Jenna Rose

Jenna Rose Swerdlow (born 1998/1999), best known as Jenna Rose, is an American singer and actress, who gained media attention with her single "My Jeans". After the video became popular on YouTube and received 14 million views, Swerdlow is considered a semi-"viral star".[1]

Jenna Rose
Rose at Digitas NewFront, 2011
Background information
Birth nameJenna Rose Swerdlow
Born1998/1999 (age 21–22)
Long Island, New York, U.S.
Genres
Occupation(s)Singer
InstrumentsVocals
Years active2009–present
Websitejennaroseofficial.com

Background

Swerdlow was born 1998/1999,[2] on Long Island, New York.[3] She is an only child.[4] She spent her early life in Baldwin, New York and relocated with her family to Dix Hills, New York in 2005.[5] She began performing at age 2,[6][5] and received private vocal training at age 8.[1] Starting with community theater and moving on to regional productions and Off-Broadway, she has performed in over 18 plays, including principal roles in "Ragtime" and "The Miracle Worker", as well as the title role in the 2011 Off-Broadway play, "The Odella Williams Show".[1] She was a finalist in Got Talent?, a Long Island talent competition, as well as the New York Knicks Kids Talent Search.[1] It was reported by Fox WNYW that by March 2011, her videos had had over 1 million "hits", she had recorded six songs, and she had performed at a Knicks game halftime show.[7]

Music

In August 2009, it was reported that Swerdlow and nineteen other musicians were selected for individual coaching and recording sessions by long-time Billy Joel sax player Richie Cannata,[8] and Jenna wrote on her Facebook page that Richie's son Eren Cannata wrote and produced three singles for her, Sweet Melody, The Remedy, and Spotlight.[9] Since then, Swerdlow has collaborated with different songwriters, producers and choreographers, to record songs and music videos.

At age twelve, while she was in 7th grade at West Hollow Middle School, Swerdlow released her first music video, My Jeans, featuring a rap by Baby Triggy aka I Am Trigg,[10] on YouTube in October 2010;[6] locations included the Deer Park Tanger Outlet.[11] The video went viral, garnering over a million views and bring Swerdlow media attention.[12] My Jeans was panned by YouTube viewers,[13] earning her, as of September 8, 2011, 26,355 "likes" and 295,189 "dislikes" for the video.[6] Detractors found fault not only with Swerdlow's song, but with her clothes, the shape of her mouth, and the video's production values.[5] The video continues to be popular,[5] with the original video reaching over 14 million views as of early September 2011, even though it has "spawned parodies, video responses, rap replies and more than a dozen pages of written critiques."[5]

Despite negative reviews of My Jeans, Swerdlow followed up with O.M.G in March 2011,[14] and Don't Give Up, dealing with "haters",[15] in April 2011.[15] Swerdlow and her parents describe the song O.M.G. as dealing with cybercritics and cyberbullying.[6] Though covered by media, these subsequent songs received less interest than her original viral video; both display similar negative ratings, and have been panned by critics.[15] O.M.G. received "more than a million views" as of May 2011.[16] The lyrics were described as "disturbing" for a 12-year-old singer.[16] On PerezHilton.com the video was described as "hyper-sexualized, uber-creepy and if you really want to talk about jacking swag, not one dance move wasn't pulled from another video circa 1998."[17] In October 2012, Swerdlow debuted her version of "Walk On By", toured with two other groups and performed at Nassau Coliseum.[18]

She is also well known for her work as a drum major in her high school band, which consequently awarded her the title of "Most Musical" as a high school superlative. She recently graduated from college with a degree in music and will continue her passion in the classroom with her students upon her upcoming move to Dallas.

Recognition and followup

In February 2009, the town board of Huntington, New York recognized Swerdlow "for her contributions to the performing arts community".[19] Subsequent to the release of "My Jeans" Swerdlow has been interviewed by news networks, covered in news items, and has performed live in concert at the Westbury Music Fair.[15]

In March 2011, Time magazine listed Swerdlow as one of "three kids who may be next to gain viral fame" similar to Rebecca Black.[20] Writers have made comparisons between Swerdlow and Black,[10] since both teens have produced videos that fall into the same genre of bubblegum pop, are "slammed by critics as being too provocative", and both have received harsh feedback from the public.[5][15] Her videos have inspired remixes, slowdown/speedups, commentary, lip-sync, and analysis on YouTube.[21] In 2012, Swerdlow's online presence was hacked; her Twitter account, YouTube channel and AOL address were defaced with "Nazi swastikas and obscenities." Prior to the attack, her YouTube channel had accumulated a total of 25 million hits.[2]

