BY JULIA CIRIGNANO
Jenna Lotti is a 26 year old singer/songwriter from Boston. Lotti has pursued a career both in interior design and music, and has found a way to combine both of her skill sets. Lotti is hard working and self-critical in a constructive way. Since the release of her first album Tunnel Vision, she has greatly improved as a musician, vocalist, and songwriter. She has big plans for the future release of her EP titled Bad Habits, and announced the track-list during our recent talk together.
It is clear that Jenna Lotti was destined to be a musician. She is a very hard worker, yet her road to success was almost inevitable. Here’s the story.
Jenna Lotti (full name Jenna Bortolotti) was raised in a creative environment, yet didn’t actively pursue her dreams of being a musician until after college.
“I was so shy and would only sing in front of my roommates,” she said. “I was always involved in the arts and grew up in an artistic household with my mother being an artist/seamstress.”
Lotti attended Endicott College in Beverly, Mass., where she majored in interior design. For Lotti, being a musician always seemed an unattainable dream, yet she managed to prove herself wrong.
Lotti always had a passion for both music and writing, but after school she continued to pursue her career in interior design. While she is grateful for the lessons and years of hardship, Lotti eventually realized that interior design wasn’t the life for her.
“I always felt out of place, like I wasn’t where I was supposed to be while working in the design world. I literally would cry in the bathroom almost every day because all I wanted to do was music and I felt trapped,” she revealed.
Luckily, Lotti followed her heart. Five years after graduating, she decided to dedicate all of her time to music. Lotti is satisfied with her decision, and still uses many of the skills that she learned at Endicott.
“I don’t regret any of my experiences working in design because I learned so much and met some amazing people along the way,” she said. “I feel lucky now because I can apply my skills in Photoshop, etc., to my music branding. I am able to create most of my artist artwork, posters, websites because of my skill set from Endicott.”
Lotti is best known for her music, yet interesting enough, she was a writer before she was a musician. While Lotti’s road to success may have been rough due to personal struggle, her practiced writing skills have greatly benefited her.
“I have depression so I would keep journals and write a ton of poetry for self-medication,” she shared.
While it’s in Lotti’s nature to write by herself, she recently chose to step out of her comfort zone and try co-writing. Lotti talked about this experience when she said, “Co-writing is great. You get to see how another person’s mind works while writing and their perspectives. It’s a great learning experience as well. This EP, is all co-writes. I wrote three of the songs with my good friend/producer, Susan Cattaneo, and the other two with my fiancé, Chris Facey.”
Lotti shows maturity in her decision to co-write. This experience helped her grow as a songwriter and also as a generally shy and introverted person in the chaotic world of musicians.
Lotti’s new musical exploration has led to her newest EP titled Bad Habits which is due to be released on October 20th. It consists of five tracks: “Bad Habits” (written by Lotti and Cattaneo), “My Oh My” (Lotti and Facey), “Drive” (Lotti and Facey), “Simple Man” (Lotti and Cattaneo), and “Passenger’s Seat” (Lotti and Cattaneo).
This EP was produced by Cattaneo, and Lotti is thrilled to announce that she is having a CD release show at Thunder Road in Somerville, Mass, on Oct. 20th. Dan and the Wildfire and Now for Ages open the show.
While talking about Bad Habits, Lotti especially expressed excitement over how diverse the songs are.
“The new album is VERY diverse. Every song on this is so different from one another,” she said. “I want people to be able to dance and groove to this album as well as connecting with it on a deeper level.”
With Bad Habits, Lotti wants to show the world who she is and what she is capable of. She isn’t shy about critiquing her first album, Tunnel Vision, saying “These new songs are so much better than Tunnel Vision. They are better written and more mature. I’ve learned a lot since writing Tunnel Vision and I think that is obvious once you listen to Bad Habits. Also, vocally, I’ve grown so much and that is also very obvious.”
Lotti is thriving in the world of music, which includes her recent tour of the country.
“We toured with our friend, Keelan Donovan, who has been touring for quite some time now,” she said. “We learned a lot from him and had so much fun on the road! My favorite part was just being in a different place each day. We were exhausted by the end but it was so worth it!”
All those exclamation marks are evidence enough that Lotti is happier than ever with the new experiences she is having. She finally has an outlet for her creativity, and a solid fan base to appreciate it. Lotti is enjoying her success, and has more exciting things to come. Once Bad Habits is released, Lotti will be going on tour. The dates aren’t up yet, but they should be up soon on her website www.jennalotti.com.
Grab a copy of Bad Habits at her CD release party and peel back the different layers of Jenna Lotti. Tickets available HERE.
Limelight Magazine 