By Zoe O’Neil

Disclaimer: JOBIE uses she/they pronouns, but this article uses she/her pronouns (with JOBIE’s permission) for the sake of clarity.

If you’re looking for JOBIE in a crowd, you should keep your senses alert for a few key features. Chin-length hair with short bangs dyed an ever-changing shade of red? Check. Fingerless gloves, red cowboy boots, or layered necklaces? Check. A loud laugh and a wide smile? Check. Josie Arthur, also known as JOBIE, may blend into the eclectic Emerson student body, but don’t let appearances fool you. The singer-songwriter is a standout talent who keeps busy playing in venues ranging from sports bars to comedy clubs in hopes of establishing her name in Boston’s up-and-coming music scene.

With only three songs published on streaming services, JOBIE has already amassed a little over 1,000 monthly Spotify listeners in less than a year. After some hard work during the winter of 2020, the song “Half Way” came out in April 2021. She followed up with “Simple Man” a month later and most recently “Scorpio” this past November. Her lyrics are creative and reflective like Phoebe Bridgers; her vocal control is reminiscent of the stylings of Caroline Polacheck; her stage presence mirrors Taylor Swift. It’s the perfect storm that’s led to songs getting stuck in your head on a first listen, only to start tugging at your heartstrings by the fourth or fifth time. JOBIE laments past lovers, bodily insecurity, and the growing pains felt by a person stuck in the awkward gap between teenage years and adulthood.

At twenty years old, JOBIE is a fresh face in the music world yet possesses years of experience under her belt. In conversation, she recalled singing at a wedding at three years old. From there, the performance bug led her to become a theater kid through middle and high school. The pivot to music seemed

sensible to JOBIE, who explained the evident correlation between theater and music in her mind — in her eyes, “acting is playing pretend; music is playing yourself.” When she wasn’t performing on stage, she listened to classic rock on the radio with her dad, prompting her to later branch out to artists like NMH, Pinegrove, The Lumineers, Bob Dylan, Alanis Morissette, and Tom Petty.

I chatted with JOBIE over a slice of chocolate cake in the dining hall one evening in an attempt to understand what’s going on behind the scenes in her blossoming musical career. She came alive with joy as she shared her past experiences and upcoming endeavors. Her excitement and openness are characteristic of a young artist who has yet to be jaded by the music industry, but I have a feeling that her warm heart won’t grow cold as she ascends to the mountaintops of success.

Just like the title of her single suggests, JOBIE is a “Simple Man.” The prowess she achieved so far is merely the result of commitment. She believes music isn’t glamorous, and that’s certainly true for any young student trying to balance a social, academic, and professional life. The Saturday afternoons occupied by extracurricular Berklee zoom classes and guitar practice are the boring side effects of creative fulfillment at best and time-draining chores at worst. When I see JOBIE on the street, she’s rarely without her guitar strapped to her back and usually in a hurry to get to a practice or a show — that’s all she needs to deliver a moving performance.

Both independent and acoustic, JOBIE needs no band, no rehearsal schedule, no excessive equipment or transportation. This portability is not the only perk of a solo endeavor into the music world for JOBIE: she

simply doesn’t want to sing other people’s songs and writes from the perspective she would like to hear. JOBIE also is wary of making her music sound too scientific, hence her reasoning for taking additional instead of full-time classes at Berklee. Berklee emphasizes theory and technique, and classes focused on these concepts may have stifled the natural creativity of her work. Although her musical endeavors often lead her to open mic nights hosted by their students and gigs at other spots, JOBIE says that she is grateful for the multi-disciplinary student body at Emerson. Collaborating with student organizations helps her dabble in disciplines that she wouldn’t be exposed to otherwise, and she’s using the network of ambitious creatives on campus to achieve career milestones.

Everyone wants to be a part of something, and Emerson students are good at spotting talent. Perhaps that’s why JOBIE has already accrued music video experience, modeling gigs, and interviews in multiple publications; her “something” is definitely worth being a part of. One of her favorite projects was making the music video for her single “Simple Man” with Beat Dynamics, an Emerson organization that focuses on making music videos for up-and-coming artists. The project allowed JOBIE to visualize her music while also extending an opportunity for their student team to gain some hands-on experience working to strike the perfect balance between sound and image. The cover art for “Simple Man” and later “Scorpio” also came to fruition through a photoshoot with INDEX Magazine. Conversations with a variety of visual artists on campus have led to commissioned

promotional materials and upcoming merch. Shows such as Good Morning Emerson and Off the Record have hosted JOBIE to perform music. Beyond broadcast, she’s also performed live shows for WECB and launch parties for their zine, Milkcrate.

