From first glance, the budding career of Vandergrift native, Jaira Burns may seem like a luck-filled happenstance, yet it has been anything but.
After stumbling into her talent vis-à-vis a line-by-line, note-belting battle between herself and her mother to see who could recite the lyrics better to Pat Benatar’s “Love Is A Battlefield,” the then-preteen would find herself learning the craft of a guitar.
Sometime after sixth grade and after working with her mom as a house cleaner to save up for her first guitar, Burns learned how to play, build and fix guitars, all while receiving lessons from Fleetwood Mac And The Who’s guitar technician. She eventually enrolled in cyber school so she could focus on her craft.
Since her days in the self-described “small, rundown town” outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Burns has signed to Upscale Music Group / Interscope Records and has been working with her longtime producer and friend, Ryghteous Ryan. The two have been collaborating since she was 13 and né Ryan M. Tedder was eight years her senior.
Now, eleven years after her mom’s “Oh my God, Jaira, you can really sing” discovery in the bathroom of their home, the 20-year-old has graduated to a refined and unique sound that she describes as “dark, pop, gypsy, urban.”
With her debut single, “Ugly,” the blue-eyed songstress – with hair of the same majestic hue – delivers a tale of conflicted romance. The Cirkut-produced tune details a topsy-turvy shift from playing a bed-rest game of blind Marco Polo to her significant other referring to her as a “whore.” The trance-like track is lightly splattered with just the right amount of bass to keep you enraptured.
Hear the new single and watch the music video above.