Jessica Eden Malakouti, professionally known as Jessie Malakouti, is an American singer-songwriter and dancer.Contents [hide] 1 Biography 2 Controversy 3 Discography 3.1 Singles 3.2 Compilation appearances 3.3 Background vocal appearances 4 References 5 External links
[edit] Biography
Jessie Malakouti began her professional performing career as a dancer at a young age working the Hollywood audition circuit. She appeared in several music videos and commercials through out her early teens.
In 2006 Malakouti began writing songs and performing live in sweaty dives along the Sunset Strip with her all girl So-Cal rock/rap band called Shut Up Stella and soon after signed with Epic Records. Shut Up Stella's music appeared in a variety of media between 2007-2008; "Watch Me Rain" was featured in MTV's "Sweet 16 The Movie" and "Welcome to My Party" appeared in the 2008 films "Girl Positive" and Baby Mama. On March 27, 2008 it was announced on their MySpace page that Shut Up Stella had been dropped by Epic and that Malakouti had decided to go solo.[1]
In 2008 Malakouti's songs "Trash Me" and "Outsider" appeared in episodes of MTV's The Hills.[2][3] The songs were also independently released as music videos and digital downloads by Malakouti herself.
In the summer of 2009, Malakouti was an opening act for select dates on The Saturdays' UK Work Tour. A remix of her song "Standing Up for the Lonely" appeared on Ministry of Sound's 2009 The Annual 2010 compilation.[4]
She is published as a songwriter by EMI and has been spliting her time between Los Angeles and London working on her debut solo album as well as writing for The UK's top pop production house Xenomania.[5] [edit] Controversy
It has been widely reported that Britney Spears's 2009 single "If U Seek Amy" was heavily influenced by Malakouti's 2008 single "Trash Me"[6] With the key, chord progression, BPM, and Melodies of both songs being identical. On November 16, 2008 Blogger Perez Hilton posted a story titled "Britney Spears: Why Buy The Album Now?" stating that Britney's producers had "stolen" the song from Malakouti, and that "The similarities were too much to be ignored." [7] Malakouti commented about the situation to Company Magazine's January 2010 issue stating: " I read on Perez Hilton that Britney had recorded a song that sounded exactly like a song that I wrote and I was shocked! I'd written Trash Me two years before and pitched it for Britney's Black Out album, but decided to keep it for myself... I blame the writers rather than her. I felt betrayed at the time, but now it feels good to know that I set the trend and it's a massive compliment." [8] [edit] Discography [edit] Singles "Trash Me" (2008) "Outsider" (2008) "Standing Up For The Lonely" (2009) [edit] Compilation appearances The Annual 2010 (2009, Ministry of Sound) (song: "Standing Up for the Lonely" Moto Blanco remix) Dance Nation 2 (2009, Ministry of Sound) (song: "Standing Up for the Lonely" Bass Slammers remix) Hed Kandi: Pure Kandi (2009, Hed Kandi) (song: "Standing Up for the Lonely" Moto Blanco remix)[9] [edit] Background vocal appearances The Pet Shop Boys (2009, Love etc.) (song: "Beautiful People")[10] The Pet Shop Boys (2009, Love etc.) (song: "Love etc.")[11]
