Jessie Early Makes A Case For Roller Disco Partying In Her “Heart” Video

When's the last time you laced up a pair of roller skates? Honestly, the last time I even thought about it was after watching Beyoncé's video for "Blow." Did I act on that impulse? No, but rising pop musician Jessie Early is inspiring that feeling all over again with her latest video, for "Heart."

Spread over a lush bed of synths and a groovy beat, Early pines for someone to stay the night while creating a song that gets you swaying. "I woke up with the beat in my head one morning," she says, "and I knew I wanted it to be something you could dance to." Hey, who knew it'd be perfect to skate to, too?

"The whole thing really started with a friend who said that she could see herself rollerskating to the song," Early continues. "Around that same time, I'd also been in love with this video of an event in Detroit called Soul Skate that I'd seen on YouTube, and I'd heard that there were whole groups of these skaters who'd meet up to skate in Nashville."

Early fell hard for the Smooth Skating style that originated in St. Louis. It's not just skating around a rink, it's about skating to the groove of a song, slowing down, and feeling the heart of the beat. "We found a Smooth Skating group on Facebook, went to a couple skate nights, and just kind of recruited people as we could," she says. "We put out a general 'anybody wanna come be in a music video?' call and weren’t really sure how many skaters were going to be there, but the most amazing skaters just showed up." 

The result is a beautiful, colorful video that feels "spontaneous, DIY, and fun." I'm calling it now: Rollerskating is the vibe of 2018.