By JACKIE MOE
With a voice as warm and rich as a crackling fire, Grammy-winning vocalist Joss Stone is set to light up the season as she joins the Pacific Symphony Pops for a festive celebration on Dec. 20 and 21.
The concerts, conducted by Principal Pops Conductor Enrico Lopez-Yáñez, will feature selections from Stone’s holiday album, Merry Christmas, Love, alongside seasonal classics and her signature hits.
The concerts will take place at the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall in Costa Mesa, featuring the orchestra’s collaboration with Pacific Chorale. From timeless carols to reimagined holiday favorites, the evening promises to capture the magic of the season.
Stone, widely regarded as one of the finest voices of her generation, first gained fame at 16 with her debut album, The Soul Sessions, which showcased her deep connection to soul and R&B.
Since then, she has released nine studio albums, sold more than 15 million copies worldwide, and collaborated with music legends like Stevie Wonder, Mick Jagger, and James Brown.
Known for her dynamic live performances and powerful vocals, Stone’s music blends heartfelt emotion with an undeniable warmth—qualities that make her an ideal performer for the holidays.
Following her anticipated performances, Stone took time to discuss her career, her creative process, and the magic of holiday music. Here’s what she had to say in a candid Q&A:
The Soul Sessions introduced you as a 16-year-old powerhouse. When you revisit those songs now, do they feel different to you after two decades of life and music?
Joss Stone: They do, I think they have felt different throughout my life. When I first came across those songs I was really in a different space. I had so much life to live in front of me and I also feel like I was more emotional than I am now.
I’m more balanced now, and I remember people saying to me “how can you sing these songs? How can you feel these emotions when you’re only 16?” I remember being completely irritated by that question because I was so emotional and I was feeling it so deeply. I was a hormonal teenager and I was on the edge of tears pretty much all the time. Now I sing the song, and I have more life experience and have experienced love, a lack of love, angst, and so many different emotions.
But I’m way more balanced and more jaded now than I was at 16. Then, it was really fresh and really raw and everything felt so extreme to me, whereas now, it’s not. Now, I go into the moment where I’m singing the songs and then I come right back out and I’m fine. It’s a completely different relationship with those songs now, I have more control.
How do you make the holiday classics uniquely “Joss Stone” while keeping their essence intact?
JS: I think to sing the song, respect the song, respect the melody, respect the lyrics, respect where it came from and how traditional and beautiful it is, and do not mess with it. I have no interest in ad-libbing a Christmas song so much that it loses its melody.
A great song is a great song. I try my very best to get out of the way and just become part of it. I’m lucky to become a part of it so I shouldn’t ruin it at the same time. It’s a very important thing to me.
How does it feel to perform holiday classics with a full orchestra and the Pacific Chorale?
JS: I’m very excited about that because it’s not something that I get to do often. The feeling of having every single person up there playing together as a unit, it’s absolutely magic the way that music can do that.
Not only are they feeling something in one movement, but we are able to give that feeling to the audience. I honestly think that if we experience true magic in life, music is that, and an orchestra turns it up.
Recording Merry Christmas, Love must have been a special experience. What’s your all-time favorite Christmas song, and does it make it into the setlist for these performances?
JS: My all-time favorite Christmas song is hard to choose. It was amazing recording the Christmas record, especially since I was pregnant with my son, Shack. So that made it obviously hard to sing, but it was magical that I was having a boy and it was Christmas time.
I was sort of making jokes to the musicians that I was gonna call him Jesus. Of course I wasn’t, but it was very Christmasy and had very wholesome family vibes to have that moment with him and was very special. One of my favorite Christmas songs is not one I am going to sing at the show, but it’s called “Fairytale of New York” by The Pogues. I think that’s wonderful.
I also love the Stevie Wonder track that we covered, “What Christmas Means To Me.” That is a great tune and really fun. “In The Bleak Midwinter” is also one of my favorites. It’s very somber and beautiful.
