DJ Jazzy: ‘I went from working in a bakery in Tesco to a number-one song’

DJ Jazzy is the first Irish woman to hit number one on Spotify. Yet somehow, the most down-to-earth star in the industry is still ‘just a normal 26-year-old’ living with her mum.

Jazzy: Ireland's newest music superstar. Photos: Ariel Pedatzur

“I don't know if I’ve ‘made it’. It’s not something I’d ever say about myself. Even after the first number one.”

Jazzy isn’t deliberately trying to play things down. It’s just the way she is — humble, grounded, and unfazed by the trappings of fame.

Singer and DJ Yasmine Byrne, also known as Jazzy, is the first Irish woman to ever hit number one on Spotify — and the first Irish female artist to reach number one on the Irish Singles Chart in over 14 years.

She’s signed to Polydor Records (the label behind Billie Eilish) and works with the same stylist as Biig Piig. Yet, by all accounts, she’s still “just a normal 26-year-old” with the same two best friends that she had growing up in Dublin.

“I live at home with me Ma on a council estate. I’ve seen fame change people and I really don’t like that.”

With more than 17m streams of her debut solo track ‘Giving Me’, Jazzy may not be courting celebrity but her star is certainly on the rise.

A recent Instagram/TikTok video shows the Irish singer draped in the tricolour buying a round of drinks for everyone in an Irish bar in London. 

Some heavy hitters of the music industry including Calvin Harris, whom she’d knocked off the top spot, commented on the post saying how much they loved the track.

As with everyone in the public eye, there were negative comments too, suggesting the round would cost more than the money generated by the single: “Everyone was coming at me. I didn’t want people to think I was doing it as a stunt. I keep it real always. Even if I became the biggest superstar, I’ll always stay the same.”

Jazzy:  “There were times when I was the only person of colour in the room. My Da’s not in the picture and that’s fine but I always acknowledge the fact that I am mixed and I’m proud to be mixed.” Photos: Ariel Pedatzur

FORGING A PATH

If Jazzy’s mother was struggling to maintain a single-parent household, it was never evident in her upbringing, which comprised carefree days spent playing on the road in Crumlin: “My mam had the three of us on her own; me, my brother, and my sister. We didn’t want for anything. Everyone looked out for one another on the road. There’s ruffians everywhere you go — but for the most part, it was all good.”

Despite not knowing her father, Jazzy’s Jamaican heritage is important to her: “There were times when I was the only person of colour in the room. My Da’s not in the picture and that’s fine but I always acknowledge the fact that I am mixed and I’m proud to be mixed.”

Jazzy’s musical path was forged via a classical music project at school which seemed to offer a new-found confidence that was infectious: “It started really small; it was recorders and tin whistles and progressed on to stringed instruments. I joined the orchestra and did all my grades on the violin from there.”

It’s probably not something she would have pursued were it not a free, community-based music project: “You didn’t have to get anything or pay for the lessons. That was kind of the point because obviously, Crumlin was a disadvantaged area.”

She went from being a “shy, nervous type” who wouldn’t even sing in front of her family to a bedroom karaoke buff with a permanently-fixed
hairbrush in hand: “I was aspiring to be a singer from a really young age but up until secondary school, I’d only sang for the four walls.”

As a teenager, she discovered Lauryn Hill, whose only solo studio album was a blueprint for Jazzy’s coming of age as an artist. She found her tribe among the old school R&B records of Mariah Carey and Faith Evans but her curiosity was simultaneously piqued by the house scene. 

She wanted to marry the two genres and her way into this was learning how to DJ, from beat matching to mixing and everything in between.

Jazzy: “It’s insane to have a top five in the UK. I’m just a girl from Crumlin. I was working in Tesco at the time. I just started crying.” Photos: Ariel Pedatzur

'I'M JUST A GIRL FROM CRUMLIN'

“A friend of a friend was DJing in Dublin and I wanted to learn so I just texted him and asked; ‘any chance of some lessons?’ That was five years ago and he’s actually my boyfriend now.”

Her partner Ross Mooney shared her passions and introduced her to some like-minded friends, Bissett and RobbieG from Belters Only.

“They invited me into the studio for a day and we ended up making ‘Make me Feel Good’ in our first session.

“We picked out some chords, the boys were working on the beat, and I put down the melodies. It’s a funny kind of thing that comes out, like humming. You’re singing but not saying any words.”

‘Make Me Feel Good’ reached number four in the UK charts, comfortably sitting alongside Ed Sheeran and Lost Frequencies.

“It’s insane to have a top five in the UK. I’m just a girl from Crumlin. I was working in Tesco at the time. I just started crying.”

Jazzy says her family and friends always bring her back down to earth.

“It would be easy to freak out. I literally went from working in a bakery in Tesco to a number-one song.”

Jazzy: “I was so happy to be the first one but also; ‘how has there not been a lady who has achieved this in over 14 years?” Photos: Ariel Pedatzur

REPPING

Jazzy is very happy to be “repping Irish women” but also shocked that she is the first woman to achieve this accolade; “I was so happy to be the first one but also; ‘how has there not been a lady who has achieved this in over 14 years?”

On paper, Jazzy’s journey seems linear, almost paint by numbers. 

Platinum single? Check. 

Solo show at the Academy? Check. 

Rave reviews at Forbidden Fruit? Check. 

In reality, she has spent more than seven years grafting; learning and honing her craft, working minimum-wage jobs all the while.

Yet it’s not enough now for artists to simply sell music. Commodifying art risks watering it down but commercialising it helps to pay the bills. 

Featuring on soundtracks is one way to make money without selling out and Jazzy’s tune was recently used on a promo sting for one of the biggest shows on TV — Love Island.

So, she has the style, the craft, and the talent but down to brass tacks — is she actually making money?

“I do alrigh’,” she says in her mellifluous Dublin accent. “It’s a lot harder making money from streams. One sale on iTunes would equal about 1,500 plays of the song on a streaming service.”

Sometimes — but not often — a song comes along that is a great leveller. It reaches across demographics and grabs you by the jugular. 

‘Giving Me’ is shaping up to be one of those songs and its author seems blissfully unaware of its potential staying power — but as long as she wants it, Jazzy is here to stay. And the pints are on her.

• Jazzy plays the One Day Festival at Live at the Marquee in Cork, June 24. Tickets available at ticketmaster.ie