Jana Kramer

Jana Kramer loves to love. It gets her in trouble sometimes, but that’s okay, because she maintains that love is something she will never, ever give up on. And her latest single “I’ve Done Love” gets to the messy heart of how love can be as addictive as any drug. The song--written by Nashville’s finest, Nicolle Gaylon, Shane McAnally and Josh Osborne--artfully parallels the ups and downs of love with the ups and downs of the hard stuff. You can take hits, wake up hungover, go on midnight binges, and get your fix in a back alley even if you’ve never touched a drug. Near the end of the song, Kramer asks the question, “I’ve done love, or has it done me?” “Man, even with my experiences with domestic abuse and failed marriages, I still believe in love. I believe that love is the most powerful thing,” Kramer says. So when Gaylon texted Kramer her demo of the song, after they’d shared a long lunch in Nashville getting to know each other, it was love at first listen. “Nicolle said she thought I’d really connect to it. And in the first five seconds, I kept thinking, ‘Yep, yep, yep.’ Every sentiment in the song is me. I’ve never done a drug and I’ve never been drunk, but I have done love. Over and over and over again I've done it. It’s been the best and worst times of my life,” she says about what she considers to be the most authentic song she has ever put her voice on. “It is 100 percent who I am and what I’m about. I’ll always choose love, no matter what. I wanted to make sure my next song was one that said, ’This is who I am, this is where I’m at in my life, and this is my song,’” she said, adding that she is sure this is that song. Gaylon worked with Kramer to produce “I’ve Done Love,” which is the first step in Kramer’s next steps as an independent artist. Two years ago, when her second album thirty one was released, Kramer recalls being very proud of the music she’d made. Once it was done, though, she was thrilled be able to turn all of her attention toward her family when her daughter Jolie was born on Jan. 31, 2016.

Motherhood shifted the way Kramer thought about the music she’d make down the road. Because even though Jolie is just a toddler now, Kramer knows that someday, her baby girl will be listening to the music. “I always want her to be proud of me. I’m confident that I’m a great mom, and that’s my purpose now. That’s why I fight so hard for the things that I do,” she says. So with “I’ve Done Love,” Kramer is ready to be her absolutely authentic self. “I took the time to think about what kind of music, what kind of sound, and what kind of people I wanted around me to get there.” Kramer knew that her first two country albums came from her heart, but for a little while, she wasn’t so sure that Nashville was so sure of her. After her high-profile, two-year run on the CW's One Tree Hill, she had to prove to the country community that music wasn’t just a hobby for her. “I've always wanted to share my story and help change people's lives. That's how much this music means to me. And I’ve been through a lot in my life, and I feel like country music saved me in a lot of ways. I think about Martina McBride's 'A Broken Wing,' which helped me get through rough times,” she says. She even understands why people might have been hesitant about her dedication at first, because actors tend to experiment with music and then go back to Hollywood. But once Kramer moved to Nashville six years ago, she was there to stay. “Nashville seems to have said, ‘Wow, she’s staying, and she works hard,’” Kramer says. “This is my home. It’s where my now family is. I tell people if they want to sing country music, they need to move to Nashville. To dive in. Go to open mic nights. Talk with people. You just have to be here.” That mindset has worked, and Kramer has been collecting awards and chart records since her move and her debut. She was named the Academy of Country Music’s New Female Artist in 2013, and in 2016 she was nominated for the prestigious Female Vocalist of the Year award. And Kramer’s 2012 debut album Jana Kramer hit No. 5, and her first single from that album, "Why Ya Wanna," written by Ashley Gorley, Catt Gravitt and Chris DeStefano, shot to No. 3 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. That made Kramer the most played new artist of that year. Two years later, thirty onedebuted with career-best sales numbers, landing in the Top 10 of the all-genre Billboard 200 albums chart and at No. 3 on the Country Albums chart. Her endearing smash “I Got the Boy,” written by Connie Harrington, Tim Nichols, and Jamie Lynn Spears, was an instant fan favorite and ended up in the No. 5 spot on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart in 2015.

That kind of progress for a newcomer hasn’t made Kramer overly confident, but it has made her careful about resting on her laurels.
”I still have a lot to prove,” she insists. "I'm better at what I'm doing than I ever was before. And I'm not going anywhere. My first album was an introduction, the second one was my baby album, and now I want to tell the stories that are 100 percent my life.”
To that end, Kramer is committed to staying the course, and living and working and creating without any regrets. “I don’t want to look back and wonder what would’ve happened. I could have easily given up on this when the label and I parted ways, but I was not going anywhere. I’m staying true to my word,” she says.
“And I’m coming back with a vengeance.”