I’ve known that song since I was very young and I tell a little story about it in the show. It’s just stunning, and there’s a lot of beautiful Christmas songs out there. “Silent Night” is also a classic. I sing “Silent Night” to my kids to help them go to sleep and it’s a beautiful song as well.
Looking back at The Soul Sessions and now at 20 Years of Soul, how would you describe your evolution as an artist over the years?
JS: I think I just got to know my craft and have explored a lot of different sounds from across the world. I’ve come to realize that there’s so much out there, and the connection that music provides for people is way bigger than just one certain style and one certain sound.
I have definitely really enjoyed the whole whole journey and I think it’s been interesting. When I began, I was very focused and one track minded. I liked soul music and only soul music when I was younger, and did not mess with anything else really.
I was just like soul music, soul music, soul music, do not give me anything else. Now, I feel like there’s so much more, and soul is in every style. If you mean it, it’s present. And I love that.
Have you ever connected with fans or communities during your charitable efforts with the Joss Stone Foundation in a way that profoundly impacted your music?
JS: Yes, absolutely. With the Joss Stone Foundation, we try to do lots of charity efforts throughout the year. When I did my world tour, we visited every country in the world and had three jobs.
Job number one was to play the gig, job number two was to visit a charity, and job number three was to make a musical collaboration. When I visited the charities, I felt very confident that I met the kindest people that walked this planet.
That definitely inspires not just music, but who you are, how you think, how you talk, your opinions, how open-minded you are, and how much grace you give people. It inspires you as a whole. When that happens, of course your music is gonna change, and of course your lyrics are going to change because that’s who you are. And when you’re writing the song, you’re going to put your opinion in it.
So it’s kind of obvious how that domino effect works. When you really start to think about it, it makes total sense that it would affect a lyric that you write and if it didn’t, you’d have to be walking around with a blindfold on.
You’ve seamlessly explored soul, reggae, pop, and now Christmas classics. What’s a genre you haven’t yet tackled but would love to dive into someday?
JS: I don’t know if there is one now. I’m sure there’s one, but if there is I’m unaware of it. With the amount of collaborations that I did around the world, I’m sure there is a genre that I’m unaware of. I have touched on every genre I know so far.
When I say I’ve touched on, it just means I’ve sang on one of those tunes. Even throat singing in Mongolia. It’s so interesting, now that I’m thinking about it, I haven’t done heavy metal. I think that’s probably the only genre I haven’t done.
As far as properly exploring genres, there’s loads that I haven’t really truly explored and have only touched upon. I’ll try anything.
Your recent anniversary tour celebrates your career and your fans. How do you hope your music has impacted their lives over the years?
JS: It was so nice doing that tour because I realized, as I was going through the songs and talking to the audience, just how much we have been through together. My fans are not just people that like my music who are separate from me. These fans are almost like family, even if I don’t know them.
Some of them I really do know and I’ve seen them and spoken to them since I was a little girl. That’s a small chunk of them, but then the people that I haven’t had a chance to talk to they’ve been at my shows and we have sort of collaborated together over the years. Especially now with social media, I actually get to truly collaborate with the fans.
The fans have made the artwork for the album, and there was a fan that made the artwork for my last single “Loving You.” There was a record that I did that was a remix album that was also made by the fans, so it’s a real true collaboration and we have been through so much. The fact that I started when I was 16 and now I’m 37, it has also been 20 years for them too.
My fans have been with me mostly since the beginning, or at least 10 years, so we’ve gone through so much in that time. When I talk about relationships that have worked out or haven’t worked out and having children, they’re all they were there.
It’s like having parallel lives and we have walked together. I didn’t actually know or foresee that, and I only really noticed it when I did the 20 year celebration. That’s when I noticed that we are not alone. I do not feel alone when I’m playing life and I feel like I’m with my people.
Joss Stone with Pacific Symphony Pops
When: Dec. 20-21, 2024
Where: Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, Costa Mesa, Calif.
Tickets: $50-$193
Website: www.PacificSymphony.org