Musician Minhee Jones is an international melting pot of harmonies. Originally from Los Angeles, the London based artist denotes early classical influences from the likes of Beethoven. Her identity as biracial, born Korean and Black, helped to bolster the complexities of her artistry.

Directly off her new EP, the single “6 Feet,” was an almost prophetic analysis of mindfulness — of course more relevant, and literal, now amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. With lyrics like “we stay 6 feet apart to stay 6 feet above”, this song is essentially an anthem to what we are living through right now.

In addition to being a powerful musician, Minhee teamed up with Fender, Ford, and Co-op Food and broke three Guinness World Records by playing concerts in 51 cities in 7 days to raise money and awareness for Music Venue Trust. Minhee encapsulates a mix of soulful rebellion, perhaps an ode to her punk bass playing roots. As an instrumentalist, specializing in drums, bass, analog synths, piano and vintage harmonium, it is her prolific style and adventurous nature that enables her to march to the beat of her own drum. Please read our exclusive interview below to learn more about Minhee Jones.

Where are you based?
I am in London!

How would you describe your music style? Do you feel your move from Los Angeles to London had an influence in developing your current sound?
I have always had the most difficult time describing my music style — it’s very me in that it’s all over the place! Someone said it sounded like “feel-good bitterness” once so I just go with that now. I’m not sure that it did, actually! People have said the songs I’ve written since moving here still sound very American — not sure if that’s a good thing or not, haha.

How did you get interested in creating music? Who are some of your early inspirations?
I grew up in a completely non-musical household, but my parents had a piano as decoration and I started banging around on it when I was four — turns out I amazed everyone by picking out melodies with no training whatsoever, so they got me classical piano lessons and here we are! Beethoven is still one of my favorite inspirations.

Last year you teamed up with Fender, Ford, and Co-op FoodBreaking to break three Guinness World Records, by playing concerts in 51 cities in seven days to raise money and awareness for Music Venue Trust. How did this insane/awesome idea come about? Can you talk about your experience during those seven days? What were some of the highlights and challenges that you faced?
The idea came when I was driving all the way back to London after recording my Christmas song and EP way up on the Isle of Lewis in Scotland. I was thinking about how cool it would be to do a big tour around the country and visit all these new places, but when I started researching the tour I noticed many venues had closed down, were closing, or in danger of closing, so I thought I could use my Christmas single “Next Xmas” combined with the most ridiculous tour possible to raise money and awareness for the cause of saving grassroots venues! It was probably the craziest seven days, but also few months of my life in planning something on that scale without any label or booking agent or management support. Playing that many cities in that short of a time meant gigs beginning as early as 7 a.m. and ending as late as 2 a.m. some days! And it wasn’t just the gigs themselves, but compiling and collecting all the evidence for Guinness. Luckily, I had an amazing group of friends who were down for the cause, and Fender helped us out with some gear, and Ford let us borrow a transit van, and Co-op let us play in their stores when we needed early morning gigs — couldn’t have done it without any of them!

Knowing that you just came from a year of some crazy travel, how are you handling shelter in place?
Honestly, I’m kind of a hermit anyway so I am not doing too badly — some days before lockdown I would spend all day and night inside working on music anyway, so it hasn’t been too rough of a transition for me.

We need to talk about your song "6 Feet", which basically feels like an anthem to today's times. Can you tell us a little bit about why you wrote it and how it has now taken new meaning?
6 Feet started out as an ode to self-medication in general. I started writing it early this year as I was thinking about all the ways we distract ourselves from reality — then Covid-19 hit and it became even more poignant. I feel like we're all in a place where our brains don't want to deal with the full scope of this terrible thing that has taken over the world and we are also, more than ever, surrounded with means to medicate ourselves into avoiding, it be it actual medication, booze, chocolate, Netflix, or social media. So we're stuck at home and suddenly we're drinking more and eating more chocolate and binging more tv and online ALL THE TIME in an effort to not deal with just how destructive this virus has been to humanity.

Honestly, it seems like you were kinda psychic with the lyrics like, “we stay 6 feet apart to stay 6 feet above”. Can you talk about this a little?
I started writing the song before the pandemic, but it was one of my many unfinished ideas that I have sitting in my voice memos. Once the pandemic hit I thought — I need to finish this song so that lyric came after the social distancing guidelines. Sadly, I am not psychic — though I have had some psychic dreams in the past, but that’s a story for another time, haha.

Your music video that you released for “6 Feet” is very powerful. Can you tell us a little bit about it and the creation of it? Did you know all the people you featured?
Amidst all the chaos, what I found so intriguing about the pandemic is just how universal it all is. At one point we were basically all in lockdown together EVERYWHERE. I wanted to put together a video time capsule showing what lockdown was like all around the world and see what bound us together, so I put a call out on social media for people to send me clips of what was helping them cope with lockdown, and then I YouTubed how to edit videos and put together 6 Feet. I knew a lot of the people personally, but many were friends of friends, and of course there was the news footage I edited in as well.

