JeLa Turns Wounds Into Music in Her Intimate New Single “Oh, Honestly”
An acoustic guitar that caresses as gently as JeLa’s soft, delicate voice sets the tone for the 3 minutes and 39 seconds of “Oh, Honestly,” the new single from the independent singer-songwriter who creates, through her music, a space of vulnerability where anyone can find refuge.
“‘Oh, Honestly’ is about self-sabotage and healing. It was inspired by therapy sessions and late-night fights—those moments when you test someone’s love because you don’t know how to trust it yet. It’s about realizing that staying can be as brave as leaving, and that sometimes love doesn’t fix you—it just holds you while you learn to fix yourself,” she said.
The artist delivers that idea with disarming honesty. Each line moves carefully, as if she were treading familiar ground where relationships are tested not because love is lacking but because old wounds still need room to be acknowledged. In the single, JeLa observes that human, contradictory impulses and turns it into a luminous reflection on the possibility of trusting again, while quietly crafting an apology laced with gratitude.
That path continues with “How to Love,” her upcoming release scheduled for later this year, a song that deepens her exploration of what it means to learn to receive love when life has taught you to distrust it.
JeLa began her artistic career at a moment when many people feel the path is already set. But she chose to shift her rhythm and follow an inner voice that had been waiting for decades. After turning 40, having built a solid trajectory as one of Manhattan’s most recognized plastic surgeons, and after raising her three children, she decided to professionalize the music that had always come naturally to her. She’s now 57 and has spent the last three years dedicated exclusively to making music, where emotional maturity stands out as her most invaluable signature.
Her story isn’t as idyllic as it might seem. For years, she carried the aftermath of a childhood marked by emotional abuse, fear, and constant invalidation. Instead of silencing that pain, she transformed it into her own language through music. First in secret, with only a few chords learned by ear; later, through formal studies in composition, music theory, piano, and voice.
That ability to look inward without slipping into easy dramatics or heavy victimhood is what sets JeLa apart in today’s indie-pop landscape. “Oh, Honestly” is a clear example, as it speaks of the self-sabotaging impulses that emerge when love feels too fragile or too new and of how someone’s steady presence can challenge old beliefs about affection and safety.
She has lived, and it’s evident in every song she writes. They work as vivid mirrors that reflect everything from the sad child at the mercy of a narcissistic mother and an enabling father to the grown woman who understands that dreaming isn’t enough; you have to act, even when it feels like the wind is blowing against you.