Alina Jakobson Talks Ani DiFranco, Seasonal Songwriting, and Original Tracks

Alina Jakobson has been surrounded by music since she was practically out of the womb. It has always been a constant in her life— it’s no wonder that she’s begun to create it herself. Her combination of singer-songwriter and folk styles is reminiscent of all the classic artists, such as Ani DiFranco, Joni Mitchell, and even Phoebe Bridgers, all of which she cites as inspirations. Jakobson is not just finding her place in the world of music, she’s also paving a path that was built from years of being surrounded by passion and that deep, soul crushing love for music. In a world full of overproduced songs built for the speed of the industry, she’s bringing music back to its true roots.

Alina, tell me a little about yourself. Where are you from, how old are you?

Hi! My name is Alina Jakobson. I'm 19, and I'm from a suburb outside of Portland, Oregon, known as Wilsonville. I’m here at the University of Oregon studying Education now. I just switched from Journalism to Education. I've been doing music since forever, my mom is a musician as well, so I grew up going to all of her gigs. They always called me her little roadie, I was kind of made for the musician life. But, yeah, I grew up around music, and now I'm doing it.

At what point in your life did you know that you wanted to be a musician?

Okay, that's interesting, because it was not immediately. I was a dancer for a long time, and I thought I was going to be a ballerina. I was going to do the whole thing. I did it competitively, and I had insane stage fright for so much of my life. When I was little, you know, I was a crazy gal, singing everywhere, doing everything, dancing. But then middle school happened, and I got really shy. I was in choir, and that's the only time I would sing— when other people were singing around me. Then high school happened, and I posted my first singing video my junior year. I was terrified! I was like, oh my god, I'm on Tiktok, like this so embarrassing. I was already writing my own songs, and then I started posting a couple of those, and the response was really awesome. Senior year, I had a teacher that became a mentor and told me that I had something special and that I should actually do it. I started doing gigs with my mom, and then I came here, and I started doing open mics by myself. That blossomed into, oh yeah, I'm doing gigs now and I'm gonna be a paid musician.

You mentioned that your mom and family play a big role in your life and your musicianship. How does being surrounded by that support affect your creativity?

It's really great because I have someone that I can bounce things off of, you know, and someone who gets it. My mom is a singer-songwriter too, so I can play her something or be like, look at this, and she'll get it more than like the average person, Also, just being able to pick up a guitar in a room and start singing together. That's so fun, you know? So, yeah, I think that understanding is the most epic thing,

That is so sweet, every time you post pictures with your mom, it makes me so happy. Tell me about some of your biggest inspirations. It could be musical influences, or movies you like, or a certain season, or literally anything. Favorite thrift store, anything.

Okay, love it. For music, Ani DiFranco is my number one. She's everything to me. Her music has touched me in a way that no other music has. Her words, her writing, her ability, how she writes. I take a lot of inspiration from her, and it's also cool because my mom showed me Ani DiFranco. She loved her, and now I love her just as much. Yeah, Ani DiFranco, she's great. Joni Mitchell, all of those 70s folk women, they're awesome, and I love that. I make indie-folk, so I also pull from different things, so there's the Clairo of it all, the Lizzie McAlpine of it all, the Phoebe Richards of it all. So definitely all those people. I'm also trying to start a band right now.

Oh! Tell me about that!

I’ve got a folk trio kind of going on, which is fun, but I'm trying to get into a more like indie-folk band situation. It's exciting, we plan to do Radiohead covers, so that's hopefully happening soon.

Other inspiration though, yeah, things that happen in my life. I guess that's just what shapes me. I put it into my music because that's all I feel like I can do. Sometimes I feel like the songs fall out of me when I'm in the worst places, or something crazy happens. It's like, oh yeah, I'm not even thinking about the fact that I'm writing a song. I'm thinking about what's happening.

What a beautiful way to put it, that they just fall out of you.

Thank you. Yeah, I love it. Um, okay, more inspiration. I'm a big movie person. I wrote a song a few months ago that was inspired by a bunch of like, film noirs, black and white movies. It’s just… the way that love is portrayed in those, right? I was in a situation where I was like, it feels like this, but actually it's not, and I'm trapped in this movie world, and I had to step out of it and stop romanticizing it, because it's really bad for me. But yeah, Casablanca is one of my favorite movies. I love everything from the 70s era, Almost Famous is like my number one favorite movie.

I'm also trying to get back into the jazz world. I did jazz stuff in high school with, like, a little quartet and stuff. I'm trying to possibly join a combo and gig around Eugene, but jazz is another big part of my life, I love to sing it. Love to listen to it. So you know all those jazz movies, La La Land…

That movie breaks my heart.

