Jillian Hervey
Just coming from a musical family, I was always surrounded by it. On the car rides to school, my mom loved playing A Tribe Called Quest and the Beatles' 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band,' and then my dad was listening to a lot of Bill Withers and Stevie Wonder.
Both of my mom's parents were music teachers, so I got a lot of knowledge about everything from classical music to jazz to musicals.
Onstage, I channel my inner goddess. Everyday Jillian is definitely more low-key: jeans and a crop top with a sneaker or boot.
I never walk into a room and say, 'Hi! I am Vanessa Williams' daughter.' It helps me to become more authentic.
I'm fascinated by animals and couldn't live without Dewy, my Boston bulldog.
I think I'm confident because I'm free, I challenge myself, and I stick to what I do.
I went through so many phases when I was young - surfer girl, tom boy, punk - but they weren't mistakes, just moments.
I love vintage Chanel and Prada. When I was growing up, my mum had a Prada backpack, which she's now given to me. I love it because it reminds me of when I was little.
Londoners always seem to be fearless and more willing to have fun with their look. New Yorkers tend to play it safer - sticking with neutrals and black. In London, people aren't afraid to mix patterns and colours.
You definitely need to have red lipstick no matter what. You can have a great outfit, but it will always give you that extra little pop. I also love perfume. It doesn't even matter what the perfume is. I like to smell sweet.
One of my favorite things from my mom is a chocolate brown three-piece Chanel outfit. I had it tailored because she taught me the importance of fit.
I wasn't even singing when we first started Lion Babe, so my voice has only gotten stronger.
Coconut oil is a must for everything. It is fresh from the earth, so it naturally works to moisturize my scalp, skin, hair and even helps to remove eye makeup. It also smells delicious. You can buy it at a beauty store or the grocery store.
Fake eyelashes can instantly give me a more dramatic look and also help to accentuate my eyes, which are a focal point to achieving the Lion Babe look.
My friends make me laugh: funny Instagram videos, but mostly people falling over. It's so bad, but it never gets old. I just love how people cover up their falls. The whole experience of 'Oh, I just fell, and I'm going to run out of the fall and pretend I did this on purpose.' I just like to see how people cover up their mishaps.
My first kiss was at a sleep-away camp, and it was very awkward and over quickly. And that was that. It was just the weirdest thing, and I thought, 'That was it? Get out of here!' I didn't even know his last name.
I never really sang for anyone, apart from in the shower or with my best friend. I was shy. I didn't want to take voice lessons. I knew I could sing, but I just didn't tell anyone.
I feel more comfortable performing when I'm wearing something crazy. I grew up in the '90s, so I love a choker and platform shoes like the Spice Girls wore.
I grew up just outside New York City in a very white town. In seventh grade, I got called Macy Gray. It really affected me, so I got a weave and wore my hair straight.
I grew up as a dancer, and music and dance are so closely tied that in ballet class, you're listening to all this classical music, and in modern class, you're working with a live drummer. It was something that always made me feel really comfortable, and I've had a connection to since the beginning.
Half of my family is in Los Angeles, so my cousin was the first person to play me, like, Snoop Dogg, and I would always feel like, 'OMG, I shouldn't be listening to this,' and my other cousin was the first to introduce me to Aaliyah, so every time I'd go to the West Coast, I'd get those West Coast vibes.
I grew up always wanting to be a dancer, and when I went to New York, I fell in love with the idea of performing in all ways. I saw myself traveling with a company or making my own work and being a little weird. I wasn't thinking about the business side of anything; I just knew that I loved dancing.
The people that have inspired me the most were dancers and choreographers. Even growing up, if I dealt with any pressure to be a certain way, I knew that as an artistic lane, dancing was the one that was a little more freed up - like, no one in my family is really doing that; I can be that person.
The women in my family are just strong women who do their own thing, so I knew I needed to have individuals like that.Collection: Strong Women
I think having wild, huge hair, is me being my own version of a lioness.Collection: Thinking
You need to have honest things in the world. Even if people don't understand it, if it's coming from you, that's already important.Collection: People
I'm always looking for people to feel connected to me and inspired in their own right.Collection: People
I find that the quest to be perfect and make perfect music is like a black whole. I realize that you can come with the intention to capture a vibe and use a formula, but you have to accept that most of the time its not going to be what you envisioned and you might manifest something better. I think that's been the hardest thing to wrap my head around that most ideas we go for ends up sounding different. I think art in general should be about enjoying the process and the experience. All that matters is if you feel the music and it captures the element your going for.Collection: Art
I remember just looking at this lioness, she was staring at me, and we just had this weird connection.Collection: Connections
This world is going in all sorts of directions, but I think all you can do is get people to think about things in a different way, because sometimes people aren't even thinking.Collection: Thinking
We created this journey [in the Begin], sonically, that people can really wrap their heads around and live with and get to know us a little bit more. The dark colors, the light colors, our up-tempos, and our down-dreamy stuff.Collection: Dark
You're just always growing. I feel like it's been very fast growth, but super exciting and I know I'll look back and feel like 'Yes, things were stressful, but it was also such an exciting time.'Collection: Growth
As I got older, I started to do it more and more, and I wanted to learn all of the different types. I grew up doing modern, so I wanted to learn ballet, tap, jazz, and African - just everything.Collection: Ballet
I tend to write about love because I'm always thinking about it. I think a lot though and struggle with overanalyzing. Way over. That's the thing, I feel like I do that a lot and then finally when I stop thinking, that's when it happens.Collection: Struggle
I love to feel that I'm not above anyone.Collection: Feels
Transformation comes in a lot of different forms, but going natural really helped me love myself.Collection: Different
I've always been an animal lover my entire life.Collection: Animal
The freedom I experienced as a dance major in college gave me so much, but the reality of being in school is that you are still forced to work under restrictions.Collection: School
[My mom] has a few choice words to calm me down. I think it's beautiful that I sometimes, weirdly, see myself in a photo and I'm like 'Omg, that looks like my mom.' It freaks me out and all that stuff, but it's also just a part of my legacy.Collection: Beautiful
I would feel weird having someone style me. It would have to be a collaboration. I've had those experiences and every time it happens I don't feel good. What's the point of putting all this work into something and then when you present it, it's not you?Collection: Feel Good
I've always loved vintage and I never like to have something someone else has.Collection: Vintage
I prefer to do things by myself, but I always bring in people who inspire me.Collection: People
My mom is one, but there have been performers in my family since as long as we can trace them back, so I think it was kind of inevitable to be artistic and to have a force. We're leaders; we're a family of leaders, so I think it's just part of my genes.Collection: Mom
I was shaped in college into a performance artist. I never really thought of myself as being one singular thing. I think of myself as an artist and I feel no restrictions when it comes to how I want to portray what I want to portray.Collection: Artist
Sometimes words come easily and sometimes they don't. Most songs take me twenty minutes to write.Collection: Song
I'm not looking to be the greatest pop star of all time. I want to be an artist. I want to influence people and I want to get people to think about the world, to think and talk to each other and connect. To challenge one another.Collection: Stars
People just try to put you in a box and I don't see myself in any particular box. I'm making my own box. There's no way I would be able to make the music I'm making without dancing.Collection: People
Of course, I'm a dancer. Dancing grabbed me from the start and I have was never afraid to do it. With out dance I wouldn't be singing. I want to expose people to the underground dance scene through music.Collection: People
I'm totally into the emotional aspect of things.Collection: Emotional