A force of nature from a young age, Natalie Jane became a promising talent through heartfelt and powerfully arced performances and stylistic adventurousness. Singer and keyboardist Natalie Janowski was born in New Jersey but came of age musically in Los Angeles, where she became an American Idol contender in 2020. Her independently released streaming hits of the following two years led her to a recording contract with Capitol. Her first major-label outing, the pop monolith “AVA,” became her biggest smash to date, its vindictive power enhanced by her breathy, dynamic vocal delivery. Jane broadened her reach with a hit that was distinctive and unusual enough to inspire a social-media craze: a somber, noir-tinged cover of Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy” with trap and gospel trappings. The tracks that populated her 2023 debut album, Where Am I?, combined alt-R&B production influences with unbridled pop vocal power.