Jasmine Cephas Jones Mirrors Her Father’s Legacy While Mapping Out Her Own
VIBE Lineage is an interview series with the heirs of Black excellence. Now that their legendary predecessors have gained high regards in their own right, these younger kin are blazing their own trails.
Ron Cephas Jones was a revered, innately talented actor who became a household name when he embodied the role as William Hill on the hit NBC series, This Is Us. As he reached mainstream success, so did his daughter, Jasmine, while starring as the original Peggy Schuyler and Maria Reynolds in Lin Manuel Miranda’s Tony-winning musical, Hamilton.
On a relatively chill Zoom call in the midst of life life-ing, Jasmine Cephas Jones recalls how they booked their breakout roles months apart. “It was kind of crazy […] He was very respected in the theater world, but This Is Us really catapulted him into this character that everybody loved and he would make everybody cry,” she reflected.
Their careers soared in tandem and they even made history as the first father-daughter duo to win Emmys in the same year. However, the moment was plagued with this bittersweet sting in 2020 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and a month after Ron survived a double lung transplant while they lived in isolation in Los Angeles and Brooklyn, respectively. The win was “super emotional” albeit full circle. “It was thinking of all the conversations we’ve had since I was a kid and talking about art and being a great actor and all of this stuff, and also he is my dad who I love so much,” Jasmine explained. That aside, she was more grateful than anything that her father “survived this lung transplant and had this second chance at life for a couple of years.”
Fast-forward to present day, it’s been nearly a year since Ron passed and Jasmine is gearing up for her next chapter in the form of her debut album, Phoenix. The process for it began three summers ago and was recorded within a week’s span, but much like Jasmine’s personal life, the LP has been through several transformations over the years. “This album is the album I’ve always wanted to make,” she said confidently.
With the actress embarking on this new path without her mentor and biggest supporter, she’s using all her father’s instilled in her to take flight like a phoenix from the ashes and repurpose her newfound relationship with grief as fuel for that fire.
VIBE: What is the story behind Phoenix?
Jasmine Cephas Jones: Oh my God, so much. So I wrote this album almost three years ago. Originally, I named it Phoenix because my dad gave me the nickname “Bird” after Charlie Parker’s song. My first EP was called Bluebird. I listened to all the demos and decided to name it Phoenix because it kept the bird theme, but it now represents everything that I’ve gone through as a person, me musically transforming, and also me going through one of the hardest times in my life and transforming as a person. We rented out an Airbnb three years ago in Long Island, and the seven of us that worked on the album created two studios. We woke up every morning, circled these two rooms and created music till two or three in the morning. There were two rules to stop: we all would gather for dinner and have food that my sister made, and then we’d watch the sunset on the beach. We all really needed this creative release. This album is a true collaboration, and I think we all left better artists because of it.
Even though this album was mostly a lot of experimenting, how did you feel like you discovered your sound even when you started creating music?
I feel like I discovered my sound on the first EP that I made. It was really important to me to kind of have music out that I was the big songwriter on, and it was like, “Okay, I now have music out that I wrote, that I was the number one with the melodies and writing them all.” When I entered this space, even though we were all collaborating, I was the one that was like, “Let’s keep this sound. This is the song I want to go with.” This album you’ll hear the influences of all the artists that I’ve listened to [while] still having my signature tone and timbre and how I decide to emote all of these emotions.
Who would you say are some of the artists that helped you become the artist that you are?
Prince, Stevie Wonder, Little Dragon, Solange, I think Beyoncé in many ways. Erykah Badu and D’Angelo for sure. I think all the music that I listen to is a melting pot. It’s really hard when people say, “What is your genre?” Because I really do think it automatically kind of puts us in a box. With [Phoenix], you go on this whole journey from beginning to end of this roller coaster ride of different emotions and different sounds.
I love how you add to this concept because a lot of artists these days are trying to dispel the myth that black people are a monolith. It’s like, “No, we can be multifaceted; we can be versatile. We have duality; we have range.”
It’s so important. We’ve also created so many genres too, so it’s like just to put us in R&B or soul, it’s not fair. Music is such a worldly way of moving people and having people understand what other people go through. It’s another great way of storytelling and for people to relate to each other and all different sounds move so many different people. So why the hell put us in a box?
