Jessica Boudreaux — the Pacific Northwest’s driving creative queer pop force; press photo courtesy of Dana Halferty.

Jessica Boudreaux has remained one of the greatest PDX-based artists of the past decade. Leading the band Summer Cannibals to great heights and embarking upon a lauded solo career of candid radio-ready queer pop symphonies serves as a testament to the prowess and proliferation of one of the world's most important and inspirational artists ever. Weathering the storm of the ongoing pandemic, recovering from cancer, chemotherapy and a toxic relationship — Jessica Boudreaux is the hero we all need right now.

Conquering all vestiges of adversity and tragedies with fierce strength, an unbreakable spirit, polymath talents beyond all measure and a ferocious / transcendent sense of relentless resolve; Jessica Boudreaux presents the impassioned I Think My Heart Loves to Break EP. Heard recently collaborating with Adult Mom on an inspired cover of Taylor Swift’s “Cruel Summer”, Boudreaux emerges with her biggest pop art statement yet. The opener “Actor” epically takes on the duplicity of dubious and bad actors found in the bonds that were never meant to be, while the titular “Loves to Break” examines the heart’s own idiosyncrasies of intricate desires that ponders the reasons and rationales that work according to the human spirit’s own logics and designs.

“Disaster” is a beautiful ballad that sashays and steps carefully from the perils of amorous pratfalls, health scares and everything in between that resounds like a dream dance between the material and celestial dimensions of love, care and hope. The closing track “After All This” reaches for the door to the next chapter, moving away from the wreckages of things that have fallen apart in motions toward a new state of grace, well being and understanding (hand in hand with a special someone that understands all that they have gone through and more). Join Jessica after the jump as the artist presents a very special dream board of cherished joys and items of unlimited inspiration:

Jessica Boudreaux’s ode to joys

Pop visionary Jessica Boudreaux; press photo courtesy of the artist.

Food Network

Guy Fieri’s Tournament of Champions, Beat Bobby Flay, Chopped…you name it, if they’re cookin’ I’ll watch it. There’s something so comforting about the Food Network to me, maybe from growing up with my mom watching it. In the last couple years my partner and I have gotten increasingly more obsessed with cooking competition shows. It’s so satisfying to watch people be incredible at their craft and I think with food, it’s such an exciting combination of artistry and science and problem solving. I honestly just can’t get enough.

Early 2000s indie rock

I worked on a job recently that required me to dive back into a lot of early 2000’s indie rock that I hadn’t really revisited in a long time. The reunion-vibe is definitely hitting hard lately but outside of that, just going back to those early Yeah Yeah Yeah’s and TV on the Radio records was really fun and exciting for me. It reignited my love for some bands I had sort of written off over time like Be Your Own Pet and Gossip…like, so many bands that are probably the main reason I started a rock band. It’s been fun and incredibly inspiring to reconnect with that era and feel transported to discovering that stuff in high school.

Procreate

Never thought I’d be into digital art but I’m obsessed with Procreate. I’m a painter but primarily work on pretty large acrylic portraits so getting to lie in bed and paint is so fun! It took a sec to learn how to channel my style into a completely new medium but very satisfying once I figured it out. The endless possibilities can feel a little daunting at first but it’s such a low-stake process and I find it super calming and fun.

Hacks

Hilarious, incredible cast, perfect writing…this show has got it all. I’m obsessed. My partner and I just finished season one and I’m antsy as heck for 2. Highly recommend it. 10/10.

METAvivor

I recently finished treatment for early-stage breast cancer. It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done and honestly, it continues to be tough. I’ve learned so much about the disease over my last year and a half of treatment and one of the most upsetting to me was learning that only 2-5% of research funding for breast cancer goes to metastatic breast cancer (stage 4 and considered incurable) research. There’s a critical need for more funding in this area and so many breast cancer organizations are unfortunately pretty unreliable in where they issue their funds. METAvivor is an incredible organization who funds necessary research for stage 4 breast cancer.

Jessica Boudreaux’s I Think My Heart Loves to Break EP is available now.

Jessica Boudreaux ⁠— icon almighty