I discovered Janine and her music a few months ago thanks to YouTube’s suggestions. As simple as that! And I immediately liked her musical universe.

And now I invite you to enter her world… Are you ready? 😉

Who’s Janine?

Janine Foster is a singer, songwriter and producer from Auckland, New Zealand. She’s born on 16th August 1989 and comes from a modest family. She has a sister, Deb, who’s an actress.

As a child, her father encouraged her to write songs and play guitar. At the age of 14, she was playing open-mic nights.

She grew up dancing: Jazz ballet and Hip Hop, & doing theatre. She also likes painting and she’s sporty.

She studied Music and hold a Bachelor from the University of Auckland since 2010. The same year, she won the University’s Award for Singer/Songwriter of the Year.

Her work

Janine started her career under the stage name of ‘Janine and the mixtape’ before giving ‘and the mixtape’ away earlier this year.

She released her debut single, Bullet, in 2012. She then moved to New York to work on her first EP, Dark Mind offering 6 songs including this first song.

This piece of work was inspired by her own though life’s experiences such as sexual abuse. Dark Mind were released in 2013 and got a nomination at New Zealand Music Awards the same year.

Janine got even more attention when two of her songs — Dark Mind & Hold Me — were featured on two VH1’s TV Series. Then, Hold Me entered Billboard’s, iTunes’ and Spotify’s R&B charts.

In 2015, Janine released a second EP called XXEP that includes 6 songs.

She signed a deal with Atlantic Records and is currently working on her first album. Janine released two songs this year, Don’t Love Me and Unstable, that are expected to be featured on her upcoming album.

What do I think about Janine and her work?

Janine is my favourite musical discovery of the first half of 2017. She seems to know what she wants as an artist. Her musical identity is quite clear: she delivers powerful and efficient R&B and soul music.

She has a soulful voice and a great vocal technique. She’s often compared to Christina Aguilera. I’d like to see her perform live and I’m looking forward to hear her debut album which should be released soon.

Through her social media, I can see that she has a fresh personality, she’s easy-going and funny. Janine also seems to be humble, determined and to have a strong mindset. I wouldn’t be surprised to know she’s a perfectionist.

I appreciate all these qualities. Like JoJo for instance, she is a strong person and works hard. She also delivers a music that is honest, modern and artistic.

Furthermore, I feel like she doesn’t take the fact of being a signed artist for granted. I said this many times: being signed doesn’t guarantee to have a successful and lasting career in Music and it looks like she’s aware of this.

I’d love to work with her and I’m curious to see how her career is going to evolve. I wish her to meet the success she deserves.

What do you think about Janine and her music? Leave a comment to share your thoughts about it, I’d love to know what you think! 🙂