Six months ago, Jax — like most artists — was stuck at home in quarantine, unable to gig or meet with others.
One November night she decided to have a little fun like other young people on the now thriving platform, TikTok. Just for kicks, the singer put on a bathrobe, sat at her keyboard, and recorded a little ditty set to the Fountains of Wayne song, “Stacey’s Mom,” but sung from the perspective of the mom being pursued by a teenage boy. Without a thought, she uploaded the song and went to sleep.
At 4 a.m. that morning, the 25-year old woke up to a shocker–her little 40-second video spread like wildfire, surpassing the magic number of one million views in less than 24 hours. She was so surprised and started screaming so loud that her boyfriend thought something was wrong.
“I saw some random notifications on my phone and I just opened it up and it was like over a million views — like crazy chaos,” she tells PvNew of the video, which has now surpassed 9 million views. “I started screaming and he thought somebody broke into the apartment. It was literally overnight. It was just the craziest thing, but it was definitely the moment that I started not caring at all and just being myself and being stupid and goofy. It was definitely a crazy surprise and felt really good.”
Fast forward three months later, and Jax’s TikTok success continued to get views — from an “Update from Avril Lavigne & Sk8er Boi 18 years later,” which became her most successful parody with over 14.5 million views, to a Super Bowl-themed clip about Tom Brady’s quest for another win set to Ariana Grande’s “7 Rings.” Jax has also posted a parody of Olivia Rodrigo’s “Driver’s License” restaged as a Long Islander battling commuter traffic, and sung Justin Bieber’s “Lonely” from wife Hailey Bieber’s point of view. Beliebers weren’t totally amused, defending the couple’s love, but Jax says it was all in jest.
“[With] Justin Bieber fans, I’ve learned where to cross the line there. They kind of scared me a little bit, it got a little intense,” she laughs. “Most people can recognize when a parody is a parody, but I think I offended some people on that one, but I didn’t take it down.”
Taking those kinds of risks led to millions more views and the attention of Atlantic Records, who inked the singer/songwriter to a deal in January, another moment Jax (born Jackie Miskanic) embraced on TikTok with a video signing the deal surrounded by her parents, John and Jill Miskanic.
“Jax’s TikTok popularity was more of a guide to show us that there was an audience engaging. Her clever songwriting, creative vision and star personality were what actually hooked us and made the most impact in our decision to sign her,” says Aton Ben-Horin, global vice president of A&R at Warner Music Group, of Jax and her following, which now tops 3.4 million.
“A social following and entertaining persona are obviously important tools to expose the song or artist to an audience. But for us the music always comes first,” he says. “At the end of the day, you can’t force a listener to stream a song or add it to their personal playlists. They have to love the actual song.”
Jax echoes Ben-Horin’s comments, saying: “I’ve always loved Atlantic Records because they’re pretty much known for artist development. They’re in it for the long haul and making sure that they nurture the creative vision.”
Her father, John — a NYPD firefighter injured on the day of the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center — gets to star front and center in a new song premiering today on TikTok, “Like My Father,” dedicated to him just in time for Father’s Day. The sweet ballad centers around her parent’s love story, with Jax singing about having a husband who “gets out of the car and holds the door and rocks out to Billy Joel and flip our kids off when they call us old.” The song is destined to be played as a first dance at weddings and sweet 16 celebrations with the chorus: “I need a man who loves me like my father loves my mom.”
@jaxwritessongs I just released a song about how much my dad loves my mom. It’s called Like My Father❤️