Oh yeah, no, it's gut wrenching. It's funny because when I was younger and I first watched it, I was like, I don't understand why people cry at this. Then I lived through one thing and it made sense.

I always love asking people about the seasons, if they feel inspired by any specific seasons. What’s your take?

I think all of them. I'm taking French 101 right now, and people ask what's your favorite season in French, right? And I'm like, I can't answer that, because I love all of them, and I love the fact that in Oregon, we have different seasons. I would not appreciate it if it was all the same. My writing style definitely changes from season to season. It still depends on what's going on, obviously, but as it gets colder, I become more angsty and retrospective.

What’s your favorite song to sing a cover of?

Favorite song to sing a cover of? Well, I try to end every gig with “Edelweiss,” because I feel like it's just a nice, peaceful way to end it. I love doing a lot of the Joan Baez stuff. “Farewell, Angelina” and “It Ain’t Me Babe” are always fun. For piano, one of my favorite songs to cover is “I Know” by Fiona Apple, it's a gut wrenching song that's fun to sing.

So there's that, but I'll give you one more example. When I'm with a group, or at a jam or something, I'll always try to get them to do “House of the Rising Sun,” and that’s always fun. I get to really sing, and it's exciting, especially when there's like a band around me. Also, “Wicked Game,” actually, final answer. I love that song.

Great answers! I'd love to hear a little bit about some of your original songs. You've been posting them on YouTube, and I noted “Kismet,” “Breadcrumbs,” and “Sick of You.” Would you like to talk a little bit about those and what your songwriting process is like?

Totally, yeah, I’ll start with “Breadcrumbs.” That was the first song I wrote where I was like, whoa, this could really be something. I wrote it in the dorms last year, and I started playing it for people, and the feedback was good, and they started remembering it. They were like, Yeah, play that one song. I was like, wait. Hello?! So now it's become a thing. When I'm with a group of people that are kind of my friends, right? They're like, here's a guitar, play “Breadcrumbs.” So it's kind of become a little inside joke, but yeah, it was fun writing that song, that was one of the songs that fell out of me so to speak. I think I wrote that last spring, maybe right before spring, so it's kind of a bright sounding song, but the words are sad. It's kind of ironic, and I like doing that.

That song is fun. I'm gonna record it, I'm working on an album. “Kismet” I wrote like a month ago. As for my songwriting process…I’ll be walking around on campus, whatever, and all of a sudden I'm like, oh my god. I’ll have an incredible thought, right? So I’ll write it down, sometimes it'll be a one liner. Sometimes they're really cheesy, but that's okay, and I write it down anyway. I often envision it as the whole song is going to be about that, but then it ends up being a line in a verse. So it's like, no one ever really notices it. But something does come of it, because I write two ways. I write random things in my notes app, and then when I want to work on it, I'll grab my guitar, look through my notes app, try random chord shapes and see what happens. A lot of times songs come from that, but then other times I mess around on my guitar, and I've got chords that I love, and then I'll start a melody and like that'll come to me in my head, and then I'll put words to it. So I do it both ways. It's weird. It's like an inverse moment.

For “Kismet,” I was finally feeling happy for once. That's one of the first happy songs I've ever written, but really, is it even happy? It’s about being obsessed with someone. It's really hard for me to write happy songs, because it feels cheesy, but I'm happy with how that one came out, because kismet is, you know, a little fate moment.

My last question, and my favorite question to ask, is, if you could have a drink with any artist dead or alive, who would it be and why?

Oh my god. Well, honestly, it would have to be Ani DiFranco. She's alive. Shout out. I saw her for the first time this January. It was incredible.

Was it life changing?

Oh my god, yeah. I sobbed. She stopped touring for a long time, and my mom and I always said, if she goes back on tour, we have to go. And so we went, and it was amazing. Just to be able to talk to her because she has truly lived. She has lived like such a crazy life, like she started all of this when she was like 16 or 17. On her own, she started Righteous Babes Records, one of the only woman owned record companies at that time, because she didn't want to sign to a label and feel like a sellout. She wanted to make the music she wanted to make. So she started righteous babes records. Even just as an outspoken woman in the 90s, she talked about everything. She talked about politics, the state of the world, the economic state of the world. She takes the words right out of my mouth, and it's perfect. She was also one of the first proudly bisexual women on the scene, and people made her just that, you know? And she was like, ‘hey, what? Hey, do you listen to my music at all? It's actually, maybe that's not the main thing about me, you know.’ And I think that's beautiful, so I probably have to say her.