Singing, writing, dancing and acting: Jayne Batstone is 'all over the arts'

Singer-songwriter Jayne Batstone of St. John'sis grabbing a few momentsbetween classes at Memorial University's Grenfell Campus in Corner Brook to talk about her debut EP, Line Art.

"I'm all over the arts," she says. "It's not really hard work if you enjoy it."

All in the family

Batstone says she grew up in a family that loves music, theatre and dance.

During the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown in 2020, Batstone was experimenting with songwriting, whenshe came up with a song, I Won't Say It, that she thought worked really well.She then played it for her father, Chris Batstone, a veteran of many St. John's bands.

"My dad was like, 'This is really great, we should record it,'" says Batstone. "AndI was like, 'Cool, we should do that.And then the next night I went downstairs and I was like, 'What if we just made an album?'"

Award-winning song

Once Batstone got into her father's recording studio, she came up with four more original songs, which became her EP Line Art.

I Won't Say It went on to win the junior music category of the 2021 Newfoundland and Labrador Artsand Letter Competition,the start of that Batstone hopes will be a multidisciplinary career.

A life in the arts

In addition to making music,Batstone, whois in her first year of the fine arts theatre program at Grenfell, has been acting and dancing since she was a little girl. She also dabbles in visual art.

Eventually, Batstone says she sees herself eventually makinga living in the arts, with music being a big part of her life's work.

"It's difficult to get to a certain level, but it's something I love doing," she says. "It's something that's a part of me."

Do you have a new album of music that Weekend AM should know about for First Listen? Email us, wam@cbc.ca, and tell us about it.

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