One Great Thing is a weekly series where artists tell us all about one thing they’ve been really into lately. This week, Jennifer Hernandez, aka the Brooklyn-based producer, educator, and synth builder JWords, tells us why she’s been playing a lot of Animal Crossing. The latest JWords record Sound Therapy is out now.
— Annie Fell, Editor-in-chief, Talkhouse Music
I don't know if it's corny, but I'll talk about it: My favorite game that I've been playing lately is Animal Crossing: New Horizons. It’s the one that they dropped in 2020 for the Switch, but recently I've been playing because I got the new upgrade. Well, it's not new — it came out 2021, but I just got it. I can build island homes for the villagers, so I've just been decorating homes and it's been so fun.
For a while, I didn't know how to design my island. Like how people have their island look so cute — I've been trying to get to that level. I've been watching a lot of YouTube videos about it. I can build partition walls and get really intricate with the designs, and there are cool rugs and furniture. Right now, I've been unlocking DIY recipes where I can build the moon. Honestly, I’ve been hacking the game a little bit, going to treasure islands where I can get free stuff. I'm sorry, anybody reading, if you feel like I'm cheating the game. But I just want to get furniture for my island…
I started playing heavy again last year, which was when I was putting the album together. It would give me some relief from my outer world, because I was kind of going through it. I’d had to move back in with my parents and I was not stable. So playing Animal Crossing made me feel like I can decorate this room, and maybe when I eventually get my own space, I could decorate and add this and that. It helped me see that things were possible, even though I was just playing a game.
Now I'm not with my parents, so I'm able to decorate my room and make it look cute. And it's all thanks to Animal Crossing! [Laughs.] I don't know if people are going to find this dumb, but I don't care, honestly. If anybody has advice to make my island look cuter in a very fast manner, let me know.
As told to Annie Fell.
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