Artist: Jess Klein
Hometown: Hillsborough, NC
Song: “Never Gonna Break Me”
Album:Â When We Rise
Release Date: September 15, 2023 (album); May 19, 2023 (single)
Label:Â Motherlode Records
In Their Words: “When I was 14, I fooled around with a boy. I had a huge crush on him and I naively thought something special was happening. But when we got back to school on Monday, he made fun of me to his friends and the whole school was laughing at me. I tried to laugh along with them, to save face, but in retrospect, thatâs pretty f-ed up.
“Looking back, I think this might have been the moment where I first realized the importance of telling my own story, in my own voice. Because in that boyâs version, I was a joke. But in my version, I have the backing of millions of girls and women who have had to put up with some form of this BS. Iâm empowered and I can offer that empowerment to all the other women whoâve been shamed. If my work empowers someone, I feel like am doing the job I came into this life to do.” â Jess Klein
Photo Credit: Mike June
