I knew Jessie Malakouti mainly because of her 2009 single “Standing Up For The Lonely” but apparently she’s been around for while before that. Why am I always the last to know!?
ANYWAY – American singer/songwriter Jessie Malakouti has gone ahead and adopted a Marina & The Diamonds like persona in that she’s got a name that sounds like it should be a band but it’s really just a solo act. I really shouldn’t say “just a solo act” because from what I’ve heard, Jessie and the ToyBoys is way more than just a solo act. Sure, she’s got a gimmick in all of her promotional photos, namely her “Toy Boys” (AKA a bunch of mannequins) but she’s got talent both as a singer and a songwriter. As a special treat Jessie released a short snippet of her debut single, “Push It” featuring up and coming rapper Yelawolf. The single was produced by Jimmy Harry and Tony Kanal (of No Doubt). Kind of reminds me of a hybrid cross between Natalia Kills and Gwen Stefani. The rap bits sound a bit too much like 3OH!3 (not in a good way) “Push It” provides a nice little taste at what we can expect on Jessie’s debut album.
Malakouti’s first major break came with her all girl So-Cal rock/rap group called Shut Up Stella. The group became known in dive bars all along the Sunset Strip before getting signed to Epic Records. Their song, “Welcome To My Party” was featured in the Tina Fey/Amy Pohler comedy Baby Mama but after the band failed to take off, they were dropped by Epic and the girls parted ways. Now flying solo, Jessie Malakouti is on her own, doin’ her thing. In addition to working on solo material, Malakouti writes for other artists – whether she means to or not. In 2009, popular gossip blogger Perez Hilton publicly called out the Britney Spears camp for stealing Brit’s Billboard Top 20 hit “If U Seek Amy” away from Jessie, claiming Jessie’s song “Trash Me” was too similar to be a coincidence. Malakouti did admit in an interview with Company Magazine that she had submitted a version of the song to the Britney camp pre-Blackout era, she ultimately decided to keep the song for herself. While she admitted to being gutted initially, Malakouti decided to keep it classy and took it as a tremendous compliment. That’s what I like to see. Classy electro-pop with mannequins. You go girl. Check out a short snippet of “Push It” featuring Yelawolf below.
-Thanks to MuuMuse and Prophet Blog for the re-introduction/refresher