VT: You signed your recording contract last year (April 2020) with Warner Records, just right after the covid pandemic began. Signing with a major label for the first time, you must be so excited to begin your new musical journey with promoting, performing, and touring. Due to the pandemic, everyone and everything, became a holding pattern for a long while, how did this unexpected break affect you?
JB: It actually gave me more time to work harder on my music and writing. My mental health, on the other hand, has been quite the rollercoaster. Like everyone else, my life a year ago feels almost unrecognizable— in a good way! I feel like I’ve grown so much in the last year and am looking forward to sharing that with the world!

VT: You recently share on your social media your views on toxicity, hatred, and negativity. The current times we are living in, mental health and cancel culture has become a major forefront topic, another epidemic in itself. Being a public figure yourself with a huge following, it appears that everything you do, the media and press are ready to make their judgment. What are your views on this?
JB: Oh boy- a fun question! People who spend their time tearing others down on the internet are either in pain or bored. My lyric “why would you make your pain mine,” from my song “Only A Matter of Time,” is a favorite, because it hopefully illustrates how people often don’t realize that making someone else feel pain as a way of coping with your own pain, helps precisely no-one. I think people also forget there are human beings, just like themselves, behind the screens. Because everything is so fast-paced and immediate, there’s often little time for empathy. It’s important to remember the weight of our words, and the lasting impact they have.