It’s not often that a voice stops us in our scrolling. Jacoténe, the 19-year-old singer-songwriter from Melbourne, has broken through online with a soulful, hypnotic tone that is garnering comparisons to Amy Winehouse and Adele with every song she releases and each post she makes. She’s now ready to release her debut EP soon, a showcase of her rich vocals and impressive, impassioned lyricism. It’s the year of Jacoténe.

When Jacoténe, real name Chelsea Jacotine, was eight years old, she was watching The Voice Kids when a young singer belted out Alicia Keys’s Girl on Fire. “That became my favourite song for a very, very long time,” she tells us. It was what inspired her to focus on singing. “I’m also going to give it to my parents, because they really inspired me with the artists that they played.”

In the Jacoténe household, Lauryn Hill, Etta James, Michael Jackson, Bob Marley and Aretha Franklin were on rotation. “Very big voices… My mum put me into singing lessons. It was just an extracurricular activity that went on. It wasn’t until the Triple J Unearthed competition that I really thought about it as a career.” The national radio station’s Unearthed High prize aims to uncover Australia’s next best talent, sifting thorough hundreds of thousands of songs each year. It counts The Kid Laroi, Gretta Ray and Genesis Owusu as some of its winning alumni. Jacoténe had met her manager in 2022 through a showcase held by her singing school on Zoom during lockdown. He was the “musical guest” and she opened the call by singing the Fugees’ Killing Me Softly. They began working together immediately and he encouraged Jacoténe to enter the 2023 competition, which she won for her track I Need Therapy.

Since then, she has gone into countless writing sessions overseas, in London, Los Angeles and Miami. That last location was where Jacoténe found her sweet spot for writing and where she crafted her upcoming EP. “I found my people in Miami,” she says. “I feel really good in that city. I felt freedom. I had never been that relaxed while creating ever in my life. I had always felt there was a way to write that I hadn’t discovered yet. I didn’t know if it existed, but I found it there. I felt complete.” There she worked alongside Salaam Remi, the American, Grammy-winning record producer for Amy Winehouse, Nas, Alicia Keys, Fugees, Doja Cat, Nelly Furtado and many more. “I do find myself writing alone a lot, but in the studio I’ve learnt to follow my instincts and capture the moment. I don’t sit down and tell everyone we’ve got to finish this song or else we’ve failed. I like to jam and just see how I connect with melody and lyrical ideals. My process is just being in the moment.”

Jacoténe’s lyrics explore her identity and her faith, as well as heartbreak, although she hopes to write more positive songs this year. There’s one song on the EP that she is particularly proud of. “There’s a dialogue part in the song Forgive Me. I can’t even remember creating it, but I had never done something like that before.” The ideas for the EP began rolling around in her mind after she was late for an English class in her final year of high school last year. “My teacher had said, ‘You’ve been late for the whole semester,’ and I just blurted out, ‘Give me a break, I’m living in two worlds right now.’ I know people don’t know what [that] feels like, so I apologised and just asked her to let me be. But I realised the only way I could describe what was happening was living in two worlds. I was at school but also learning about myself as an artist and travelling to write. I learnt a lot about my faith and my loved ones during that period.”

Her loved ones are her immediate family: her mother, father, older brother and her next-door neighbour, who is her best friend. That closeness in her family was solidified when Jacoténe was diagnosed with leukaemia at six months old. “I really do think that my family’s strength came from my diagnosis back then. I always remind myself to not forget that part of my life because it’s part of my story. It made us realise we can do anything since we went through that.” It’s something that she considers when she looks at her growing platform. “I think music is great but when you have a platform that can do so much more, why not use it? There are a few topics I’d like to advocate for but specifically Challenge, the Australian non-profit organisation that supports kids and families going through cancer. I was supported by them.”

With a rising social media following of more than 241,000 people on TikTok and 33,000 on Instagram, Jacoténe feels a responsibility to be honest not only in her songwriting but also online. “With social media, sometimes you think the whole world is looking when you click ‘post’, but you have to remember there’s so much being fed to everyone every second. It’s great when you realise there is so much out there, so the focus isn’t on you.” She’s thought about her purpose and intention with her channels: it’s all simply a means to express herself. “I haven’t been able to think about it any other way because nothing else motivates me.” Naturally, she appreciates the positive comments and is already putting boundaries in place for her privacy. “How much I want to share is always going to be my decision. I think it’s important to figure that out before someone else does it for you. It’s hard to not listen to other people if you haven’t figured it out yourself.”

Pinterest is her app of choice, a place where her visuals come to life. It’s a digital ‘drawing board’ where her image is constantly being sharpened and evolving. “I have a very clear vision of what I want,” she says. “Sometimes I just need help getting my ideas across in a way that is understood, but once I have an idea in my head you cannot persuade me any other way.” Naturally, she’s a Capricorn (Aries rising and Sagittarius moon for those following, which she confirms through a Snapchat filter), the root of her fiery, heart-led determination and curiosity. There’s also an air of self-assuredness that comes through with her style, influenced by Erykah Badu and Rihanna (“She just puts anything together and makes it work”). For example, the artwork for her 2024 release, Stop Calling, is a strong headshot. “It’s a song of independence and I think that pose accentuates that confidence, which translates into my style. I like bold shoulders and cinched waists.” She’s also meticulous about her beauty look, which she describes as enhancing her natural face. She favours a bold lip and a smoky winged eye, namechecking Sophia Loren and Zoë Kravitz as “big beauty inspo”.

As she prepares for the year that will inevitably change everything, Jacoténe is living the life of a 19-year-old girl. She is not a morning person (which she’s grateful for when it comes to late-night writing sessions), she loves to watch make-up tutorials on TikTok and is on CurlyTok (a collection of videos on TikTok that feature haircare tips and techniques). She has just finished reading Rick Rubin’s 2023 book about the path of artistry, The Creative Act, in which she “highlighted every page”, and watches a lot of crime series.

She’s been thinking about her dream collaborations – naming the Scottish singer-songwriter Paolo Nutini at the top – and has recently been listening to “the soulful girls” like Lola Young and Cleo Sol. Billie Eilish’s genuineness is something she admires. The Gen Z pioneer has also inspired her in the studio. “I haven’t learnt how to produce yet but I’m very interested. I saw Finneas talking about Billie and how she’s learnt to vocal comp herself. I want to understand what’s happening in the studio.”

When we speak, Jacoténe is getting ready to head overseas for more writing sessions. She will also be taking her live show around the world this year, hitting Europe, the UK and the US for her first headline shows. But the biggest bucket list dream is to play Glastonbury, specifically the Pyramid stage. “I feel so free when I am on stage… Glastonbury is the ultimate goal.” With the release of her EP imminent, she hopes people listen to the music from their own point of view. “I hope people can answer questions they’ve never asked themselves before. But really, I just want to see people singing my songs really loud.” We’re seated.

Taken from Issue 25 of 10 Magazine Australia - MUSIC, CREATIVE, TALENT - out now. Jacoténe wears Emporio Armani throughout.

armani.com

Photographer JAMES J. ROBINSON
Fashion Editor ABBY BENNETT
Talent JACOTÉNE
Text ROXY LOLA
Hair and make-up NISAL ATAPATTU using MAC
Motion JOSEPH HADDAD
Photographer’s assistant MIRABAI HAZELL
Fashion assistant THOMAS MERL
Production R D PRODUCTIONS