It’s been nearly a decade since Jenn Grinels first banked on a dream. Leaving her apartment and setting her belongings in storage, the singer-songwriter hit the road and toured from city to city to hone her artistry. Since then, the Nashville artist has relocated to Portland, Oregon, and settled away from her unrelenting tour life to record three albums that will be released over the next year and a half. The first of which features “Evidence” as its lead single, a soulful, poppy expression and analysis of love featuring joyous horns, an infectious rhythm, and powerful vocals from Grinels alongside Marc Broussard.
Regarding “Evidence”, Grinels tells PopMatters, “For an artist, I can be pretty logical and practical. I also love thinking about love in scientific terms. I guess that’s what started the idea for the song “Evidence” – I wanted to incorporate lyrics around words like “evidence” and “theory”. It’s a right- and left-brained look at love and fun and joyful and giddy – all the things I was when I wrote it. Although, strangely, I wrote it balled up on the floor of my dark, tiny bedroom closet. My apartment walls are straight wispy, and I was afraid I would drive my neighbors crazy belting out the chorus over and over again. So I shut myself in there ’til it was done.”
“I immediately heard it as a duet – specifically I heard Marc Broussard’s voice singing the other part – not surprisingly, because he possesses one of my favorite voices on the planet. When I wrote the song I didn’t even know Marc, so it’s BONKERS to me that he’s singing it with me on my record. We even recorded a very sweet video together – a live acoustic version – and the whole time we were filming I was screaming in head: OH MY GOD MARC BROUSSARD IS SINGING MY SONG. I look chill. But really, I have no chill.”
Grinels will be performing at the Old Church in Portland on 21 February, and at the Midland Theater in Newark, Ohio on 9 May.