by Taylah Kleid
âEveryone wants a piece of you. They want your attention or a reaction,â reflects 22-year-old Jessie Andrews. Surprising as it may seem, sheâs referring to being on stage as a touring musician as opposed to performing naked in front of a camera in her parallel profession as an adult actress.
After moving from Miami to LA at age 19, Andrewsâ unconventional career path began. In three years she went from being an American Apparel sales girl to becoming an award-winning porn star, a model, and a world touring DJ. Armed with keen business acumen and a thick skin, Andrewsâ has had no problems traversing the equally daunting industries of adult entertainment and music.
Youâre a lady of all trades â DJing, porn actress, fashion designer, jewelry production, and modeling. I hear you also play dodgeball?
Yes! I love dodgeball. I wish I could keep going with it but I had to stop because my throwing arm was getting way to muscular and my left arm was limp.
When did you make the move to LA?
I went back and forth from Miami to LA at age 18, and then finally moved to LA at 19.
How was it relocating at such a young age?
It was amazing! No one to tell me what to do. New city. New friends. New experiences.
I once read an interview that you said you just do what is right for you at each moment in your life. How did that extend to getting into music?
Well I went into sales, porn, modeling, then American Apparel modeling, then jewelry, then DJing, then actually making music.
I had made a few friends in LA that were in the music scene. I started going to shows and really liked watching them play and enjoying their art. I wanted to do it too.
Howâs that ride been so far?
Music is essential. So working in an industry that everyone in the entire world knows about, watches, and listens to is surreal. Getting to travel all these places and meeting tons of people and fans is definitely something I could do forever.
What was your musical upbringing like?
I grew up on Bob Marley, Queen, Sade and Nora Jones. In high school I listened to Lil Wayne, Sublime, Slightly Stoopid, and Fall Out Boy. Weird right? You donât wanna know what I listen to nowâŠ
You won a slew of awards for Portrait of a Call Girl and it traverses some territory thatâs typically not associated with adult entertainment. Was it important for you to push the limits of the form?
It was. Why do the same things that everyone else is doing? I never want to fall in line.
Thematically, itâs quite dark. How do you find balancing erotica with the serious issues the film touches on?
Portrait of a Call Girl is dark. But in the adult industry, the story isnât something unfamiliar. Itâs a sensitive subject that I think people need to be more open about talking about. Since it directly involves sex, I thought Iâd try and portray it the best I could. Itâs extremely hard balancing the emotion, sexual activity and reasoning behind that industry. But I think thatâs why so many people liked it.
Compared to playing out something like Portrait of a Call Girl, whatâs the thrill of playing a set to a crowd like?
I think the similarities are that youâre entertaining people and you are a performer, performing your
art. The differences are the immediate response that you get when you play a song and the crowd react, [as opposed] to not being able to see peopleâs reaction to watching a film. For me the thrill is more intense playing to a crowd, and itâs a gratifying feeling.
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How did you find the experience of transitioning from a controlled performing environment, to a live one?
Itâs a little scarier playing to a crowd of people than being in a room with five people having sex. There are 300 to 3,000 people coming to see you, and everyone wants a piece of you. They want your attention or a reaction. They grab you or throw things at you. People canât do that through their computer screen. But they both have their pros and cons.
Society, or parts of it, seem more accepting of adult entertainment stars crossing over in to the mainstream. âšAre you conscious of that?
One hundred percent. Our society in general is developing and becoming more accepting. I honestly do think I have helped change that and break down the barrier (in the adult industry, and hopefully in music at some point). Thatâs one of my main goals in life. I also think Iâm really lucky to have the people in my life that I do and the support of fans and friends in my industries.
Do you think that thereâs been a wider cultural shift? Are people less conservative when it comes to sexuality now?
People are less conservative, I think social media is the cause. Take Instagram for example Youâd never see a girl posting a selfie everyday on Facebook or MySpace. But now itâs just so easy and accessible for her to post and get a reaction. But when her reactions plateau, people lose interest, she starts taking off clothes to keep the reaction going. Right? Then she becomes a sex symbol, even if she doesnât realise it.
Do you think consumption of internet pornography has in part made the adult industry less taboo?
Definitely. The Internet has destroyed our business, but itâs also made our industry more acceptable. People arenât afraid to talk about it anymore. Porn stars are on Instagram, on Tinder, and walking around the mall. Society is realising that we are normal people that pay taxes and do laundry, and that itâs okay to like our photos and watch us be intimate.
Youâre very much in the public eye, does that ever take a toll on you?
Everyoneâs waiting for that one wrong move, whoever you are. Other than that, sometimes I feel like I donât voice my opinion enough â so it stays in my head. I donât care if people hear it or judge it, I wonder if that makes me emotionless? Because sometimes I feel like that. But you need thick skin to live in this world.
You definitely donât seem give a fuck what people think, which is admirable.
I donât really know. Maybe Iâve tapped into a different part of my brain that most people donât use? The part that blocks out what people think.
When you have a bad day, when itâs hard to feel good about yourself, what do you do?
I call any one of my friends and they immediately remind me how good my life it and how lucky we are to have what we have and each other. Then I ask them to bring me chocolate.
Is being inspirational or aspirational something you see yourself as? Or is it just part of the job?
I never thought I was inspirational until someone mentioned it in an interview.
Iâm just trying to live. And Iâm glad itâs anything positive for people to admire.
You describe yourself as a âmodern womanâ, what does that mean for you?
For me it means a lot of things. Itâs kind of always changing too. Right now itâs being a role model for my generation. I want people, in general, to not just go through the motions of life but exceed them. Make a difference and have a voice. We are only on this planet for so many years. Why let anything hold you back from what you want to do?
Working across so many industries and endeavours you must be seriously business minded. How do you keep across everything?
Itâs a formula. When you find it, youâre lucky. Youâve got it, and you can use it for anything.
Do you see all your output as being part of a larger body? Does it all feed into the same creative spirit?
Yes. No matter what industry Iâm working in, whether itâs deciding what angle my body looks good
in, to developing a logo for a business, or choosing what vocals should go where in a song, Iâm always using my brain to learn, absorb, question, build, and create.
The larger body will be what is left when Iâm gone.
Overall what do you hope people take from you, your work, and what you put out into the world?
If thereâs one thing, I hope people learn that there are no boundaries â only ones that you set for yourself.