Jewel Ham’s Creativity With Spotify Changed The Internet This Holiday Season. Now, She Wants Her Art To Change The World
Interview by Trey Alston / Working Not Working Member
All over Twitter and Instagram in December, Spotify’s Wrapped 2020 screenshots took over everyone’s feeds. Subscribers to the platform were eager to show off what they’ve been listening to most in 2020 because of the platform’s aesthetically pleasing interface made of bright colors, eye-popping fonts, and intriguing statistics that give an indicator of what the listener’s personality is really like. The Spotify Wrapped segment isn’t new, with it debuting in 2016 as a microsite that was sent out with an email link. But 2020’s bold redesign, that seems perfect for social media to repurpose, has led to it becoming one of the year’s most innovative campaigns, spreading across the internet like wildfire. According to Jewel Ham, a former intern at Spotify, you can thank her for that.
Ham recently graduated from Howard University and plans on becoming a professor. The North Carolina-born visual artist has been a creative since she was a kid, but found her entryway into the professional side of the industry through a three-month summer internship at Spotify in 2019, where she laid the groundwork for what has become one of its most popular aspects. “At Spotify, they wanted me to create a project that really targeted Gen Z, and as an active member of Gen Z, it just felt like the natural transition,” she says over Zoom. “So that's where I went with it. And I was listening to a lot of music at the time—I typically walked from work because it was New York. And I was using that energy, the moods, to really fuel how I approached it.”
Now, having emerged on the other side of the experience, Ham has an appreciation for creativity on a smaller scale—one that’s decidedly not corporate. “When you are a person that works independently or creatively, especially in fine art, writing, drama, or any of those creative fields, your byline and title all go onto your resume,” she says. “Credits are always run. So your work really exists in the community more. I like that hands-on kind of feel much better.”
Here’s Jewel Ham on interning at Spotify, her definition of creativity, advice for future creatives, and building community in Charlotte.
What made you get into the creative field?
I have been an artist, technically, for nearly my entire life. When I was in elementary school and we would do projects, kids always wanted to get in my group. But I never thought I was going to be an artist when I was growing up because that’s really not the vibe in Charlotte, NC. But I did it anyway because, why not?
How would you describe your particular creative style that you express in your paintings?
“Expressive” if I had to nail it down into one word. I'm a person with a lot of energy, a lot of tastes, I guess you could say. And I try to really bring that into my work, whether that be by the texture or by the color. But attention-grabbing things so that people who may not be versed in what art should or shouldn't be are immediately interested visually.
“I feel like so often, these art schools aren’t for us and they don’t speak to us. So it’s very hard to find ground in a Fine Arts career if you are a Black or Brown person. So I’m really hoping that I can use my art as a voice, and as a way to create community.”
What is your overall goal in the creative space? What would you ideally want to be doing?
I want to continue to create artwork. Obviously, work as an independent artist. But also I want to be an encouraging force for other young people deciding whether or not they want to go into art. I plan to later in life become an educator. I really would like to be a professor at a university, because I feel like so often these art schools aren't for us, and they don't speak to us. So it's very hard to find ground in a fine arts career if you are a Black or Brown person, really. So I'm really hoping that I can use my art as a voice, and as a way to create community. Like a good conversation between people, address issues and address things that need to be talked about.
Now, the million-dollar question. How did your concept for Spotify’s Wrapped come about?
I interacted with Wrapped a lot. So I was trying to find a way where I could share it and think about how I could go about letting people experience my music tastes because I think the idea is elite. So that's where it started. And then, also, I'm particularly into a lot of song lyrics. And I wanted to center on some of those and people interacting with them. So just a space for sharing. Sharing what music you're into and sharing how it affects the mood—because the mood is what makes art. It's what makes your day. It's in everything, and that's really musically curated. So I wanted to play on the two.
How did you work creatively realize that concept?
I just started brainstorming and going from there. At Spotify they wanted me to create a project that really targeted Gen Z, and as an active member of Gen Z, it just felt like the natural transition. So that's where I went from it. And I was listening to a lot of music at the time—I typically walked from work because it was New York. And I was using that energy, the moods, to really fuel how I approached it.
What would you say that you learned during your time at Spotify?
A lot about how designing works at a large scale company. Before, I had interned at AMC Networks, and I had also worked at the Air and Space Smithsonian. So I'd had a lot of different backgrounds and I think that they all kind of move differently. And if you're going into art, and you just don't necessarily know anything about the field in which you will be contributing your art, I think it was a really great experience to learn how it looks in a digital space and in a music environment.
“I think that I’ve found that I can really capture Black carefreeness. I think just the ability to be and to do is a sense of reparation within itself for Black people.”
How would you define your personal definition of creativity?
I think creativity is really just getting up in the morning and using your ideas. You're thinking about how could this be done differently, or if you can contribute to something. And just walking in that truth. I think honestly, a lot of people are creative. It's a general term. Gen Z is a popular group for creativity as a personality trait. But I feel like when you actually have something tangible for you utilizing and expressing these ideas, that's the creativity.
What would you say drives your creativity now?
Honestly, I think that I’ve found that I can really capture Black carefreeness. I think just the ability to be and to do is a sense of reparation within itself for Black people. And I feel like being able to create freely is doing that within itself. But also, I feel like my creativity now is driven a lot by coming back home. I wasn't supposed to be living in Charlotte after I graduated. That was never the plan. Because initially, I was going to Chicago for graduate school. Now, I'm more interested in how creativity can be cultivated in a community like Charlotte. One that isn't necessarily a mega-city. Yeah, it's up and coming, but what else could we do to make people who want to create here have space? I think it’s about opening doors and lengthening the table.
Painting titled “And I Can Take You Out”
“Now, I’m more interested in how creativity can be cultivated in a community like Charlotte. One that isn’t necessarily a mega-city. Yeah, it’s up and coming, but what else could we do to make people who want to create here have space? I think it’s about opening doors and lengthening the table.”
What advice do you have for aspiring creatives out here?
Bro, just do it. That's really it. Just do it. Because the thing is, especially as my community of Black and Brown folks that are doing their own thing widens, I feel like so often we get bogged down in what we see other people doing, what we think we should be doing, yada, yada, this, that. But that all clouds your journey so much. And it sometimes even creates self-doubt and insecurity in your craft that just don't need to be there.
I feel like the best advice I could give anyone is just to keep going. I got where I am now, even though I haven't arrived yet, just by continuing to do. I mean the room that I'm in right now, it's opened so many opportunities for me currently. Internships, interviews, showcases. But the reality is, this is the same room I sat up in for hours late nights just practicing, just practicing it in high school. There's really no right way to go about it. Just start going about it.
Trey Alston is a copywriter and music journalist who writes for Complex, MTV News, BET, and more. He just discovered that he loves egg salad.