Discography

Singles
YearTitle
2009 "Sweet Melody"[22]
2010 "Spotlight"
"My Jeans"[6]
2011 "OMG"[23]
"The Remedy"[24]
"Unstoppable"[25]
"Don't Give Up"[26]
"Time Of Our Lives"[27]
2012 "Life Is a Party"[28]
"Walk On By"[18]
2013 "Forget You"[29]
2014 "Earthquake"[30]

Filmography
YearTitleRoleDirectorNote
2010Family PracticeChild PatientEric NorcrossTV pilot - Ep. 2: "Hood Cat"[31]
Mouse HouseJessica
Which WayLilithBill HerndonTV series[32]
2011Caroline of VirginiaYoung CarolineEric Norcross
ActorHerselfRoberto SerriniDocumentary

See also
  • Music portal

References
  1. Forman, Karen (March 3, 2011). "Jenna Rose Swerdlow Making a Name for Herself". Patch. Retrieved October 9, 2011.
  2. Whitehouse, Beth (April 27, 2012). "Jenna Rose Swerdlow YouTube star cyberhacked". Newsday. Retrieved March 9, 2013.
  3. "Resume". Jenna Rose website. Retrieved October 15, 2011.
  4. Rose, Jenna [@jennarose3xo] (July 9, 2012). "no siblings. im a lonely and only child" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  5. Connolly, Chris (May 19, 2011). "Love me, hate me, know my name". Long Island Herald. Richner Communications, Inc. Retrieved October 12, 2011.
  6. Whitehouse, Beth (March 22, 2011). "Dix Hills girl's YouTube music video a hit". Newsday.
  7. Staff (March 22, 2011). "Local Girl's Video Goes Viral (Fox 5 News)". WNYW. Retrieved October 18, 2011.
  8. Jenna Rose & Richie Cannata - News 12 interview (Television news). Long Island, New York: News 12. August 1, 2009. Archived from the original on April 25, 2012. Retrieved October 12, 2011.
  9. "Jenna Rose Performing Sunday, July 17". Great South Bay Music Festival. Archived from the original on April 1, 2012. Retrieved May 25, 2013.
  10. Livingston, Daphne (April 26, 2011). "Jenna Rose: Long Island's Rebecca Black "My Jeans" "O.M.G." [Video]". Long Island Press. Retrieved October 12, 2011.
  11. Livingston, Daphne (April 26, 2011). "Jenna Rose: Long Island's Rebecca Black "My Jeans" "O.M.G." [Video]". Long Island Press. Retrieved March 9, 2013.
  12. Senatore, Rachel (March 21, 2011). "Dix Hill teen's music vid joins the list of LI's viral videos". Newsday. Retrieved October 9, 2011.
  13. Gamboa, Glenn (March 22, 2011). "Dix Hills girl's 'My Jeans' spawns videos". Newsday. Retrieved October 12, 2011.
  14. Staff (March 24, 2011). "Dix Hills girl to debut new song". Newsday. Retrieved October 12, 2011.
  15. Bonner, Ryan (April 22, 2011). "Jenna Rose to Play Westbury, Releases New Song". Patch. Retrieved October 9, 2011.
  16. Lenz, Sara (May 13, 2011). "Praise for teenager Rebecca Black's mostly panned, but innocent hit song, 'Friday'". Deseret News. Retrieved March 9, 2013.
  17. Hilton, Perez (March 28, 2011). "O.M.G…Jenna Rose Is Back!". PerezHilton.com. Retrieved October 12, 2011.
  18. "Young singer Jenna Rose debuts new song 'Walk On By'". PIX 11, WPIX. December 12, 2012. Retrieved March 15, 2013.
  19. "Councilman Cuthbertson Recognizes an Up and Coming Star". City of Huntington. February 26, 2009. Retrieved October 12, 2011.
  20. Friedman, Megan (March 16, 2011). "Awkward Preteen Pop: Three Kids Who Could Be the Next Rebecca Black". TIME.com. Retrieved March 9, 2013.
  21. Gamboa, Glenn (March 22, 2011). "The Jenna Rose / "My Jeans" phenomenon grows". Newsday. Retrieved October 9, 2011.
  22. "Sweet Melody". iTunes.com. January 1, 2009
  23. "OMG". iTunes. March 30, 2011.
  24. "The Remedy". iTunes.com. April 12, 2011
  25. "Unstoppable". iTunes.com. April 21, 2011.
  26. "Unstoppable". iTunes.com. June 13, 2011.
  27. "Time Of Our Lives". iTunes.com. September 19, 2011.
  28. "Life is a Party". iTunes. July 24, 2012.
  29. "Forget You". iTunes. April 14, 2014.
  30. "Earthquake". YouTube. April 14, 2014.
  31. Norcross, Eric (March 29, 2010). "Family Practice - Pilot 2: "Hood Cat"" (Flash video). Vimeo.com.
  32. "Cast". Which Way Show. Archived from the original on October 17, 2010. Retrieved October 17, 2011.
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