Production- First Draft DPS

A new up and comer, Jessica Heathworth,  more commonly known by her stage name “The Queen of Hearts” is taking the music industry by storm. Working alongside famous producers such as Dan Auerbach and Mark Crew after being signed to Polydor studios at the young age of 17, its comes as no surprise to anyone that the Queen of hearts has captured ours with her playful and mischievous songs that are shockingly promiscuous and laced with dark themes. The industry seems to agree; The Queen has gone on to win the LOUD’s Best Female Solo artist after just 3 years of being in the business.

Ever since she first picked up a mic it seemed that her fans couldn’t get enough, especially the ladies. It’s not a shocker- The Queen’s music explores female sexuality in a refreshing way that empowers women - a stark contrast to much of what we see today. Truly, Jessica has become a role model for young women who are looking to find themselves.

It seems as though even The Queen can’t escape the rumour wheel. After joining Bastille on his tour around America, rumours of the pair dating have sky rocketed and the fans just can’t seem to get enough. Some have even taken it up to twitter to say, “Please tell me that these two are a thing, @Queen of Hearts has been working so hard lately… she deserves to be happy!”, “NO WAY! Dan Smith and Jessica Heathworth are so cute!! I ship them so much!! #JESSAN #DANICA”. In fact #DANICA was on twitters top ten trending tags for 2 weeks after their first performance, and we can’t say we blame them!

So with all the success and fandom surrounding the Queen Of Hearts, It was not surprising that I felt a little nervous as I took a left towards the young star’s house, instead of the usual right to the office building. As I pulled into her drive, it was if I had fell through the rabbit hole myself. Huge mushroom-like structures towered over me, playing cards up to the size of doors created a walkway towards the house and any other areas that was exposed to light had been robbed of its emptiness by wildflowers, mosses and ferns that I had only seen before in movies. Yet despite such strange and beautiful scenery I was the only one gawking. Cameramen, dancers, stage directors, you name it, were busily preparing for the young star’s new music video for her hot new single, “Off with her head”.

Upon meeting the Queen of Hearts; my heart stopped. I had met many famous people in my time, yet, with this young and talented musician, the air that surrounded her did not seem unapproachable or arrogant, just simply… unworldly.

After working up some courage, (which took quite some time), I asked her why she chose her stage name to be the Queen of Hearts.

“Not a lot of people know that Alice and Wonderland was actually written by a mathematician and he wrote Alice in Wonderland based on a lot of these concepts that break or just play with logic.  The Queen of Hearts is the ‘baddie’ in the story but to me, she is a badass; hot headed and usually get what she wants. So I took her as inspiration, worked hard to get what I want and now people are saying what I’m doing is impossible for my age but what can I say… I like to play with logic.”

Her answer was evident. In this huge house filled with professionals of all different levels of experience, wonders were being made. What’s more was that they were all looking up to the Queen of Hearts for guidance.

“You don’t seem hot headed at all, I mean how can pieces of musical art like this be made if that is the case?”

“It’s more of a personal hot headedness” She replied with a grin. “When I was younger I used to get frustrated easily when things didn’t turn out how I had envisioned them to be, especially in group projects. In turn I would leave a group to do it on my own or just do it by myself altogether if it was possible. But then I realised that sometimes what I had envisioned wasn’t actually that great and that I needed other people not only for their skills, but for their passion and creativity.

“Now I’ve learnt to curve my bad habits but when I’m writing lyrics or recording a new album and it’s not up-to-scratch, I flip out on myself, I go crazy and I get out of hand; like the Queen of hearts. Luckily there are people out there that I can trust to get me through these difficult times and because of that… I’m over the moon”

Finally, I asked her the question that we are all desperate to find out, “So are the rumours about you and Bastille true?” And with a sheepish smile she replied, “Of course. He is the secret behind my wonderland.”