JayaHadADream: the introspective rap storyteller turning aspiration into reality

Beaming in via Zoom from her home in Cambridge, JayaHadADream – aka Jaya Gordon-Moore – sits in a bedroom splashed with colour and character. Music, posters and retro video iconography hang on the walls and turn her eggshell fortress into a living scrapbook of her journey so far – a visual that’s immortalised on the cover of her forthcoming mixtape, ‘Happiness From Agony’. As talkative as she is lyrically sharp, Gordon-Moore’s already gleaming from ear to ear, chatting about new releases, PlayStation games and the roots that shaped her.

Those roots trace back to her childhood home, also in Cambridge, where her hallway was once adorned with a full printout of Martin Luther King Jr.’s ‘I Have a Dream’ speech – a mantra that began as a school day backdrop and years later evolved into Gordon-Moore’s namesake. “I used to walk past that poster every day as a kid,” she explains. “It really latches onto you. It was a mix of that and my mum being really vocal on social issues – especially around race, class and gender. It made me realise I had to look at my dreams through a whole new lens. When people see me on stage, it’s like, ‘She had a dream and now she’s living it’.”

After graduating with a first-class sociology degree from the University of Nottingham, she spent a period doing charity work before landing a teaching job. “I really didn’t think I’d get it,” she laughs, “but I applied anyway and next thing I knew I was teaching A-Level criminology to three sets of 30 students, then going [to the] studio afterwards.”

Gordon-Moore’s early output was scattered sonically: 2019’s ‘Half Hearted Heart’ felt like a lo-fi SoundCloud R&B experiment, while 2021’s ‘Too Many’ paired vulnerable writing with a drill-shaped mould. By 2024’s ‘Stubborn’, she’d found a balance – a confident, reflective sound that nods to the raw storytelling of 2000s British rap reminiscent of The Mitchell Brothers.

At the end of 2023, she quit her job teaching to concentrate on music – something she references in ‘State Of The World’, the airy, R&B-glazed opening track of her new project, ‘Happiness From Agony’. “[That track] is really the anchor for everything I do,” Gordon-Moore tells NME. “It features my nan on the intro, and it’s a real stream of consciousness-type track. In the verses, I talk about feeling overwhelmed now that people are fans of me. I’ve gone from being a full-time A-Level criminology teacher to doing cyphers.”

Since leaving the classroom behind, things have taken off for the 25-year-old. Just half a year later, she was performing on Glastonbury’s Woodsies stage after winning the festival’s coveted Emerging Talent Competition. “It was transformative for me, exposing me to festival culture and making me feel part of its history,” she reflects. “It empowered me and deepened my self-esteem as an artist, leading me to take performances more seriously. It even connected me to the spiritual aspects of performing, making me feel more open… and a bit more hippie [chuckles].”

Following her Worthy Farm debut, she’s continued to make an impression on festival crowds at the likes of Reading & Leeds and Boomtown, delivered formidable sets for Sounds Of The Verse with Sir Spyro, BBC Radio 1Xtra and Travs Presents, and been nominated for two Youth Music Awards. She’s collaborated with grime heavyweights like Jme and Flowdan, watching her music reach new heights along the way. “It’s mad to think how far I’ve come through all of that – it’s a blessing,” she adds.

“I’m just being the best MC possible, regardless of the box I’m put in”

Despite her sizeable achievements, Gordon-Moore embraces her “rough-around-the-edges” moments in an industry that expects women to appear flawless. “I’m not the kind to have a full face of make-up, but I’d also be the girl who used to roll up to events in dresses and spit better than everyone,” she explains. “I try to celebrate my tomboy side.”

Since her last EP, ‘Redemption Songs’ – a collaborative six-tracker with producer Zoutr – JayaHadADream’s artistry has, she says, “levelled up massively”. Gone are awkward hooks (‘Sunny Day’) – now, her tracks feel like a coin toss between slick-tongued sermons and weathered introspection. With JayaHadaADream, you’re never quite sure what you’ll get.

‘Happiness From Agony’, her debut mixtape, continues to keep listeners on their toes. Gordon-Moore cites the soulful and syrupy number ‘I Know’ as her favourite track and one of her proudest moments of her career so far. “I don’t think people are expecting a mellow track like that from me,” she reasons. “When I made it, I listened on repeat, which is very rare for me. It gave me the same feelings my favourite songs do, and I’ve never really been able to recreate that. I also sing a lot more on it.”

On ‘The Bank’, she leans into bubbly 2-step production, perfect for dented, checkerboarded party floors and garage raves. By contrast, ‘Repackage’, her collaboration with Capo Lee, trades that bounce for trap-ruptured 808s, giving her space to volley back at haters, “repackage hate back to the sender / I’m Top Five, doesn’t matter what gender,” as she puts it.

It’s no surprise, then, that Gordon-Moore relates to artists being forced to categorise their sound – a struggle for someone who hops effortlessly between styles. “It’s just a collage that I’m tapping into,” she explains. “I can’t lie, being biracial [Jamaican and Irish] means you’re automatically one foot in everything ­– you see things differently.

“There’s also a lot of letting people bring you in. I do a lot of grime and hip-hop, and in my early work, I sang more while I was still finding myself artistically. I see grime as a movement and world, and hip-hop as a genre – it’s hard for me to identify with just one thing.”

As our chat winds down, Gordon-Moore smirks, hinting towards more brewing beneath the surface. The next chapter, she says, is all about taking her new tape on the road. What’s certain is how far she’s come from those university bedroom sessions. “Yeah,” she laughs, “my pen game’s better, my delivery’s better. I’ve actually got people to work with now. I’m just being the best MC possible, regardless of the box I’m put in. I think the kid in me who absorbed and saw so much growing up would be proud.”

JayaHadADream’s ‘Happiness From Agony’ is out October 26

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