Imagine having something in your bones, in the very make up of who you are, who you have been since childhood that drives you every step of the way, each and every day. Now, imagine that path, the thing you know you were meant to do just fades away and you have nothing left.

That was almost the case for alternative musician, JJ Wilde.

“I had been living in this bad apartment. My band had broken up,” she said. “I was 22 or 23 when that broke up. I was so invested in it and I was so sure that that was it and that was going to be my career. So when that broke up I was left a bit in shock. I was like, I guess I need to start over. I started to play around Kitchener and Waterloo (Ontario).”

Working other jobs to stay afloat, Wilde was confronted with what she saw as a devastating choice in front of her.

“That doesn’t pay the rent so I had part-time jobs,” she said. “I was serving at a restaurant, bartending at a local venue, and I was doing reception at a local spa. So, I was doing all of that and still trying to play gigs two or three times a week.”

Life was catching up with Wilde. Her notebooks of music, all of the poems she had placed to music after learning the guitar were in jeopardy to the inevitable move to the next phase of life.

“The grind got to me,” Wilde said. “I felt like I was on the hamster wheel and it just kept going. It was wearing me down so I thought it was time to get a ‘real’ job. I even went to a career counselor.”

That was the turning point in 2018. That was when the fire was ignited that launched a young woman into the next phase of doing what she loves.

“It wasn’t until I left that appointment, I left feeling defeated. I left realizing I didn’t want to do anything else,” she said. “I just sat here wasting this woman’s time for like an hour, knowing I am not going to be happy doing anything else. So it was that kind of definitive of ‘this isn’t working but I am not going to do anything else so I will make this work’ kind of thing.”

It wasn’t until it was all about to crash down and Wilde made a resolute stand that she met her current manager and her career turned around. She now has an EP out and has been hitting the road.

On Saturday, Wilde will be live and on stage at the Town Ballroom’s Leopard Lounge as she makes her first headlining tour. Doors open at 8 p.m.

“It’s going to be high energy. I leave it all on the stage,” Wilde said. The people of Buffalo can expect a lot of sweat and a good time! One of my favorite things as a musician is the performing aspect. There’s no better feeling than when the crowd is into it. I feed off the energy and all that goes into it. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

So, about those three part-time jobs? Wilde says things have taken an upswing.

“I am very happy to say I am just doing music full time now. I would not be opposed to the working bar at a venue though,” she said.