jo from school – Julia Roberts
jo from school is the project of Jo Geller, a 22-year-old North London songwriter and BRIT School graduate who started writing at the piano aged nine and recently signed to Chess Club Records. “Julia Roberts” is her second single after May’s debut “Chicken”, and it comes with the announcement of her debut EP, “Grace, Flair & Distance”, a six-track set due August 10. The EP title comes from a game her father invented when she was a child.
Despite the name, the song has nothing to do with the actress. The title was a misheard lyric that stuck after a misunderstanding with collaborator Hugo Hardy, who co-wrote the track, while production credits go to Rich Cooper, who’s worked with CMAT and Billie Marten. The actual subject is an encounter on the tube: Geller watched a man a few years older than her crying while drinking a can at nine in the morning, realised she was crying too, and found the moment weirdly reassuring. The lyric stays inside that scene, circling the question of whether to offer help to a stranger and what it means to be looked at while someone breaks down. One image stands out: being stared at like a junior doctor, someone who’s supposed to know what to do and doesn’t. The refrain about not having felt this way “since I got here” keeps the location deliberately unfixed, the tube carriage and a whole life stage at once.
Musically it’s guitar and drums going around the same chord, percussion steady as a heartbeat, restraint held until the closing chorus when the arrangement swells and Geller’s voice dissolves into a scream. She says the song marks a shift from anxious introspection toward learning to be loud, and you can hear that arc compressed into four minutes. The video, co-directed by Geller and Rosa Levenson, was shot on the hottest day of the year at Alexandra Palace’s ice rink, where she works part-time; the cast are friends and colleagues, and one of the skaters is her sister Grace. I didn’t expect the scream, and that’s exactly why it lands.
Tour Dates:
Europe:
- Jun. 12 / Paris, France / Supersonic (with Skullcrusher)
- Jun. 13 / Antwerp, Belgium / Trix (with Skullcrusher)
- Jun. 16 / London, UK / Rich Mix (with Skullcrusher)
- Jun. 18 / Manchester, UK / Yes Pink Room (with Skullcrusher)
- Jun. 20 / Dublin, Ireland / Workman’s Club (with Skullcrusher)
- Jun. 30 / London, UK / Fly the Nest @ The Greyhound, Peckham
