“When something is not sincere, it doesn’t work.” A golden rule. A principle that, in the case of Joan Thiele takes on an even more valuable and complex significance: perhaps due to her family background (Italian mother, Swiss father of South American origin, a childhood spent in Cartagena, Colombia, between coffee plantations and the Caribbean sea), or perhaps to her lifestyle choices (after high school, she decided to move to England, with no safety net, in search of emotions, stimuli and a sense of adventure).
Or, perhaps, due to her artistic personality. Starting with her decision to sing in English (“I’ve always lived in environments where speaking two or even three languages was taken for granted; English comes very naturally to me”), and then – something that is very important – continuing with her desire to follow a highly personal musical career. As a young girl, she grew up with Led Zeppelin (“My babysitter used to play me their music”), Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (“To this very day, Crosby is like a grandfather to me, someone to hug, to pamper”). At a certain point, her musical tastes expanded to include ultra-contemporary influences (“Most of all, I listened to a lot of reggae, not just Bob Marley, but lots of dub. Then came the time of bands such as The Correspondents, Submotion Orchestra and the electronica of Little Dragon”).
And today? Today she is concerned with keeping in command of her soul and her originality. She is concerned with having an acoustic sensitivity (“I have a delicate way of writing and singing, my style is not aggressive”), without falling into the cliché of the guitar-strumming singer-songwriter (“What’s strange is that I'm not big on acoustic singers – I’d rather listen to someone like Feist! For me, rhythm is nothing short of fundamental. And here’s the rub – I’m obsessed by rhythm and bass. Which is why I love rap, Lauryn Hill... You wouldn’t think it listening to my music, right?”).
Today, she believes deeply in music. In her music. In what it can give. Even when you follow an unconventional route - she has released no albums as yet, having concentrated on live gigs gained by word of mouth (“I would wake up and start to pester bars, clubs, venues with emails…”), and on artistic collaborations that came about by accident (“I tried to be part of a band, but somehow it never worked, it always felt alien to me...until I met a band of Sicilian street musicians, right opposite a venue where I had just finished a midday concert. They are a very creative band named Etna…we just instantly hit it off”).
From a myriad of concerts in small clubs and venues to an important world stage. Yes, for Joan, this is likely to be a very important moment. She needs to play her cards right. And above all, she needs to maintain a deep-rooted self-assurance: “When something is not sincere, it doesn't work. Really.” And what is her goal in all of this? “I want to make music that I for one am proud of. What’s more, I want to travel… I want to travel the world.”