At 22, Jenna Raine is celebrating a milestone years in the making with the release of her debut album, Jeans, Boys & Jesus, while also preparing to step into another first: her own headlining tour.
The project captures a snapshot of Jenna’s life right now, balancing growing up, friendships, relationships, ambition and a faith she says keeps her grounded through both career highs and everyday moments.
Jenna spoke with Sweety High about learning to enjoy her early twenties without rushing toward what comes next, the songs she can’t wait to perform live, navigating life in the public eye, dream collaborators and how she hopes to stay true to herself as her career continues to grow. Read on to see firsthand the creativity behind Jenna’s debut album.
(Jeans, Boys & Jesus via Warner Records)
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Sweety High: Your debut album, Jeans, Boys & Jesus, is finally out. What does it feel like to have your first full-length album officially out in the world?
Jenna Raine: It’s so unbelievably surreal. Yet at the same time, when you achieve something, I think it’s very quick to let it fly past you because life kind of stays the same. It’s been really cool to watch people’s reactions online to the album. I think it will feel a little bit more real to me when I’m on tour touring the album, but it’s been really sweet and exciting.
I feel like my whole team is super amped up, and that has also helped me as well. But just overall, a lot of excitement and joy.
SH: You’ve described the album as reflecting where you are at 22. What did you want to capture about being twenty-two that you think you might kind of look back on once you’re maybe 25 or 30?
JR: A lot of your early 20s, and what 22 has been for me has been a lot of just making memories with friends and deep long conversations with my girls. And I think that as an up and coming developing artist, sometimes I guilt myself into thinking I’m spending too much time with friends or too much time just having conversations, and not focusing on my craft.
Looking back at these years, I’m gonna just reflect on how sweet they are and how tender each little moment and each little conversation mean. At the moment for me, it’s really hard for me to let myself enjoy being 22 because I feel like I need to be where I’m going to be at by 30, right now.
I think I’m gonna look back when I’m 30, 35, and just think, wow, I had all the time in the world to just enjoy life and to be a good friend, and I’m gonna think that’s a really sweet time, but right now I’m like, I shouldn’t be spending my time on this. So I think I’ll do a big one 80 when the time comes.
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SH: Was there a song that changed the most between the first demo versus what ultimately made it on the album?
JR: Honestly, a lot of them are pretty similar to how we wrote them. I think the one song that probably changed the most would be “What He’s Not.” It ended up going back to what it was going to be, but there’s a version, and it’s like “She’s So Gone” from Lemonade Mouth.
It’s just this heartfelt song about your friend going through a bad first date. And we wrote it, demoed it out. It was just me and a guitar, and then we produced the heck out of it, and that’s what was going to come out. Then we dialed it back, because it’s a simple, sad song. But if anyone ever wants to hear the “She’s So Gone” version of “What He’s Not,” let me know.
SH: You’ve essentially grown up alongside your audience. How do you balance letting fans into your life and your growing up process while keeping certain things kind of just to yourself?
JR: Personally, my instinct has never been to share very small personal details online. I share a lot of who I am, and I think the main point of being online is to just be a light for people. People find joy in seeing your content. And so that’s kind of what I try to provide. And through my music, I go a little bit deeper, and I let people in on a lot of my faith and who I am through my podcast.
I think what I’m doing right now feels like a healthy balance of sharing the joy that I feel like God has called me to share while also keeping a lot of my life private. I don’t feel like a lot of people know a ton about me unless they listen to interviews or listen to the podcast. So it is a weird thing to navigate because I want people to connect with me, but I feel like they would connect the most with me by listening to my music and hearing my heart behind my lyrics.
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SH: Which lyric from Jeans, Boys & Jesus are you proudest of writing?
JR: “Off the Market” is a really fun one. I’d say “Off the Market” and “Boy Friend.” I think the titles in themselves and the way we played on the words to hit the punchline is really funny.
That’s not a lyric, but I’m just proud of the way that the songs were written because I feel like they’re well done. I like how in “Boy Friend” it says you’re acting like a boyfriend, and you can’t tell if I mean “boyfriend” or “boy friend.” So it’s just kind of a double meaning, which I like.
SH: You have a lot of younger fans, younger girls, especially following your journey. What do you hope they take away from seeing someone pursue such high ambitions while also remaining pretty open about her faith?
JR: The main thing that I’ve learned being an artist and just living life as a 22-year-old girl, no matter what you accomplish, life always kind of feels the same. So making sure I stay present, take in every single moment, and find joy in it is the most important thing, because if I can’t be content in the mundane moments, then I won’t take in my victories and the really big wins as a team and as an artist.
I really want people to see throughout my career, whether I’m having a really big moment or a really small moment, that my joy remains. And I hope people can take away from that and reflect it in their own lives as well.
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SH: You’re about to go on your first-ever headlining tour, which is amazing. What does it mean to finally walk into the stage knowing everyone in that room specifically came to see you?
JR: It’s really surreal. I don’t think it will hit me until I set foot on the stage, because right now I’m looking at how many tickets are being sold. It’s really cool that people are buying tickets. But it means the most when I can see people’s faces and connect with them on a deeper level, just because we’re both sharing this moment at the same time, and the music that I created hit them in such a special way that they bought a ticket and wanted to see it live, which is such a cool thing that I don’t think a lot of creatives get to fully experience unless you’re an artist and a touring musician. It’s just really special, and I don’t take that lightly.
So I don’t think it’ll really hit me, though, until I’m on stage because to me right now, they’re just numbers. It’s like when you’re looking at the number of followers you have on Instagram, I have however many hundred thousand, but if I saw all 600 thousand of them laid out, I’d be in shock. So I think it’ll really hit home when I hit the stage.
