The beginning
Billie Joan became a musician by accident, when her late father found a cassette tape on the side of the road. She put it in her Walkman and discovered it was Springsteen’s album „Born in the USA.” Soon after she discovered Bob Dylan’s work and started to write her own songs, subsequently forming her own band in her early 20’s.
Artistic formation
Following the break up of the aforementioned band, she found Bon Iver, and his album „For Emma.” That prompted her to learn to play acoustic guitar and wonder if she even needs a band. By the end of 2014 in her late 20’s she became a solo artist, called Billie Joan (inspired by Billie Holiday & Joan Jett) and started promoting her work online, mainly by making her friend Ana record her playing all over her hometown and posting videos on You Tube.
She had appeared on demo festivals for upcoming talents as a solo contestant, playing her own material. Billie had lost her spot in the finals 10 times on 10 different demo festivals, getting beaten by bands in the same category, but she gained notable TV and radio exposure along the way.
First recordings
In 2016 she meets Milan Mijac, the drummer of a popular Croatian rock band “M.O.R.T.” He expressed an interest in her music and offered to produce, record and release her songs as an album under his newly formed independent label, called „Judas Records.” She wholeheartedly agreed and together they recorded 11 songs in his home studio. Using only her mahogany acoustic and a microphone; adding a pinch of harp and a bit of keyboards seemed to be the right recipe. The result was a genuine low budget folk album, filled with honesty and bitterness, with just enough punk attitude to spice it up.
Barren Land
„Barren Land“ was released on April 20th in 2017. It garnered her a lot of attention and got rave reviews from every major music magazine in the region. Praising her ability to play acoustic in a very harsh and raw manner, admiring her immaculate English and dubbing her the female Bob Dylan – „The true ambassador of the truly barren Croatian reality.” She promoted her album all across Croatia and neighboring countries. Playing her songs in clubs, pubs, bars as well as on music festivals, including the biggest one in Croatia – „INmusic“.
Billie Joan accompanied the album with the music video of the title track, „Barren Land“; depicting the beauties of her country and the young people leaving it; „Graveyard dad“, dedicated to her father, who died of suicide and „Oh, my dear Reverend“; a song about a Croatian reverend, who stated that women are lower beings and second class citizens. She most definitely wasn’t a fan of that statement.
Selfless
Her second full length album „Selfless“ was released on April 15th 2021 under a new label, but landed on deaf ears of Covid. This album offered the same raw sound, the same unpleasant and direct lyricism, but this time in true Dylan manner she switched to electric, with a pinch of drums for the rocker’s taste. On some of these tracks, aside from talking about church abuse in “The Preacher” or covering suicide among youngsters in “Little Jimmy” she also gives us a bit of an insight into her personal life, the struggles of holding on when it is far better to let go…
Billie Joan is also featured in two books describing Croatia’s contemporary music scene, where she is being recognized as one of many influential artists with undeniable impact, yet rarely seen on the charts. She is also featured in a new documentary called “The are here”, alongside fellow female singer-songwriters, directed by Andrijana Mirna Marin. Billie is now searching for a label outside her country and working on her “third time is the charm” album.