Jewel is revisiting one of the most surreal and dangerous chapters of her early career — a real-life encounter with Mexican police during a drug bust that would later inspire one of her most enduring songs.
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Speaking during her Not Alone Summit at Wynn Las Vegas in November, the singer, who has reached the top 10 on the Billboard 200 with six albums, reflected on the experience in an exclusive interview with PEOPLE, which first reported the story exclusively.
According to Jewel, the incident took place in the summer of 1994, when she was 20 years old and traveling through Mexico with longtime collaborator Steve Poltz during a break from writing music.
What began as a quiet songwriting retreat quickly escalated into something far more perilous. While spending time on a remote beach in Baja California, Jewel and Poltz were approached by armed men in uniform identifying themselves as Mexican federal police.
After casually asking if the officers knew where they could go whale watching, the pair were invited onto a small boat — only to learn mid-trip that the officers were in the middle of an active drug bust.
“They said, ‘We’re on a drug bust,’” Jewel recalled. When she asked if the situation was dangerous, she said the officer responded simply: “Sí.”
The singer later realized that the wooden bench she was sitting on doubled as storage for automatic weapons. As the boat chased a fleeing vessel that refused to identify itself, Jewel said she watched officers pursue suspects, uncovering large quantities of marijuana hidden under rocks along the shoreline.
Despite the gravity of the situation, Jewel recalled moments of disbelief and dark humor, including fears that she and Poltz could be framed or imprisoned.
“I was really paranoid we were gonna end up in a Tijuana prison,” she said.
Photographs from the incident — including one showing Jewel holding a rifle alongside officers — later circulated online, becoming a piece of ’90s music lore.
In the aftermath, Jewel and Poltz remained in Mexico briefly, continuing to write music. One of the songs born from that period would become “You Were Meant for Me,” released in 1995 on her debut album Pieces of You.
