later, she’ll peel it off on stage to reveal a razor-sharp catsuit and oversized belt. It’s the opening night of her worldwide tour.
Seconds before we begin, her tour manager bursts in: there’s a “Jacob” at the door. “Yes, he’s a fan. Let him have a plus one,” she replies without hesitation. Is that standard practice? “For sure,” she smiles. “I get so many messages from fans saying they can’t afford a ticket, or they’re waiting to get paid. So I’ll put their name down.” That loyalty runs deep. “My music isn’t about me anymore, it’s for my fans,” Jordan tells me. “I realised in these later years that I’m making music for music lovers. When you’re the magician, you know what the trick is, so it’s not as magical as it once was. So I’m doing it for them.”
“When you’re the magician, you know what the trick is, so it’s not as magical as it once was.”
In Flow and the Power of No
Between lemon and honey and last-minute wardrobe fixes, we talk about flow. Jordan lights up speaking about the chaos of rehearsals and the improvisation she carries into every show. “You gotta be in flow,” she says. “There’s freedom in my performance; the ad-libs, the dance moves, interacting with fans. That’s where freedom lies.” But beneath the playfulness sits something firmer: boundaries. “I’m very good at saying no,” she explains. “I’m not falling into the pressures of what social media or this industry is pushing: don’t stop, keep up.” She pauses. “I’m anti-pump it out, pump it out.”
“This industry can get extremely noisy… when you’re amongst all this noise, you can’t hear yourself. If you’re unable to stop and be in silence… you’re going to be disconnected. You gotta keep your nook safe.”
Living with sickle cell anemia has strengthened that awareness, making rest a non-negotiable boundary for the artist. The inherited blood disorder, Jordan explains, can cause extreme fatigue and severe pain crises. “If I push myself, I could end up in hospital and mess up the entire tour,” she says matter-of-factly. “So it’s essential that I know when to stop. Y’all just gotta wait.” In an industry that favours relentless exposure, her restraint feels progressive. “This industry can get extremely noisy,” she reflects. “When you’re amongst all this noise, you can’t hear yourself. If you’re unable to stop and be in silence, you’re going to be disconnected. You gotta keep your nook safe.” She cites Sade as an impactful blueprint, an artist who can disappear and return without diminishing her presence.
Say Grace and Take Up Space
Jordan knows firsthand that success isn’t linear. After the initial high of her 2014 breakthrough, ‘LowKey,’ expectations around the album weighed heavily. “I had so many expectations, and it didn’t do what I thought it would do,” she admits. Years later, the track resurfaced and found new life online. “Now it’s gone viral on TikTok, which is crazy.” We speak loosely about Gen-Z and I can sense a fondness from Jordan in the gimmicks and playfulness of the times we’re living in. Especially in an industry that can feel so saturated in commercial appetite, it feels important to inject a bit of fun into the process. Good music keeps its own time.
When we turn to her latest project, she describes the breakthrough moment when she realised its direction. For her, that foundation lay in the tracks ‘Ladida,’ ‘Doing It Too,’ and ‘Bite the Bait.’ The lyrics for ‘Doing It Too’ became a personal manifesto: “Boys will be boys, but the girls will too, and the girls should too.” “Doing It Too was the beginning of me birthing what Rochelle Jordan is right now in my womanhood. That was one of the breakthroughs. I had to remember who I am as an artist and the footprints I’ve left behind.”
The album’s interlude track “Grace” stands out as an anchor for the project’s spirit. In the midst of basslines and bravado, it lands like an exhale that feels both devotional and declarative. When I ask her about it, she smiles, her eyes almost twinkling. “It’s me giving thanks to God for keeping me steady on this path,” she explains. There’s no performative mysticism to it, just gratitude. But “Grace” carries a dual meaning. “And it’s also like, let’s say grace, because we’re about to eat,” she adds with a knowing grin. The line plays with abundance, both spiritual and material, and a nod to survival, growth, and confidence to claim what’s hers. It’s a clever play-on-words, and a tongue-in-cheek acknowledgement of resilience.
“Don’t be afraid to be boastful and take up space. You deserve to be empowered and you deserve to take up space and talk your shit.”
An Army of Women
Asked about women commanding space right now, she smiles. From Sabrina Carpenter to Doechii to Olivia Dean, the list she starts recalling runs long. “It feels like an army,” she says. “If we have to go to the frontline with these women, we’re going to be fine.” It’s less bravado than belief; a recognition that something is shifting. For Jordan, taking up space is no longer about fighting for oxygen, but claiming it fully.
As she prepares to step on stage, wrapped in black and buoyed by Berlin’s anticipation, I watch in awe. As the music draws to a dramatic close, I walk away. The words “Protect your nook” are circling around in my head, the pulse of her infectious melodies still swimming in my ears, and my knees weak with delight. Protect your nook. Guard your silence. Trust the timing. And when the wall finally cracks, walk through it like you were always meant to.
“THROUGH THE WALL” is out now via Empire. To keep up to date, follow Rochelle Jordan on Instagram.
All photo credits by Empire.