ON THE RISE
Massachusetts based singer/songwriter, Juliera, prides herself on being woman who will go out of her way for people even through times of adversity. The Nigerian born artist has released her newest single called “Hero”, which is a pop/dance song with powerful vocals highlighting her message of empowerment while going above and beyond for someone.
“I have naturally always been the type of person who likes to go the extra mile for people,” Juliera said, pointing out that this is a focal point of her song.
When it comes to songwriting, Juliera said in many cases she doesn’t even start with an idea. Sometimes the beat gives her a vibe to lay out rhymes and see what comes next. In the case of “Hero”, it was originally started in 2017 and she was in a playful mindset at the time. She said she would rhyme and put together a tune someone could dance to, but something was just missing at the time. For years she still had the lyrics to “Hero” stuck in her head, and she knew something needed to be done.
“So, I did ‘Hero’ and I guess it wasn’t just me, because people around me in the studio that heard it were like ‘hey this is a great song,’” Juliera said and added, “This was something stuck in my head for so many years and now I get to put it out.”
While the song revolves mostly around love, it is also about doing something out of good will and good intention. Some of the lyrics include: “My heart, my hands, my everything is held out for you. When the shadows take the light, and fears start to rise, in the still of the night, I'll be by your side.” Juliera’s lyrics flow seamlessly with the beats by Indonesian producer Hansen Karta.
“From its opening bars, the track’s pop tones combined with a compelling dance rhythm make it a must-add to every playlist,” Juliera’s biography states about “Hero.”
Juliera has a three-year-old son named Romeo who enjoys the tune, and she said the music video coming out that accompanies the song, “Hero” will be very kid-friendly and fun. It incorporates superheroes, which Romeo loves, and will include Juliera donning a superhero outfit herself.
Juliera lived in Nigeria until she went to college. After studying in Europe she eventually landed in the U.S. for her graduate program at Northeastern University. She grew up loving music, listening from morning to night in her youth. Juliera wrote her first song at the age of 16, and had pages of lyrics that she wrote but didn’t do anything with. She credits her aunt for finding them and telling her how amazing they were. Juliera didn’t believe her, thinking she was being nice as a family member, but while in college she decided to go for it.
Juliera sold her first song for just $25. Over time she became more confident and successful, but that all got put to a halt with a painful marriage and divorce where her husband disapproved of her choice to playing music among other aspects of life. After a difficult divorce, she went back to what she loved: music.
“The emotional effect of it was really bad,” she said. “So I said, you know what, what is the thing I really love doing? Let me go back into it.”
Juliera did just that by contacting a local music studio and laying her heart out in a track that got instant praise from the studio as one of the best recorded there. This song was “Let it Ache”, which was about the tribulations of heartbreak and getting through it. She describes her music as a “celebration of resilience, hope and self-empowerment,” according to her biography. It says her story is one of “triumph over adversity, of a woman who refused to be silenced.” Juliera wants people to start fighting for themselves, and also work to be a good person.
“It’s only when you start fighting for yourself that things start to actually start getting better,” she said.
She added, “I am going to do what makes me happy and put my energy into something I love doing. I want this thing that I started to go bigger than I imagine.”
"Hero" is available on all major digital streaming platforms and can be followed here:
ON THE RISE
Blossoms caught up with NME to discuss competing with The Beatles and Johnny Marr for this week’s Number One album. With ‘Songs From The Wedding Cake’ in the running, the band also explained why making things themselves remains such an important part of their work as AI becomes more common.
The Stockport group put out their sixth album last Friday, October 2. By the midweek update, it was sitting at Number Two, between The Beatles’ expanded edition of ‘Rubber Soul’ and Johnny Marr’s latest solo album, ‘The Age Of Everything’.
“It’s mad, to be honest,” singer Tom Ogden said to NME about the chart race. “Liverpool on one side, Manchester on the other and Stockport in the middle. If you’d told us this 10 years ago, when we were releasing our debut, I wouldn’t have believed you. But I mean, we’re in good company aren’t we?”
Discussing the stories behind the album, Ogden described ‘Songs From The Wedding Cake’ as “about being married and all the everyday stuff that comes with it”. He married Katie Donovan, the sister of Blossoms drummer Joe, in 2021. Married life has since given him a new appreciation for what he describes as “the extraordinary ordinary”.
“Saying the wrong thing in an argument, losing your wife’s no claims bonus, crying at the Kardashians, it’s all in there,” he explained. “The album is named after Stockport Town Hall, which everyone round where we live calls the Wedding Cake, and it’s where I got married, so it couldn’t be much closer to home.
“The last album [‘Gary’, 2024] had a song about a stolen fibreglass gorilla, which everyone loved, and that gave us the confidence to bring the same playfulness to this one, just with more personal subject matter this time.”
Alongside tracks that came out of writing sessions with Declan McKenna in a hot tub, the album reflects the band’s desire to stay involved in every part of the creative process.
“It started with the recording,” Ogden explained. “We made the album with Shawn Lee, playing live straight to tape, and once you’ve done it that way you can’t really go and fake everything else. We sat down as a band and picked the colour palette, and everything visual followed from that. We had body scans taken of ourselves and cake toppers of the five of us 3D printed, put them on a real cake and photographed it. I’ve directed and edited the videos, and the sets are all built by hand, no green screen. For the pop-up shop on launch weekend, a local artist hand-painted the album cover for the sign outside.
“It’s more work, but you end up with a world that’s yours, and I think people can tell when a band’s had its hands on everything.”
With AI tools and digital effects becoming increasingly widespread, that approach feels particularly relevant. For Blossoms, though, the motivation is simple: “the fun is in the making”.
“Tape doesn’t let you cheat and neither does a real cake,” Ogden said. “If a set’s a bit wonky, it’s because one of us or our mates built it. I think the more stuff gets generated, the more people want to know a human being actually did it. We’ve been in this band together for over 10 years, five lads from Stockport, and that isn’t something you can ‘prompt’.”
Maya Jama also appeared in the video for the album’s first single, ‘Meet Me In Love’. Her appearance came shortly before the UK launch of Celebrity Traitors, where she took on the role of a traitor alongside a cast that included Richard E Grant and James Acaster.
“She was brilliant,” Ogden recalled of working with Jama. “We’d met her at the MTV EMAs in Manchester a couple of years ago, so we took a chance and sent her a DM …and she said yes. Next thing she’s in a theatre in Cheadle miming my vocals while a load of people dressed as me serenade her. She got the idea straight away and was a proper laugh about it.”
The conversation then turned to whether he thought Jama could take home the win on Celebrity Traitors.
Ogden joked: “As for Traitors, she spent a whole day pretending to sing my song and I almost believed her, so I’d say she’s got every chance.”
Fans can listen to ‘Songs From The Wedding Cake’ now. In November, Blossoms head out on a UK arena tour with The Royston Club. Tickets and further details are available here.
Before the tour begins, the group is also scheduled to appear on SNL UK on Saturday, October 24.
