Jordan Patterson
"All of these songs hurt. This EP was an amalgamation of all these streams of consciousness that I, for the first time, really was sorting through to make it more concise. I wanted it to feel heavy and light at the same time." Born in North Carolina and raised in the San Fernando Valley, Jordan Patterson has always operated from a place of radical honesty. Her debut album, The Hermit - a deeply personal document of solitude and self-examination that landed on The Fader's Top 50 Records of 2025 - announced her as one of the most distinctive new voices in recent memory. The 24-year-old singer, songwriter, and producer has already been hailed as "a generational talent" by Spotify and shared the stage with Cameron Winter. What really marks Patterson as an exceptional talent, however, is her totally uninhibited artistic expression and a piercing earnestness that defines her sonic palette. Songs from a Valley Girl, her latest EP and first release on Secretly Canadian, is what comes next: smaller in scope, more concentrated in feeling, and somehow even more unmistakably hers.
Songs from a Valley Girl is unfettered and poignantly human. She yet again showcases her inimitable lyricism to reflect on the intersections between love, shame, rejection, and all of the contradictions that persist throughout the arc of the human experience. "The EP is as much of a shame-monster as it is a love-monster," Jordan says. "There's a lot of shame in this music, but it has served me. If shame is there for a reason, you know, it serves a greater purpose."
The project evidently draws its name from Patterson's experience growing up in the San Fernando Valley. "There's a line right where Burbank starts and trickles into the valley, and things shift and start to sprawl. You're in a place that is not dissimilar but with this sense of spaciousness - more green, more parks, and craftsman homes that have been there for years and have allowed time to show its grace." Patterson draws an affective line based on this phenomenon; there's a line between history and repair, beauty and disgust, and claustrophobia and freedom. "This batch of music in particular feels like Sherman Oaks meets Van Nuys. That's what this project feels like. It feels so inviting." This sentiment of the valley mimics the central tension between shame and love that suffuses the entire EP. "The thing about shame is that, in being a monster, it wants you to come inside." She reflects on the friction between the frivolity and intensity that imbued much of her adolescence in the valley, a friction that can only endure as all-consumingly as it does in the place you grew up.
What is clear is that no matter what themes underscore Patterson's lyricism, she is always in pursuit of truth. The first line of the album immediately strips listeners of their defenses: "I see your friends got a gun, but I've got love/how I long to disarm you." She wrote "QDS" before the release of her last album, realizing how much humanity there was to exhibit within a period of intense darkness. "I found that, in that darkness, there was so much light that I could bring. Disarming people is a part of life - I use my weapon against yours. It's not necessarily about winning; it's more than that. That's the whole purpose." This phenomenon persists throughout the arc of the EP as she navigates the ambiguity of a relationship in "Just My Friend", reflects on the impermanence of love in "Last", meditates on themes of loss and renewal in "Cinderella", and closes the record with a quiet devastation in "Win You".
Known for evoking catharsis through her distinct vocal style, Patterson's voice is her greatest instrument. "I wanted my voice to occupy a very specific space in every song, and I wanted the low end to occupy the same thing." Her vocals vivify the intense universal themes she conveys through her songwriting, as it is her unflinchingly raw singing style that makes her interior life so palpable to listeners. Pitchfork has noted that her singing seems "to exist entirely outside any lineage or explanation. Her singing almost seems to propose a new paradigm."
Patterson's music is bolstered by her intensely soulful music partnerships. She worked closely with producer and long-time collaborator Eric Van Thyne on "Last", "Win You", and "Just My Friend". "When it comes to working on music, he contains a clarity that is genuinely baffling at times," Jordan states. The record also showcases some new faces such as John Debold (Vampire Weekend, Haim, Hozier) on "QDS", Henry Kwapis (Dominic Fike, Dijon, Selena Gomez) on "Just My Friend", as well as Parker and Marshall Mulherin on "Cinderella". She worked closely with Kali Flanagan of Superfan on the EP, and she credits much of the meticulous craftsmanship of the project to his rigorous attention to detail. "He's completely aware of what is happening. There's no hiding with him, but it's life-affirming; it's like, oh, I'm alive." Flanagan puts it plainly: "Jordan is an artist who is so visibly secure in her prowess and vision as a songwriter, producer, and collector, which makes collaboration feel like an open expanse and playground for me and her other contributors to run free." She also collaborated with Clyde Crooks on "Last" and "Win You", and he brings a ferocity to Jordan's music that completely enhances the unfetteredness of the record. "The resistance that plagues most artists is simply not present in her. She was born free. This is evident the moment you enter her musical kingdom," says Crooks.
Along with Cameron Winter, Patterson has opened for musicians like Folk Bitch Trio, Jens Lekman, Open Mike Eagle, Racing Mount Pleasant, and Morgan Nagler. She has earned the cover of Spotify's Fresh Finds and a weeklong feature on their Penn Plaza billboard. Her music has also been highlighted by New Music Friday, Lorem, Juniper, and Indie Editor's Hyperfixations of 2025. She has also been featured in Rolling Stone, Talkhouse, The Guardian, Line of Best Fit, Stereogum,andNina Protocol. In support of Songs from a Valley Girl, she will be joining Searows on their near-sold-out US tour. Towards the end of the year, she will be heading to the UK for End of the Road Festival in Bristol and Pitchfork Paris and London.
What is special about this record to Jordan? "I said exactly what I meant to say. I felt like I believed in myself. I had a lot of faith. I was like, if I'm gonna make this EP, it's gonna be exactly what I meant to say."