New Music: Tessa Rose Jackson – Built To Collide

The gentlest of cuts can hurt the most; think a paper cut or a cat’s loving embrace. The pain remains, though.

Built To Collide by Tessa Rose Jackson goes down a similar route, its arrangement focused on dream pop and folkish sounds – guitars and strings to the fore. Jackson’s vocal style has a similar air to Joni Mitchell, Carole King, and Judee Sill; a Laurel Canyon referencing, semi-conversational lilt that has an endearing air of innocence.

You’re not quite prepared, then, for the hit to the solar plexus that is delivered by the lyrics. It might be wrong of me, but the talk of a ‘good actor’ and being ‘scared to death of dying, so you faked it instead,’ involuntarily brought up images of people I have known and not quite loved, but possibly liked.

It’s not a negative song. Rather, it looks at how to accept our own foibles and fallibilities, but also that winning isn’t necessarily the only thing – a message that is quite a valuable one to hear these days.

Revealed Jackson about the track, “This is my rant song. A song about accepting that sometimes you live and you don’t learn. It’s human nature to mess up, to sometimes fall into the old mistakes you thought you’d grown out of.”

She continues, “[Built To Collide] is my celebration of this, and an invitation to slightly poke fun at yourself. Thought you’d know better by now? Well guess what, you don’t! Dust yourself off, have a little laugh and move on.”

Make sure you watch the official video for Built To Collide, which features Jackson performing choreography and movement in a contrasting series of settings, with coaching by Ellie Gordon and Isabella Mahmoud.

The song will feature on The Lighthouse, the third album from Tessa Rose Jackson, which is set for release on the 23rd of this month. Jackson tours the UK, Netherlands, and Germany over the coming weeks – head to her Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram socials for album and tour updates.