Today we’d like to introduce you to Juniper Vale.
Hi Juniper, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
One of my earliest memories is sitting in the back seat of my dad’s car listening to jazz on the radio. He played in a bluegrass trio, and was making music all the time. When I was little I started writing melodies in my head over the chord progressions he would play.
I grew up in Pueblo, Colorado, and during high school my music teacher, Andy Clementi, really encouraged my songwriting and helped me book some of my first gigs. After high school, I knew that I wanted to write songs for a living, so I moved to Nashville to attend Lipscomb University, majoring in classical vocal performance and minoring in English while essentially trying to build my own songwriting degree.
While in school, I started a folk band with some friends and through that band started working with Nashville producer and songwriter Vian Izak. Vian and I met up for a few co-writes and started writing pop songs that didn’t really fit the folk world that I was living in at the time. We had such a fun time writing together, and those cowrites and songs eventually turned into my artist project, Juniper Vale, which we launched in 2016. Ten years later, Vian and I are now married and still writing and producing pop music together in Nashville.
Since launching Juniper Vale, I’ve released five albums and surpassed 100 million streams. In 2026, my song “Winter Sun” was sampled on Future’s track “Hollywood” from his album The Real Me, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.
I’m still making new music every week, and after all these years, songwriting is still the part I love the most.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
My career definitely hasn’t been a completely smooth road. Early on, I was part of a folk band that ultimately became an unhealthy environment for me, and leaving was a difficult and painful experience. I lost a lot of my community after the band breakup and I had invested so much of my identity in that chapter of my life that starting over creatively took a lot of courage. In hindsight, though, it became one of the most important turning points in my career. It pushed me to go all in on Juniper Vale and to start creating music on my own terms. And I ended up finding new community that embraced me for who I was and who encouraged who I was becoming.
I’m not sure I would have found my voice in the same way without that experience. Sometimes the chapters that are hardest to live through become the ones you’re most grateful for because of where they ultimately lead. Nearly a decade later, hearing “Winter Sun” sampled by Future on his No. 1 album called “The Real Me” definitely feels like an affirming full-circle moment.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Juniper Vale is my Nashville-based indie pop project, built around ethereal vocals, cinematic production, and emotionally driven songwriting. The music lives somewhere between indie pop, alternative pop, and cinematic folk, and listeners who connect with artists like AURORA or Yebba often find their way to my work. Over the past decade, I’ve released five albums and the music has surpassed 100 million streams! I work closely with Nashville producer and songwriter Vian Izak and UK based producer and composer Ben Laver (moniker Ah. BLOOM) to make all of my tracks. In 2024 I started my own label called uncrumpled records and one of my first tracks released on the label, “Winter Sun” was sampled by the rapper Future on the song “Hollywood” from his album The Real Me, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. “Hollywood” was produced by four-time Grammy winner Sean Momberger, whose credits include Kendrick Lamar’s Grammy-winning “Not Like Us” and “tv off,” alongside Wheezy, the hitmaker behind records such as Lil Baby and Drake’s “Yes Indeed”, and 808 Mafia co-founder Southside, a defining architect of modern trap music. The Real Me became Future’s 12th Billboard 200 No. 1, putting him among the artists with the most No. 1 albums in chart history. It is wild to be listed as a songwriter beside some of the most prolific tastemakers in music history.
What sets Juniper Vale apart is the combination of intimate songwriting with expansive, cinematic world-building. I love creating songs that feel timeless on their own but that also contain melodies, vocals, and textures that can take on an entirely new life in another artist’s music. Collaboration is such a beautiful aspect of the process of making music and it is really cool and freeing to think that a song may not have reached its final form after its initial release. Hearing “Winter Sun” take on a totally new life on Future’s track “Hollywood” was such a life changing experience. It is amazing how songs take on a life of their own.
When “Winter Sun” was sampled on Future’s track “Hollywood” from his album The Real Me, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 it opened an entirely new chapter for Juniper Vale. Today Vian, Ben and I create original samples and compositions for some of the top producers working in hip-hop and pop, while continuing to build the world of Juniper Vale. I’m excited to see where the music continues to take us!
Do you have any advice for those just starting out?
I wish I had understood earlier that a song can have a much longer life than its original release. Learn how your publishing and master rights work, keep your ownership and metadata organized, and make sure you know exactly what you can clear. Years after I released “Winter Sun,” Future sampled it for “Hollywood” on his No. 1 album The Real Me. That completely changed the way I think about a catalog.
I’d also tell anyone starting out that relationships matter as much as talent. Be generous, reliable, easy to work with, and help other people make great things. Some of the most exciting opportunities in my career have come from relationships that developed over years, and today we work with top producers across hip-hop and pop.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.thejunipervale.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thejunipervale/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thejunipervale
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/thejunipervale
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/junipervale
- Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/junipervale
