On Chapels Field from the mid-afternoon through the late evening this Sunday, April 26, hundreds of students will be dancing and singing along with Springfest performers Stolen Jars, DJ A Smooth, St. Lucia, ILoveMakonnen and headliner Jessie J.
Cody Fitzgerald created Stolen Jars as a solo venture, but it grew to be bigger when he started creating more songs and making music. It extended to include some of his friends and they started to become more well known as they performed shows in the New York area. Their second album, “Kept,” will be coming out this summer.
Jean-Philip Grobler, better known as St. Lucia, his stage name, is a Brooklyn-based musician who plays indie electronic and synthpop music. His inspirations include Michael Jackson, Phil Collins and Sting. “When the Night,” his full-length album, was released in October 2013. Grobler has been making music since he was 12 years old and lists many different musical influences like Fleetwood Mac, Phil Collins, Radiohead and Paul Simon.
Makonnen Sheran, whose stage name is ILoveMakonnen, is a hip hop recording musician who gained much recognition in 2014 after Drake remixed his song “Tuesday.” He provides vocals and plays the keyboard in his songs. He started making music on his computer in 2008 and uploading them to Myspace, where he met other artists including Adele. He released his self-titled EP “ILoveMakonnen” in July 2014 which became more popular when Miley Cyrus shared his song “Don’t Sell Molly No More” on her Instagram page. While in August 2014, Drake asked if he could remix his song “Club Goin’ Up on a Tuesday.” The remix, titled “Tuesday” helped to garner attention in Sheran and brought him more fans. He has said that he plans to record and make music independently instead of signing to a major record deal. He enjoys the freedom and flexibility that being an independent artist brings and thinks he would lose that flexibility if he did sign.
The main event of the night will be Jessie J. Jessica Cornish was born in London, England, and is a singer/songwriter. Her musical style is pop and R&B. She has three albums out: “Who You Are” (released in 2011), “Alive” (released in 2013) and her most recent one, “Sweet Talker” (released in 2014). Some of her more popular songs are “Bang Bang” (a collaboration with Ariana Grande and Nicki Minaj), “Price Tag,” “Burnin’ Up,” “Domino,” “Who You Are,” “It’s My Party” and “Masterpiece.”
She likes to call her fans “heartbeats” and has shown great appreciation for them. “They support me and buy my albums and singles, and they stand outside hotels, and they come to shows, and they get tattoos of my lyrics and they cut their hair like me. You have to love your fans. That’s why I call them my Heartbeats, because without them I wouldn’t be here.”
Last year’s Springfest featured Icona Pop, American Authors and Atmosphere. Previous Springfests have included well-known musicians like Kendrick Lamar, Childish Gambino, fun. and Chiddy Bang. Springfest always provides a good break from the stress of finals and offers outdoor entertainment and games.
