Growing up in Alliance, Ohio, Jessica Shetler spent hours in her bedroom with a karaoke machine, singing along and dancing, but she rarely let anyone hear her voice.
“I was always afraid to get on stage in front of people,” she said. “I really leaned into sports at that time.”
It wasn’t until her mom encouraged her to audition for the high school musical, “Grease,” that Shetler took a leap.
“I was really like, ‘I don't want to do it. And she's like, ‘No, you have to audition,’” Shetler said. “So I did, and I got the part of Sandy.”
Getting the starring role forced her to come out of her shell, which helped set her on a path toward becoming a singer-songwriter and performing as JSSZCA.
Weaving lo-fi pop, dreamlike textures and personal storytelling into her music, she started releasing songs in 2023 and has become a fixture in Cleveland’s music scene.
Before she was a songwriter, Shetler was a competitive swimmer, specializing in long-distance races.
She found that music often helped her keep rhythm in the water.
“I think a lot of the times like when I was swimming, I was constantly singing a song in my head,” she said.
She said swimming also helped her learn how to perform under pressure, particularly with dozens of people watching her every move.
She uses those lessons as a musician today.
“It gave a lot a background of just having to be on and perform — just a completely different style,” she said. “One's racing and competing. The other one's entertaining.”
Overcoming fears through musical connections
After college, Shetler moved to Cleveland and started playing in a cover band to make extra money.
Those gigs opened the door to songwriting and eventually forming her own band.
“I put out ads on Craigslist. At that time, it wasn't as scary as it is today,” she said. “And I ended up making a lot of great friends and musicians that I still play with today.
She started a blues-rock band called Top Hat Black. The group recorded EPs, played festivals and became a regular presence in Cleveland venues.
For Shetler, it was also a way to keep pushing against her stage fright.
“I think I kept leaning into it, because it was scaring me and I wanted to overcome it,” she said. “So, I kept trying.”
She said stage fright might not ever go away, but it’s also how she processes excitement when she’s about to perform.
“I think I kept leaning into it, because it was scaring me and I wanted to overcome it. So, I kept trying.”Jessica Shetler
Music also became a shared project between Shetler and her husband, guitarist Nate Jones.
“Nate is always helping me. He's an amazing musician. He can hear a song and know what notes are being played and the chords,” Shetler said.
She said she plays music “off of feel” rather than notes and chords.
“I'll write a song, and he basically charts the rest of the music so that I can bring in other musicians to play on it,” she said.
Having him on stage, she added, “definitely makes me feel a little less nervous.”
As developed her sound as a solo artist, collaborating with producer Muzzy Fossa expanded her sound, giving her recordings their distinct dream-like feel.
Songs for her parents
As she grew into her career, some of Shetler’s most intimate music came after the loss of her parents.
Her mother, Cindy, had been crowned Alliance’s Carnation Queen in 1975. That memory was the inspiration for the song, “Carnation Queen.”
“I grew up idolizing her and going to every pageant with her,” Shetler said. “When I wrote the song, I really wanted it to capture her energy and her spirit.”
When her grandmother passed, Shetler and her family discovered a trunk in the basement filled with memorabilia from her mom’s pageant win — the preserved flowers, the sash and reels of footage.
She had the films digitized.
“I got to actually, you know, feel like I experienced seeing the entire pageant,” she said. “It was a really cool experience.”
Another song, “That Was All,” was written in honor of both her parents and her own process of navigating grief.
“I picked up my dad's guitar one day and just kind of was plucking around at the strings, and I was feeling very overwhelmed and just kind of down,” she said.
She began humming over a melody and said the tone resonated with the emotions she was feeling.
“It’s honestly probably the most honest song I've ever written,” she said. “It's very raw. I never went back and edited any of the lyrics.”
Recorded at Akron Recording Company in a single take, the song focuses on small, everyday reminders of grief.
“My parents' phone numbers are both still on my phone. It's just kind of highlighting those little moments that you go through and trying to continue to live your life and move on,” she said.
Shetler said beyond the grief, the song emotes the love she received from them, and that’s the most important thing.
Sound healing
Shetler recently became certified in sound healing, where she focuses on using crystal singing bowls to help people reset and relax.
Sound therapy and sound healing has existed for thousands of years and is used by many cultures around the world.
It involves using specific frequencies that are said to be in alignment with the body’s energy centers or chakras.
“Playing these specific notes and frequencies can help you to relax, reset your nervous system,” she said.
For now, she’s been offering her sound bath sessions for free, inviting people to experience the practice. As JSSZCA, she’s written a new song that reflects her astrological sign and the emotional intensity that runs through her work.
“Scorpios sometimes get a bad rap in the zodiac astrology world because we can be intense,” she said. “But we're a water sign, and water signs are known to be emotional. Just at a different depth than I think most people are sometimes comfortable being in.”
For Shetler, the connection runs deeper. As a former competitive swimmer, she spent much of her youth pacing long-distance races by singing songs in her head.
That discipline — finding rhythm in the water and pushing past limits — mirrors how she now approaches music.
“It's kind of just honoring that I can be emotional and intense at the same time,” she said.
She will release the track, “Scorpion,” during Scorpio season in late October.
