Exclusive Interview with JEMILY RIME

Jemily Rime is a singer, bassist, and songwriter based in Cambridge, UK. She writes, performs, and produces jazz-pop tunes, featuring melodic bass lines, emotional songwriting, odd meters, and fusion inspired arrangements. Check out the exclusive interview below:

1. Your roots can often shape your journey. Can you share a story or moment from your early life that had a significant impact on your path into music?

JEMILY RIME: I remember the first time I thought “this is what I’m going to do with my life”: I was 12, and for some reason, the band Pink Martini did a masterclass in my school. They asked for students who wanted to come sing on stage with them. I am not sure exactly what gave me the confidence, but I got up on stage and sang a song by Adele and something from one of the Beatles’ early albums. It feels like a fever dream, I don’t actually remember how it went, just that afterwards my English teacher came to congratulate me. She told me I belonged on stage, and I found myself agreeing, and being a little surprised by it.

2. Did your musical journey begin with formal training, or was it more of a personal exploration? How has that shaped your unique approach to your craft?

JEMILY RIME: A bit of both. I was taught classical piano from the age of 3 and kept taking lessons until I went to university. I sang in choirs and did some musical theatre training through my teens, and I learned bass mostly from my father, but for it all, I did quite a bit of learning on the job.

3. Who were some of the most influential figures in your early musical life, and how did they inspire your sound?

JEMILY RIME: My family’s widely varied musical worlds were my biggest source of inspiration while growing up. I feel really privileged to have been shown so much great music so early on in my life. From the catchiness of my mother’s favourite songs, to the odd meters in the fusion jazz my father was listening to, to the shared obsession for picking up backing vocal lines on Beatles songs during car journeys with my sister : all of this contributed to whom I became as a musician.

4. What do you believe sets your music apart? How would you describe your sound to someone discovering you for the first time, and what emotions or experiences do you hope to evoke in your listeners?

JEMILY RIME: I usually say I make Jazz pop tunes in odd meters intended for people to sing along to. I always write from the heart, so my songs feature a lot of churning complicated emotions, a bit of yearning, and a good dash of existential crises.

5. For most artists, originality is first preceded by a phase of learning and, often, emulating others. What was this like for you? How would you describe your own development as an artist and music maker, and the transition towards your own style, which is known as jazz-pop?

JEMILY RIME: I have been writing music for as long as I can remember. There are home videos of me as a 5 year old showing off a “new song” I wrote on the piano. I do not remember a before of songwriting, so it has been a continuously growing practice rather than something that is transitioned into my own style. I think style exists from the get-go for any songwriter, practice allows you to uncover it!

6. Can you walk us through your creative process? From the first spark of an idea to the finished track, what’s the most essential part of your process, and how do collaboration or external influences shape your work, particularly on your latest EP, “Phantom Feels”?

JEMILY RIME: “Phantom Feels” is a collection of songs that capture super specific, intense things I felt over the past 6 years. The oldest song on there is from 2020, it is called “I Don’t Think About You,” and I wrote the hook walking back from the bus stop by my flat in Paris one evening. The melody was like an obsession until I could actually sit down to write it. Actually, a lot of the songs from that record started out in that way, in a hurried voice note or as a tune I hummed to myself on my way home. There was an urgency in how these feelings needed to come out in song form, I feel I had very little control over the songwriting itself. I wrote the last song for the record, “Drown,” in November 2025, on the night I came home after a gig in Paris. I was knackered, but I was humming the melody to myself. I did not even have the energy to go downstairs to the piano, I wrote it on the acoustic bass, and in the end, I used that same acoustic bass for the final arrangement in the recording.

7. What’s been the most challenging hurdle in either your personal life or music career, and how has it shaped you as an artist?

JEMILY RIME: I was chronically ill for a long while. I am better now, but still left with feeling like every minute where I am well and able to make music is precious.

8. On the flip side, what moment or achievement in your career so far has made you feel the proudest, and why? And let’s talk about your latest release and future plans.

JEMILY RIME: I am really proud of the arrangement and mix on the song “Whatever.” I love the rest of the record, but I had such a blast putting together the music for “Whatever,” it brings me real joy to listen to it, even after having spent So Many Hours (I will not disclose how many out of fear of discouraging producers in training) dissecting it on my computer so it sounded just right. I am sure I have done things in the past year warranting external validation that make me proud, but at this point I have been so focused on this record, all I can think about is how much I loved making these songs. All the musicians were incredible, and I am so looking forward to making more stuff with these guys.

9. Creative work in a studio or home environment, or interaction with a live audience? Which of these two options excites you most, and why?

JEMILY RIME: I love both, for different reasons. I love being in the studio because I can work my creative muscles, try and make new things in new ways. I feel at home in a studio, but I am also at home on stage. There is something so delightful about sharing the music with people, and hearing crowds sing lyrics I wrote years ago feel like a gift from the universe.

10. Do you think is it important for fans of your music to understand the real story and message driving each of your songs, or do you think everyone should be free to interpret your songs in their own personal way?

JEMILY RIME: If I want to say something special and for people to be clear on the story, then I tend to be hyper specific in my lyrics to avoid misinterpretation. “Whatever,” for instance, has really specific verses, and mellow choruses that do not leave much to interpretation. But for a song like “Drown,” I am not bothered about how people interpret the song. It is about feeling things, and however people resonate is right!