During the past three years, singer-songwriter Jennifer Saran has gone from best-kept-secret status to being hailed as one of the freshest new voices in alt-pop/adult contemporary music. It started in 2015, when she turned critics’ heads with Merry Christmas, You Are Loved, her debut holiday album produced by multiple Grammy and Emmy-winning record maker Narada Michael Walden (Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Sting) and released on his own Tarpan Records.

Saran soon followed it up with Walk With Me, a captivating mix of luscious soul and R&B, co-written and produced by Walden, and next came Wake Up, an album brimming with consciousness-raising gems, including the globally recognized title cut that featured the talents of South African Grammy-winning male choral group Ladysmith Black Mambazo and the distinctive guitar playing of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee and multiple Grammy-winning legend Carlos Santana. Continuing her winning collaboration with Walden, Saran released her second holiday album in 2017, Soulful Christmas, a delightful assortment of seasonal treasures that saw the singer joined by the Temptations on the single “Christmas Lover.”

Fans have been speculating as to what Saran will do next, and now that answer is upon us: Jazz. The Hong Kong-based singer has been working once again with Walden at his Tarpan Studios in San Rafael, California, writing and recording songs for an EP slated for Spring 2019 that will see her fully embrace the moody and melancholy genre that she’s loved her entire life. “I’m so excited to be writing and singing jazz,” Saran enthuses.

“I’ve always been a fan of Billie Holiday, Rosemary Clooney, Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan. And, of course, there’s Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett. The songs that Narada and I are writing together follow in their traditions, the way they could blend darkness with the gentle side of things.” She laughs, then adds, “Maybe I was born too late, but I believe there’s a timelessness to this style of music. It’s dramatic and elegant. I’m finding that this material feels very natural to me.”