Kendra Jae Talks Crashing Beyonce’s Tour Audition, Transitioning to Music, Saweetie Collab, and More (Video)

West Coast-native Kendra Jae first burst into the entertainment industry after high school as a professional dancer. On her very first tour, she graced the stage with Beyonce as part of the Formation World Tour — at the time, the youngest dancer on the 49 show dates stint.

Hitting the road with Drake and touching the stage with other big names like Dua Lipa, Tyga, and Gwen Stefani prepared her for her transition into becoming an artist, which she described as ‘divine timing.’

Now, releasing music of her own, Kendra Jae is doing it “Big,” as she confidently states in her current single. Already, she’s received co-signs, plus collaborated with Saweetie, Bizness Boi [Elton John, Rihanna] and GRAMMY® Award winner Camper [H.E.R., Mariah Carey]. With a long list of accomplishments under her belt early on, Kendra Jae is a star — so get familiar.

In an exclusive interview, Kendra Jae sat down with Baller Alert to talk about her career as a professional dancer –including crashing Beyonce’s tour auditions–, transitioning to music, her Saweetie collaboration and more.

You began your career as a professional dancer right after high school and released your first single last year. Did you always want to make music and what was that transition like from dancer to artist?

Music has been a part of who I am from a young girl. I started dancing at a really young age and fell in love with it, pretty much committed my life to entertaining. Everyone knew I would graduate from high school and move to LA and chase the dream. It was a really smart decision for me. Now I’m seeing the fruits of my labor pay off more than ever.

The transition was relatively smooth and seamless. I wanted to make sure it was not forced. I pride myself on everything happening in divine timing. When I moved to LA, the first three years was not it. I didn’t know if I would make it. But I stayed the course. I toured with Bey, did Beychella with her. I touched a number of stages — Tyga, Dua Lipa, Gwen Stefani, BeBe Rexha. I went on to choreograph Chole x Halle’s Do It video. I worked with Saweetie, then toured with Drake, and then I was like, OK, you know, the pandemic kind of slowed me down and made me look at everything I had accomplished, and I was like I’ve always wanted to do music and now’s the time.

Some people may have first heard you with the Saweetie collab, Seesaw. How did you guys link up?

Saweetie and I are real friends. We met in high school — we didn’t go to high school together, but we met in our hometown. We connected back in Southern California and we always supported each other at different moments in our lives and our careers. We lived together at one point. Her career really popped off when I was touring with Drake. When I came back, I jumped in and helped get her with choreographers. I supported her then. She just happened to pull up one day and heard me playing the song and was like, ‘Yo, this is a slap, send me this song. I wanna hear it in the car.’ I didn’t expect anything from it. Then she FaceTimed me and was like, ‘surprise, I got on the song.’ Shout out to the ICY GIRL!

In your current single ‘Big,’ we hear a lot of hip-hop, r&b and trap influences. What was the inspiration behind the track?

We wanted to come with something different than Seesaw. A lot of people that don’t know my story, that discovers me musically, when they hear my story — the phrase is like oh, she’s not new to this, she’s been doing this. I pride myself on coming from a place of humility in everything that I do. I feel like that’s one of the reasons I continue to evolve. But I had to get on a record and let the people know I’ve paid big dues to be here. And now that I’m making these big moves, y’all gonna hear me. Again, it stills come from a place of inspiration and humility.

How would you describe your style and sound of music?

I describe my sound in three words: Sweet but street. I have a sweet tone, sometimes it’s raspy somethings it’s not, but it has a sweet undertone to it. I’m a sweet girl, most say. When I get on the record, I still come from a street place.

You’ve already had the Saweetie collab. Who else would you like to work with?

Right now, I’m a really huge fan of Blaxt. He’s a west coast artist. He’s really big out there. Maybe a [Young] Thug, 21 Savage, Doja Cat. I have a whole wish list of collaboration, of course. Those are like my focus right now.

Back to touring, Beyonce’s Formation World Tour was your first introduction to touring. You were the youngest on the tour? How did that come about?

Yes, I was the youngest out of 19 women. When I moved to LA, I had three years of struggle. I was dropped by my dance agent and then joined this scholarship program for six months to focus on my craft. In my first audition out of the program, I was in a dance class and this girl was like, ‘you heard about the Beyonce audition?’ and of course I hadn’t because I didn’t have representation. I was like, ‘I’ma go. I have been working my butt off. I’ve worked for this moment.’ I showed up to the audition. It’s never recommended that you crash, but I was willing to bet on myself that I deserved to be on stage with her. Showed up, showed out. I just remember them being like, see you at callbacks. It was two weeks of auditions and then I got the call: ‘pack your bags, you’re going on tour.’

What did you learn from being on tour with Bey?

Her work ethic, for one, you don’t expect her to be the first one there and the last one to leave –it’s Beyonce. Her grace, she’s so gracious with everything she does. You would think someone of that caliber would be a little standoff, but it was very real and very safe.. her energy.

You also hit the stage with heavy hitters like Drake, Dua Lipa, Gwen Stefani, artists across various genres– how does that prepare you as your own artist?

Having the experience of being able to tap in with those different artists really prepared me. You’re in these rooms where you’re able to see what works, what doesn’t, how they run their rehearsals. I was always trying to be a sponge and absorb as much as I could. Sometimes it was like subconscious. I didn’t realize I was doing it until Chloe x Halle called me to choreograph their video. Things just came very natural when I was getting thrown into these situations. In those moments, I realized how much I learned from my experience as a dancer and how much of an advantage I have now stepping into my own artistry.

Let’s talk about your WIFEY movement. What is that about?

Coming in the game as a newbie, with a female-heavy industry right now, it was important to me to have my own identity. Being new, it’s going to be easy for people to say, ‘she reminds me of this person.’ Just being who I am, as a woman in my personal life and in my professional life, — and when I think of who that is, it’s charismatic, it’s independent, it’s bossy, it’s confident — the type of woman you’d want not just for a night, but for life because of what you bring to the table. And when I put a word on that, it’s — WIFEY type.