[Jennifer Vanilla](https://www.instagram.com/jennifervanilla/?hl=en) is you, me, and everyone in between. Born on a self-named planet, Jennifer exists as an “attitudinal device” rather than a fully formed human, an attitude that’s evolving, unmarked, and experimental. When not inspiring others to be their best selves, whether that means wearing what you want or thinking just the same, Vanilla takes the form of Becca Kauffman, the performance artist and entertainer interested in exploring and provoking what is and isn't, can and can’t be. As they prepare for the release for their first EP, [J.E.N.N.I.F.E.R.](https://jennifervanilla.bandcamp.com/releases), as well a brand new music video for the track [Erase the Time](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wm02frH-oQQ), Vanilla takes a second to chat with us and give a self-led tour through Jennifer Land, a world of freedom and wonder.
**I'm interested to hear a little bit about your creative journey. I know you spent some time on the east coast, would you say that influenced your music and art practice?**
I grew up in Boston and I've been performing since I was 5 years old, pretty young. I've been actively involved in music and performance ever since. I moved to New York in 2008 and unexpectedly joined a band, Ava Luna. We wound up releasing four albums, playing and touring together for 10 years. It's been two weeks now since I had my very last show with them. Because it felt like I was ready for a change, I was ready to make the change from Becca to Jennifer.
**Who is Jennifer?**
I think of Jennifer as a second skin, a suit that I can put on. I step into a different mind frame and view the world in a different way. Jennifer helps me mediate some difficulties and social hang-ups that I have, so it's kind of therapeutic, in a way. There's a power in costume and presentation, a way to reinvent yourself by recycling and remixing parts of yourself, inverting them or elaborating on them, playing things up and playing things down. It's a way of being malleable with your own identity.
**Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm understanding Jennifer to be a more broad concept that’s applicable to anyone with like minds, right?**
Totally. Jennifer is an attitudinal device whose purpose is to transfigure the mindset of its user. It's versatile and very accommodating. Adopting Jennifer as a kind of mask is a gateway between the private and public, the private self and the public self Inhabiting the mindset of Jennifer is something that anyone can do.
Photo Credit: Marcus McDonald & Raph Fineberg
**I couldn't help but notice your merch shirts that say things like “100% Jennifer” and all things “Jennifer” really, what was the inspiration behind those shirts?**
When I first started performing as Jennifer I developed an origin story for her. I created a place where she came from: Jenniferland, on Planet Jennifer. The Jenniferland Bureau of Tourism penned a catchy theme song called "Jenniferland Audio Brochure" to promote the district, summarizing the array of offerings in Jennifer's homeland, what can happen and what's possible, activities you can participate in-- braiding, figure 8's with your hips, gals just hangin'. The theme of travel, of transportation, is central to the experience that I try to create when I'm performing live. I offer my line of Jenniferwear merchandise, which consists of handpicked T-shirts, turtlenecks, and berets decorated with unique Jennifer-specific text, as souvenirs and keepsakes so visitors can, so to speak, remember the trip.
Photo Credit: Marcus McDonald & Raph Fineberg
**Can you tell us anything about the new music we’re getting on this J.E.N.N.I.F.E.R. EP?**
J.E.N.N.I.F.E.R. EP consists of two pop singles (major hits back in Jenniferland): a metaphysical dance groove called Space Time Motion, and Erase the Time, which is essentially a spell casting on the linear.
**Last question I have for you: you exist as so many different things from being a performance artist and DJ to embodying Jennifer Vanilla, If a random person on the street asked you what you do, what would you say?**
I say I'm an entertainer. Though usually when a person on the street inquires about me, it's when I'm wearing a Jennifer Vanilla t-shirt. So I'm frequently get asked, “What's that, who’s Jennifer?" Which is exactly the point.
Listen to J.E.N.N.I.F.E.R. EP [here.](https://jennifervanilla.bandcamp.com/releases)
