Jesse Reyez Is Writing Songs for Her Fans on the Spot — and Honestly, a Public Menace in the Best Way

Jesse Reyez is out here doing the opposite of ‘appearing candid’: being aggressively human.

This week, the Grammy-nominated chaos-poet herself turned her Instagram Stories into a drive-thru songwriting booth. Fans sent her topics — literally anything — and she started firing back fully formed mini-songs in real time. No warm-up. No disclaimer. No safety goggles.

And the results?
Unhinged genius. Tender heartbreak. Spiritual confusion. Economically accurate. Extremely Jesse.

With nothing but bus ceilings, blurry lights, and her weaponized honesty, she whipped up a collection of mini-songs that read like voice notes from the universe.

And yes — here’s where the lyrics go exactly as she wrote them:

Topic: Going against the grain to stir shit up

Sometimes a scab needs to be picked
And a wound needs to be licked
And a table needs to be flipped
While all the gods are laughing

Sometimes a bear needs a poke
And mentos needs a bottle of Coke
And your shitty ex needs one last stroke
Cuz it’s what the plot’s demanding

This is Jesse describing rebellion like it’s a grocery list and also a felony. Beautiful.

Topic: The old days

I once had a homie named Sosa
Who had a joy that would rival the sun
I remember him always smiling
And I remember him moving with love

I held the heart of his homeboy
So inevitably he turned into my friend
And though it’s been years since I moved out of town
I hope one day we see young days again

Nostalgia, but make it ache a little.

Topic: Pure intentions

Its terrifying to feel myself falling
When I know how brittle my bones can be
But you see fear on my face yet find faith in me still
Meanwhile I’m scared that once I’m locked in you’ll leave

You say you wish that I could live in you
Even for just a moment in time
So I could see your intentions and feel what your heart feels
And maybe give some reprieval to mine

Reyez turning trust issues into literature. Classic.

Topic: Inflation (yes, someone actually asked this)

Got holy books on my wall
The Quran says I’m haram
And swears that there’ll be a trial to see
if my souls worth shit shit with inflation

Holy books on my wall
If the Bible’s true then I’m fucked
Hopefully there’s a higher power
Forgiving all my mistakes cuz

I’m just a sinner
And I never said I was sane

Economics meets theology meets Jesse admitting her mental warranty expired long ago. Stunning.

Topic: Coming back home

I was home for a total of 12 hours
And I spent them between headphones and a mic
This is why I think I need to retire
Because it’s not a matter of doing what I “like”

I’m obsessed so my auto pilot can’t help it
But my soul is longing for a break
And even the highest archangels have bandwidths
So how much more can a blue mortal take?

Obviously I’m back on the road now
And time slips through my hand like a stream
How funny that I’ve worked my whole life for this rhythm
Just to ask God to wake me up from the dream

My bro says I should quit on a good day
And that maybe I just need some sleep
But I have climbed way too high
Unsure that I can fly
And it’s only me on the steepest of peaks

This one is basically a therapy session disguised as bars.

Topic: Narcissism

Suppose you are holding a sling shot
And you pull the rock and elastic all the way back
The stone will soon live the life of a bird
As long as the red rubber band doesn’t snap

But in the event that it does pop
I bet the rock will sing a song that I know
That I used to hear from people who hated themselves
Till one extreme shot them across the road

Here, meek ones turn into assholes
And wall flowers turn into thorns
Everyone thinks that a soft spoken angel is pretty
Till the night that she starts growing horns

Jesse describing narcissism like a National Geographic documentary but scarier.

Topic: Getting a phone call from your ex admitting he fumbled you

I have a couple of letters
from men who needed glasses
And I have a couple of calls
that I will never return

I’m not a goddamn teacher
looking to be giving out free classes
And im not anyone’s mother
I’m just a lesson they gone learn

The female urge to give out zero second chances.

Topic: The yearn

The way smoke seems to long to depart
into the space between the atoms above
Is a sister to the way I’ve been longing for you
Because I think you and I speak the same love

The way the moon clings to the blue sky
while daylight begets it to leave
Is a brother to the way I’ve been longing for you
In a way I can barely believe

This is yearning so intense it should qualify as a natural disaster.

Because this wasn’t a rollout.
Not an album tease.
Not a brand partnership.

It was just Jesse — tired, brilliant, on a bus — making art in real time with the people who love her. No guard rails. No polish. Just pure connection.

She didn’t just acknowledge her fans.
She co-wrote with them, turning their prompts into poems that feel like secrets.

Jesse told Remezcla that her writing process mirrors her emotional intensity. Sometimes it’s slow and meticulous; other times, she says, “the faucet’s open… you don’t need to write shit down, and it’s just a vibe.” “Far Away” was the latter — a song that arrived fully formed, right when she needed it.