We Speak Music

Jessica Wilde calls on women everywhere to remember their power with new mantra ‘Phenomenal Woman’.

Published

9 months ago

December 8, 2025

Don Reed

Acclaimed South London artist Jessica Wilde is calling on women everywhere to remember their power and embrace the healing strength of sisterhood with her new single ‘Phenomenal Woman’, out now, following a sold out launch night at Stormzy’s iconic ‘House Party’ venue.

Wilde has come a long way since her 2022 debut album ‘Sober, wasted, wasted sober’, which instilled her real-life experiences of overcoming addiction into twelve gritty, soulful alt-pop bangers. Her 2024 follow up ‘Teach Me How To Love’ continued Wilde’s commitment to embodying true self love and authenticity and refined her musical sound and healing journey further. Along the way, Wilde has gained valuable experiences from collaborating with heavyweights including Rudimental, Todd Terry, Grammy-winner Kizzo (Jon Batiste) and James Newman (writer of Rudimental’s Brit Award-winning “Waiting All Night”) and now, with ‘Phenomenal Woman’, Wilde is fully becoming what she always promised to be.

Produced by Tom Maine (WULU, Lex Amore), Wilde is joined by dancers Simran Hunjun and Yan Yin Yung (choreographer), for the hypnotic video for the track, which is laid out like an epic 90’s video game, calling in a nostalgic essence of those classics, Tekken and Tomb Raider, but where the women unite instead of fight one another. The visuals are striking, styling giving street but earthy, and Wilde adds yet another string to her multi-faceted talents as a singer, rapper, producer, DJ and now showing her dancer persona too. Taking inspiration from naughties girl bands such as the iconic – Destinies Child. Musically, the track is a new wave anthem that’s raw yet soulful and hard to place in a box. There’s more space for contemplation than Wilde’s previous works and the grooves feel almost tighter in the way that sometimes less is more. Tribal infused rhythms and a deep sub bass underpin soothing waves of Jessica’s soul searing vocals and flecks of jazzy piano samples sweep through like past struggles fading away and the epiphany of a spiritual awakening and self-realization becoming so clear at the forefront.

Wilde has been making her mark in recent years, not only with her music gaining attention from the likes of BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 2, BBC 6 Music, Clash, Complex, Wonderland and The Independent and being featured on editorial playlists across Spotify, Apple, Pandora and Tidal, but with her platform ‘PxSSY PWR’, which she created to elevate exceptional underground female talent through events and community building. Jessica has also now created a ‘Phenomenal Woman’ IG series, with which she has been encouraging women to share ‘What it means to them to be a phenomenal woman’, along with their own videos, which has seen a wide range of videos being created by women across the world so far.

Known for her high-voltage energy and magnetic stage presence, Wilde has lit up Glastonbury, Soul Town Festival, Jazz Cafe, Ronnie Scotts, Riviera Maya Jazz Fest (Mexico), and Bospop (Netherlands) where she opened for Nile Rodgers and curated a PxSSY PWR takeover on the Noirganica stage for Secret Garden Party Festival. ‘Phenomenal Woman’ follows Wilde’s collab with PRVNA on the track ‘En Mi Alma’ which she performed with her at BBC Introducing On The River this year and Wilde’s recent single ‘Love Like This’ which was made Record of the week by DJ Spoony on BBC Radio 2’s ‘Good Groove’ show.

The video for ‘Phenomenal Woman’ has already been picking up VEVO playlist adds and has gained over 14K views, so it’s safe to say that Jessica Wilde ready to fully flourish into this vivid new chapter of her career and to keep on knocking down barriers as an independent artist and advocate for female empowerment.

“I see Phenomenal Woman as not just a song but a mantra for all women to remember how phenomenal we are”, Wilde explains.

We Speak Music

SCARECROW’s John Blaze Delivers a Career Milestone With “Twisted” and Earns Josie Music Awards Song of the Year Nomination

Published

24 hours ago

August 31, 2026

Jimmy Star

John Blaze has spent nearly four decades fronting SCARECROW, the New York hard-rock outfit he founded in 1989, and in 2026 he delivered one of the most ambitious releases of his career with “Twisted.” Now, the song has reached another major milestone: “Twisted” has been nominated for Song of the Year in the Metal/Alternative category at the Josie Music Awards.

The nomination places Blaze and SCARECROW among this year’s recognized independent artists and songwriters at the Josie Music Awards, with the awards ceremony set to take place at Nashville’s legendary Grand Ole Opry. For an artist whose career has been built on persistence, independence and decades of hard-rock storytelling, the recognition gives “Twisted” an entirely new chapter.

Written by John Blaze and Chaffin, “Twisted” pulls together a lineup of guest players that reads like a rock family reunion, built around Blaze’s long-standing friendship with Dee Snider and the legacy of Twisted Sister, a band woven into SCARECROW’s story from its earliest days.

That connection goes all the way back to the beginning. SCARECROW’s original lineup featured guitarist Eddie Ojeda, best known for his work in Twisted Sister, and the two camps have remained connected ever since. “Twisted” makes that history explicit: Dee Snider appears on the record with guest vocals during the track’s climactic second verse and chorus, lending the song an instantly recognizable jolt of arena-rock power.

Snider isn’t the only marquee name in the credits. Mark Wood, founding violinist of Trans-Siberian Orchestra, contributes electrifying violin work that gives “Twisted” a cinematic sweep uncommon in modern hard rock. Rounding out the track are TJ Jordan on lead guitar and Bobby Marks on drums, creating a powerful, road-tested foundation behind Blaze’s signature gritty vocal delivery.

The Josie Music Awards nomination feels particularly fitting because “Twisted” isn’t simply another SCARECROW release. It brings together different eras of Blaze’s musical life while pushing the band’s sound forward. There’s history in the recording, but there’s also urgency. It doesn’t sound like a band looking backward. It sounds like one with unfinished business.

For Blaze, the nomination also represents recognition of a career that has largely been built outside the traditional machinery of the mainstream music business. Independent rock artists rarely survive for decades without a fierce commitment to what they do, and SCARECROW’s longevity speaks for itself. From the band’s early years and its 1991 debut, through the Blood, Sweat and 20 Years retrospective and the theatrical production I Am SCARECROW, Blaze has continued developing a world around the music rather than simply releasing songs.

That makes the Song of the Year nomination especially meaningful. After nearly four decades of building SCARECROW, Blaze now heads to the Josie Music Awards at the Grand Ole Opry with one of his most ambitious songs recognized in the Metal/Alternative category.

And there’s something wonderfully appropriate about the song that got him there.

“Twisted” connects SCARECROW’s beginnings to its present, reunites Blaze musically with figures tied to the band’s history, and demonstrates just how much fire remains in the project. With Snider and Wood contributing to the record and Blaze still driving the band he created from the ground up, the track feels less like a nostalgic reunion than a statement of survival.

Now it’s also an award-nominated song.

For John Blaze and SCARECROW, nearly four decades into the journey, “Twisted” has become more than another entry in the catalog. It’s a career milestone — and this September, that milestone is taking SCARECROW all the way to the Grand Ole Opry.