Are you working on any new creative projects?
I will be releasing my EP at some point this year — it was supposed to be out now along with a tour, but of course that plan got derailed. I tend to get inspired by topical events, so I am currently working on a new song/video about the BLM movement and the protests going on around the world as well.

As a mixed Asian and Black woman, these are especially crazy times for you. Have you experienced any racism during these times?
It’s kind of funny how much more focused racism can seem during this pandemic because we are spending so much more time online and, so, you can experience it from the comfort of your own home almost constantly now! I have just been seeing a lot of ignorance and subtle racism from many people who I had higher hopes for, which is a bit disappointing. BUT I am also seeing a lot of people who are truly on board to help and who really want to learn and make a difference — which is giving me hope.

It is really beautiful how countries around the world are coming together to protest the tragic murder of George Floyd. What are your thoughts on the George Floyd tragedy and police violence? Do you feel safe in London?
Coming from America, I feel much safer here in terms of police, but also in general. I found it shocking when I first moved here that police don’t carry guns! At first I was astonished and thinking, how do they protect anyone or themselves? So American, haha. Then my second thought was, well as a black person, it’s probably safer for me that they don’t have guns. I was joking, but also kind of not joking. I think police culture here, all in all, just feels different. It’s not as militarized. They seem to be there to truly de-escalate first and foremost. Also, it’s really eye-opening to leave America and see that, in other countries, people just don’t have guns. It’s just not a thing you worry about. It’s taken me a long time to get used to that — as an American here I still assume people have weapons all the time.

What are your thoughts on all the protests?
I think seeing all the support from around the world is absolutely beautiful. I am also very glad to see that most of the protesters are wearing masks while they’re out there!! I’m hoping everyone stays as safe as possible. I just know that people are going to start blaming the spikes in infection rates solely on these protests, when the truth is states have been opening up, and lockdowns have been easing everywhere, and people have been going out and going to beaches, etc., WITHOUT protection. I’m not saying the protests won’t have contributed, but the main factor is the easing of restrictions and reopenings. It will be very telling to see who spins things in which way in the coming weeks.

There are a lot of white people who want to be supportive, but don’t know what to do. How would you feel most supported?
I think for me personally, I have a somewhat unique experience in that I am mixed race, but I grew up in a completely white environment. I was the only black and the only Korean kid at my school. Most of my friends are white. I basically grew up white. In college, I stuck with what I knew because I was ostracized by a lot of other black people for “acting so white” and it took me a long time to get it. So for me, a lot of this past week has been writing excruciatingly carefully worded responses to people in my circles who are posting totally ignorant things. Or being disappointed by friends who are very vocally outraged by the looting and destruction that resulted from the protests, but failed to show any outrage at all at the CAUSE of the protests — unchecked racist police brutality. Then there are the “All lives matter” people who are spending hours and so much energy trying to find reasons why they shouldn’t support BLM. I refuse to believe they don’t get it anymore because it has been explained in kindergarten terms, with analogies about houses on fire, etc. — people do not WANT to get it. It’s like, I just want you to look deep into your soul and think — why? Why am I fighting so hard to oppose the unlawful killing of black people by police? Because that is what BLM is fighting for. Why does that notion offend me so much as a white person? What threat am I feeling by the idea that this problem is being addressed?

On the flip side, I have many white friends who do get it, and who I see out there also writing these responses, and calling these people out, and honestly THIS IS HUGELY HELPFUL. People will listen to other white people before they listen to someone who looks like me, so if you want to support — PLEASE, PLEASE be vocal and call your friends out when they say something ignorant. Please keep showing your support on social media. It’s honestly so uplifting to see this work being done by white people — even if you don’t end up changing the person’s mind (it’s a very rare occurrence) your black friends see what you’re trying to do and it’s one less conversation we need to have. Honestly, seeing my white friends go out of their way to have these uncomfortable conversations and try to get people to see is the only thing keeping me going because I am completely exhausted. Of course, there are many more impactful ways to show support with contacting government officials and lobbying for real change, but this is how I personally am feeling supported right now.

How are you staying positive during these times?
Whiskey! Haha, half kidding. Honestly, I am incredibly lucky to be where I am, and have the people in my life that I have, and to be able to do what I love every day, so I let myself get defeated by all this, yes, but then I try to spend some time reflecting on how lucky I am as well. Also, as cheesy as it sounds, playing music — practicing, writing, recording, really does help me mentally!

What is your motto in life?
Any one of us could drop dead tomorrow, so go ahead and have that donut and really let yourself enjoy it — just maybe go for a run afterwards.

To learn more about Minhee Jones and her art, please follow her via the below platforms:
www.minheejones.com
Instagram: jonesminhee
Facebook: minheejones
Twitter: minheejones

Images copyright LPR Agency.

Minhee Jones - 6 Feet Apart...