SH: You’ve toured with artists like David Kushner, Avery Anna. What did you learn from being an opener with them that you’re gonna bring into your own show?
JR: From Avery’s set, I learned that there’s something really special about the artist just being up there by themselves with an instrument. I want to implement that into my show as well, which I’ve always kind of done, but I haven’t had a moment where I’ve done a headline tour yet and haven’t done a show where the whole band leaves and I do a song or two on my own. Avery did that so well. She was able to tap into her artistry the most in her whole show when she was by herself on stage. I think that’s so special, and not a lot of people do that on their tours, which I think is fascinating.
David and Avery are both great examples of putting their faith first and leaning on the Lord in the midst of all the chaos. And so I learned a lot from them just in terms of faith, watching them keep their sanity in between the chaos of touring.
(Photo credit: Summer Schantz)
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SH: Is there one song from the album that you’re specifically excited to hear an entire room sing back to you? Like what’s the most one, most favorite that you’re looking forward to? Like singing live?
JR: Gosh, there’s a lot of them. I think my favorites overall are just “Off the Market” and “Boy Friend,” so I’m gonna keep answering that. Those are the most fun upbeat songs, and I have anticipated playing those live the most since I wrote them. Another one that I think is going to be really special is “What He’s Not.” I’m doing that one acoustically without a full band. And it’s just a song about remembering your worth and not settling for any less.
So hearing a bunch of young girls sing that song and sing the lyrics back will be extremely special and show that your music really does have an effect on other people. So that one has more meaning, which is why I’m excited for it.
SH: Now that your album is out, who would be a dream collaborator for this next era?
JR: I have a lot of favorite artists, but they’re super cool indie artists, and I can’t see them being on this album. I don’t know exactly who it would be, but collaborating with another Christian artist would be really cool on some of the songs; I could hear a lot of different voices on them.
Abbie Gamboa is one of my favorite worship leaders, and she writes amazing worship music. I don’t think she’s ever done anything in the pop space, but it would be really cool if I were to do some sort of feature with her, and there might be more music coming out that she would be a better fit for.
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SH: What is a career milestone that you’re looking forward to next besides the tour?
JR: Being 22 years old, there’s been so many things that I’ve accomplished already that I didn’t realize I would accomplish by 22. So if that happened again, that’d be cool. I would love for a song to go gold off of this album. It would be so sick. And I really want to open up for other artists. I find it so fun to tour with other musicians. You learn so much, and you get to meet so many new people.
I love Ella Langley, Mark Ambor and Alex Warren. And I’ve wanted to open up for any of them. I feel like they would make a lot of sense, and it would be such a joy to learn from their touring experience. And I find a lot of joy in opening up for other people. So to go on another cool big opening slot right after my headline tour would be so sick.
SH: Which song would you send someone who’s never heard your music before to kind of say like this is who I am?
JR: There’s so much variety on the album. Honestly, “Jeans, Boys & Jesus” might be a good one for people to hear right off the bat because it’s kind of my biopic in a song. If I were described in a song, it would be that one. And I think people would get to know a lot about me by listening to that song. And sonically, it’s super similar to the rest of the album.
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SH: Because of the album title, do you have a favorite pair of jeans? Biggest lesson you’ve learned from boys and favorite thing your faith has taught you?
JR: My favorite pair of jeans is the Cary Low Rise from Reformation. They’re amazing. I always have to get my jeans altered around the waist, but they fit perfectly. I have them in two colors.
Biggest lesson I’ve learned from boys. I would just say you can find the man that you’ve prayed for. You just need to be patient and not rush the process. Don’t just date someone or continue to date them just because you wanna have a boyfriend. It’s important to have your time to be single and to grow if that person hasn’t shown up yet. So just be patient and wait for your man.
I think it’s really cool having faith in general in the Lord and having faith in God because in my lowest moments and my highest highs I give my thanks to Jesus, and I don’t carry this huge weight being an artist and being in the spotlight because I put all of my faith in the Lord. So It’s put me in a very unique situation where I don’t feel this insane pressure from being a creative and from having this many eyes on me. And I think it’s a very unique mindset to have being an artist.
SH: What’s currently on your pre-show playlist if you have it?
JR: There will definitely be a lot of Joshua Slone, for sure. His album is insane. There’s a lot of old 2000s songs that are just absolute bops. Obviously, “Unwritten” by Natasha Bedingfield. I really want to pick a song that’s the cue song before I go on stage, and I feel like that would be a really fun one.
And I don’t know if you know who Laci Kaye Booth is, but I absolutely love her music as well. She is such a good artist, and she’s opening up for Ella right now. I love her voice, and I’ll pick her cleaner songs, but they’re phenomenal. They’re such great records.
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SH: When this album and tour chapter eventually comes to an end, what do you hope you’ll be able to say about Jeans, Boys & Jesus that changed kind of like your life essentially? Yeah.
JR: I hope that I grow from the experience. I think it’s gonna be really exhausting. And I wanna mature in being able to handle such a long show, with so many consecutive shows back-to-back.
I want to be able to keep my faith at the center in the midst of everything and all the traveling and all of the different venues and different meetups. I just wanna keep myself sane and make sure I don’t lose myself in the process or lose the excitement, because I wanna be just as excited for every show and meeting every person, and I hope I learn how to maintain who I am through the touring process.
You can listen to Jeans, Boys & Jesus in full here:
For even more from Jenna, click HERE to discover our favorite Jenna Raine lyrics as Instagram captions.
