Born and raised in a small, rural town outside of Pittsburgh, Jaira describes her own musical sound as "dark, pop, gypsy, urban." Her current single "Ugly" was handpicked by Olivier Rousteing as the musical backdrop for the Beats/Balmain ad campaign which features Kylie Jenner. The dancehall-influenced single, produced by Canadian hitmakers Cirkut and Billboard, peaked at #13 on Spotify's US Viral 50 and #20 on Global Viral 50. The track was placed in "Best Music Of The Month" at Amazon Music Unlimited and also premiered on Apple Music's "Best Of The Week" playlist.
About Jaira Burns
Singer Jaira (pronounced Jair-ruh) Burns discovered her voice the old fashioned way — in the shower. A precocious 9-year-old, who was always cranking up the radio and warbling along, she challenged her mother to an impromptu sing-off of the Pat Benatar classic, “Love Is A Battlefield.”
The family home had one tiny bathroom so Jaira’s mom was always in the mirror doing her makeup and singing while her daughter bathed. “I can do it just like that,” Jaira remembers hollering back one morning. “My mom was like, ‘No way, come on!’ She sings a line and I sing it back to her. Then she’s like, ‘Sing this line.’ We went back and forth until my mom blurts, ‘Oh my God, Jaira, you can really sing.’”
Born and raised in Vandergrift, a small, rundown town 30 miles outside of Pittsburgh, the prospects for Jaira actually breaking into the music industry were slim. But that didn’t stop the blossoming powerhouse vocalist from putting in work. She honed her natural ability by belting out popular cover tunes over instrumentals she found on YouTube and eventually started posting videos.
Halfway through 6th grade, she left and started Cyber School so she could spend more time focusing on her art. “It’s a lot harder than people think because you have to set boundaries for yourself,” assures the blue-eyed, blue-haired beauty. “As a child it’s hard to do that. Mondays I would do all of my work for the rest of the week and then sing all day while my parents were gone.”
Eager to learn guitar, she began cleaning houses with her mom until she had enough money to buy her first axe. As fate would have it, one of her mom’s clients, Tom Danaher, happened to reconstruct guitars for Fleetwood Mac and The Who. Impressed by the talented pre-teen’s strong work ethic and sheer ambition, Danaher offered to give Jaira weekly lessons for free.
“That’s when the hunger set in for me to learn and sponge in everything – with this man,” she explains. “He was just so knowledgeable. I really learned how to play guitar, build guitars and fix guitars as well, because he taught me that craft.”
When Jaira was 13, she met local up-and-coming producer, Ryan M. Tedder aka Ryghteous Ryan, through an attorney they both knew. A self-taught musician just eight years her senior, Ryan had already gotten placements with Wiz Khalifa (“Red Carpet”) and Neyo (“Me And You” w/ Kandi Burrus) and was actively looking for new artists to work with under his Upscale Music Group banner.
“I played Rihanna’s ‘Man Down’ on my guitar and sang,” recalls Jaira. “Ryan said immediately, ‘You’re amazing. We need to work.’” A week later, they recorded the teenage love song, “SMH,” at Pittsburgh’s famed ID Labs Studios. “It wasn’t the first time I had a microphone in my hand, but it was my first time in a studio. The session went smoothly and by the time we were done, I knew Ryan and I were meant to go on this journey together. I still get butterflies every time we go into the studio.”
The pair, now inseparable, continued developing, writing and recording together for the next few years. They quietly released an untitled, experimental,5-song EP in 2014, which was shopped to a few indie labels on the East Coast. “It was beautiful, honestly, but it wasn’t me,” Jaira admits.
When Tedder decided to relocate his budding musical empire to Los Angeles in the latter part of 2015, the ever determined chanteuse followed behind six months later, in avid pursuit of her childhood dream. Within days of her arrival, the dynamic duo was back in the studio hammering it out.
“Dark, pop, gypsy, urban,” Jaira describes in artistic detail. “It’s like the brightest fuchsias, reds and purples; Very bright but it has dark elements to it. That wasn’t my sound in the beginning. Before, we were testing, experimenting and going off what we heard from other people. But when you hear my music now, you know, that’s 100% Jaira. The progress has been amazing.”
Everything started to fall into place. Jaira performed her first music industry showcase in May 2016 and already had a deal on the table with another major label when the President of A&R at Interscope Records swooped in. “It was almost too good to be true, but it wasn’t,” Jaira says. “It was just the right time; the right people. It feels like family and that’s how I work.”
Since signing with Interscope last summer, Jaira and Tedder, who serves as Executive Producer, have collaborated with some of the biggest songwriters and producers in the business. Canadian production dynamos, Billboard and Cirkut, who have delivered hits for Katy Perry, The Weeknd, Maroon 5, and Jessie J, crafted her first single, “Ugly.” The song is about a one-night stand that goes wrong when emotions come into play.
The follow up single, “Burn Slow,” produced by Tedder, is another metaphor for taking your time in the beginning of a love relationship. “It’s a vibe,” says Jaira. “It’s about hanging with your significant other and enjoying each other’s company.”
At 20-years-old, Jaira Burns is destined for pop stardom but refuses to take her journey for granted. Every waking moment is still spent elevating her art in some form or fashion, whether it’s practicing guitar, stretching her vocals or running on the treadmill at the gym.
“We plan ahead everyday,” reveals the diminutive, down-to-earth diva, who also welcomes the opportunity to become a role model. “Not only with my career but personal things, too,” she declares. “I have my flaws as a human but I do think that kids and even some adults can learn from my story.”