Emerson may not be a perfect academic fit for aspiring musicians, but “it would suck to go to Berklee and do the same thing as everyone else,” she says through light laughs. At Emerson, students are exposed to a plethora of creative opportunities both in and out of the classroom. College is a limbo time between childhood and adulthood, JOBIE reasons, and the campus environment allows creatives to barter for mutual benefit: when JOBIE gets publicity, students and organizations get experience. At Emerson, JOBIE is thankful for camaraderie instead of competition. She celebrates the plethora of talented students she’s connected with through collaborations, believing “when everyone wants to succeed at the same thing, no one can support each other.”

JOBIE seeks to achieve catharsis and connection through her music. Although the theater major is easygoing in a polished manner, she wants to connect with people in an authentic way. Music serves as a means to gather an audience who can see an honest and intimate version of herself that doesn’t come out in other social settings. Her guitar twangs out of tune, so she’ll stall and adjust it on stage. She fumbles with words while racking her brain to remember the setlist she forgot. JOBIE is the first to admit these happenings are clumsy, but they also add a layer of endearment and humanity to her personality.

To JOBIE, the joy of making music comes from performing. Her philosophy is simple: we do things in life — cleaning and shopping to name tediously necessary ones — to get them over with, but we play music to focus on the present and live through every moment. Although she is

a natural performer, JOBIE shares that listening to and creating music is a very private and sacred experience. The ideal listening setting is a dark room

I felt myself smiling as my notes filled page after page over the course of my interview with JOBIE. It made me genuinely excited to see someone so passionate about the dream they are chasing. In a world filled with apathy and too-coolfor-school attitudes, JOBIE’s boundless energy and enthusiasm are refreshing. Her thoughts bounced all over the place and often had no destination as she tried to explain where the source of her inspiration and talent lies. Her talent is a mix of nature and nurture, her parents being musicians certainly contributing to her skills and ethics.

When lyrics and melodies come to you as if they were stored deep inside your soul, creating music is not so much a formula to be completed as it is an exercise in turning inwards.

“I don’t have a formula for songwriting, I don’t even have a process. I just do it, it’s really magic.” JOBIE offered as an explanation for a creative process feeling so natural and intrinsic.

It’s a deceptively simple answer to a complicated question and it made me wonder…can we all become someone who believes in even the messiest ideas from deep inside their soul, or are some people simply born with this trust in themselves?

I knew I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to see JOBIE perform the moment she revealed to me that she was better in person than on her recordings. I first saw her at the aforementioned WECB Valentine’s Day concert and then at The Lilypad in Cambridge another evening in February. I didn’t plan to stay out until one in the morning on that Wednesday night, but it was well worth it. As we waited for her turn on stage, she introduced me to her friends from the venue who embellished on her destined rockstar status; JOBIE simple laughed and earnestly denied their compliments in response.

When she stepped onto the stage, she launched into her

with headphones.. She enjoys the smaller local Boston scene because there’s less of a crowd and consequently noise.

first song with no introduction, eschewing the cheesy blurbs used by previous performers to preface their sets. The music spoke for itself, no explanation or introduction needed. Her voice is clear and her presence feels honest, reflecting her earlier sentiments on the intimacy and truth of her performances. The two-song set consisted of one original, a brief tuning break after the pitch of her guitar began to droop, and one cover. The only time the enraptured audience broke their silence was to whoop during every instrumental break. Admirers flocked to give hugs and praise as soon as JOBIE stepped off the stage.

Looking towards the future, there are a lot of exciting prospects on the horizon for JOBIE. She’s been working on an album at her hometown recording studio in Richmond, VA. The body of work is partially completed, with the rest being finished this summer. It is expected to drop around the summer of 2023, with singles releasing throughout the upcoming semester to tide us over in the meantime.

JOBIE also hopes to achieve loftier dreams, like playing festivals and eventually hosting a small tour. She mentioned the appeal of a sync credit, which is when an artist is paid for use of a song in a movie. She also wants to garner some official Spotify playlist features in addition to the playlists she’s included on from fans who have found her on the internet. While she’s still in Boston, be sure to come out to one of JOBIE’s shows. If you wait, you might miss her as she makes her meteoric rise to the top.

Listen to JOBIE’s music here!