Speaking of duality, as an actress and a singer, how do you approach those mediums differently?
Usually in the acting world, I’m doing somebody else’s piece or work, and it all depends on the character that I’m playing. Is it theater? Is it film? Theater you’re performing to 1,300 people and you’re trying to emote a story to the people all the way in the back with this tiny little mic that’s stuck under your wig or whatever. With my music, it’s just way more personal and I’m the creator; I’m the boss. If I’m creating this music, I’m really comfortable to be vulnerable and to have the freedom to play with my voice. When you’re in a booth, you can really get super quiet or be really intimate, but there’s still different characters. There’s still similarities; I just think creative control is the difference.
You’ve gone through a lot of transformative experiences in recent years. If you had to list the top three moments that you felt really shifted your life and your career, what would those moments be?
Oh my God, there’s so many. I think Hamilton was a big one. I think that shifted my career drastically. That was a moment of being in a whirlwind of a musical show that translated into pop culture that’s never been done before. I learned a lot from that show. I think moving from New York to LA and starting a new life, leaving home, and really learning who I am as a woman. I kind of represented that in the “Brighter” music video; the party represents my old life and then when I leave the party and am running down the street, I turn into this phoenix, which represents me leaving home and starting on this journey of who I am now.
The last one is my father’s passing. I think grief is very, very life-changing. As hard and traumatic as grief can be, when losing somebody you love so much, a parent and somebody that has been your mentor and has influenced you and guided you, and they’re not here anymore— I think that is a big transformation. This legacy that my dad has left and me kind of picking that up and honoring his legacy in my own way now is also me learning to find the light in the darkness of grief and going through that healing journey, which is really hard, but also can be one of the best things that you can do for yourself if you decide to take that road.
There’s a lot that comes with those moments and you never stop grieving. So always trying to figure out how to keep moving forward in the midst of still battling these emotions and these memories—
It’s hard. I’m going through the process of learning to make friends with grief and greeting it as such— sitting and having a cup of tea with grief instead of pushing it away. So, I don’t have to deal with all the consequences of it later on in life. Everybody’s journey is different, but I think if you learn to make friends with grief, there can be a lot of enlightenment that happens in your life. It’s a crazy concept. It’s really hard for anyone to understand who hasn’t been through a deep grief like that, because it’s very life-changing in so many ways, in negative ways and also really positive ways.
When making the album, was there a moment or a song that felt like you had a direct conversation with grief to guide you?
Yeah, there’s this interlude called “Phoenix;” my dad left me like a three-minute voicemail about what “Phoenix” means to him and how he sees me as a phoenix. His voice is on the album now and a lot of the times, I’ll just go back and listen to it; it’s a lot of words of encouragement and something that he’ll be a part of forever, something that I can always go back to just hear his voice for comfort and knowing that I’m on the right path. That’s a really special moment on the album for me.
You called him your mentor, your safe space, your supporter. What is something that you learned from him that you take with you personally and professionally?
Oh man! Well, he’d always say do the work. He was so passionate about what he does. He did everything to the highest standard. No role was too small. Also, he was super kind in the workspace. [He taught me] to kind of keep that alive, to be a kind person, no matter what happens, no matter how famous you get. It’s all smoke and mirrors. The true thing is to be a good person and a kind person. I’ve learned so much from him.
Part of shedding your old life involves Blindspotting [which was nixed by Starz post-strike]. Do you have a plan to return to acting or do you want to focus on music right now?
I think whatever the time is right for. Right now, it is the album. I’ll act anytime. I’d love to do theater again. Theater is where I learned how to act and it will always be there. I don’t ever want to just stick to one thing. There’s always a time for anything. It just has to be the right time.
You’ve spoken briefly about your father’s legacy, what he created in his time, and how you’re kind of picking up the torch from him. Do you plan on continuing to pursue the projects you worked on together?
Yeah, [when it comes to] honoring my dad, I’ll do that in any way that I can. Actually, I have all of his writing right now, all of his plays that he’s analyzed. For years, he was working on this one-man show, and so I’ve been reading a lot of his writing and going through that. Eventually, I’ll figure something out. Right now, I’m just kind of internalizing his genius brain and sitting with it for a bit.
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