Simone Jackson and her best friend Daisy make for an amusing odd-couple on. Simone is the rock to Daisy’s runaway — a big sister the neglected Daisy’s needed all her life. When Daisy doubts herself, it’s Simone who forces the novice singer onto the stage. Both women dream of topping the charts, but when we first meet the pair, only Simone is putting in tough days at the studio, fending off predatory L.A. producers and hiding her sexuality for fear of scaring off record labels.
The queerness was great because it did justice to how impactful disco music was for the LGBTQ+IA movement. It gave Simone more profundity. By the time we get to that episode, Simone is dominating the New York disco scene. Did you have specific references in mind when developing her voice? It was hard. I’m telling a story of a musician navigating the industry, and I am one myself. I imagined my father trying to be a pioneer — trying to bring reggae music to the mainstream.