“I didn’t fully want to go to college — I wanted to do music, and I want to be an artist,” explains Jazara Hutton, the 18-year-old singer/songwriter who released her debut single, “Friends,” this summer. The song, which conjures the familiar knottiness of having romantic feelings for a friend, was quickly popular on both Radio Disney and NRK P3, Norway’s biggest radio station.
Born and raised in Santa Barbara, Hutton packed up before her senior year at San Marcos High School and moved to Norway, where she attended a one-year intensive music program called LIMPI, which stands for Lillehammer Institute of Music Production and Industries. Living in Norway, she said, is “insane, especially being from Santa Barbara.”
LIMPI introduced Jazara to professionals who’d previously collaborated with Rhianna and Beyoncé. “Having those mentors for even a week was amazing,” said Hutton, though she remains very grateful to her hometown mentors, vocal coach Agatha Carubia and guitar teacher Adam Zelkind.