Foto-© Daniel Topete
Sechs Jahre ist es her, dass die in Los Angeles lebenden Multiinstrumentalistin, Songwriterin und Produzentin Melina Duterte mit ihrem Projekt Jay Som uns ihrem gefeierten zweiten Album Anak Ko den Durchbruch feierte. Die Jahre danach hat sie ihrer Leidenschaft für Produktion und Tontechnik gefrönt – und Credits bei den Alben von boygenius, Lucy Dacus und unzähligen weiteren geliebten Indie-Platten eingeheimst. Außerdem war sie Mitglied der Tournee-Band von boygenius, arbeitete mit Künstlern wie Troye Sivan und beabadoobee zusammen, trug zum Soundtrack von I Saw the TV Glow bei und vieles mehr.
Doch nun schwenkte Dutertes Fokus wieder um, denn am 10. Oktober erschien das neue Jay Som-Album Belong über Lucky Number Music (Label-Heimat von Acts wie Dream Wife, Momma, Hinds oder Sunflower Bean). Während Jay Som immer ein Soloprojekt für Duterte war, erweitert sie mit diesem Album ihre Welt durch die Zusammenarbeit mit externen Musikern, Autoren und Produzenten. Duterte schrieb, komponierte, performte, produzierte und mischte das Album mit Beiträgen von Joao Gonzalez (von Soft Glas), Mal Hauser (ein Mitarbeiter von Mk.gee und Illuminati Hotties) und Steph Marziano (Produzentin für Bartees Strange und Cassandra Jenkins). Außerdem hat sie zum ersten Mal Gastsänger*innen auf einem ihrer Alben begrüßt: Hayley Williams (von Paramore), Jim Adkins (von Jimmy Eat World) und Lexi Vega (von Mini Trees).
Auf dem Album ist Duterte auf der Suche nach dem Ort, an den sie gehört, innerhalb eines Indie-Rock-Ökosystems, dem Jay Som in den letzten sechs Jahren eher ferngeblieben ist. Das Ergebnis ist ein Album, das anders ist als alle Jay Som-Alben zuvor: ein 11-Song-Set über Selbstdefinition, das zwischen aufgeladenen Power-Pop-Hits und düsteren Balladen, zwischen elektronischen Kuriositäten und leichteren Hymnen schwebt. Wir sprachen mit Melina über ihr neues Album via Zoom – unser Interview!
I feel like this album is quite a different sound and I guess you are getting asked this by anyone, but if we can kick off…how the sound has changed since your last release, 6 years ago?
Yeah of course, hearing you say 6 years makes me feel so old. It scary how time flies! But yeah, its been a while so I have been working a lot in between in production and engineering. Working with all these people throughout the years has definitely helped to impacted this new record. As I have gotten closer to engineering and production, I get to see different skills and I get to see different people’s production styles. In a lot of ways its felt like going to back to school in working on the craft of it all. I have not been so hyper-focused on myself which has been nice.
It must be quite strange I guess, whereas before it was you writing and producing music and having this space to explore and now you’re collaborating with people, did it feel frustrating, or could you become more playful with it and embrace the new?
I would say it was pretty clear combination of frustration and clear creativity and fun… because I like to have fun! I don’t like to take myself too seriously, if I don’t want to do something, I am not going to do it, but when it’s for something I care about and there’s people working with me, then I really want to figure out why and how things work. Having co-producers on the records really helped, just having people tell me what to do was great .. like “oh this frequency sounds off”, or “change the rhythm of this bass part”, or even having someone else play guitar instead of me controlling everything, was vital to the album being finished.
In what ways has your taste changed? I guess that translates to the sound of the album and what you have curated.
I have always been a fan of pop music and we know pop music is always evolving into weird weird territories…I love the Charlie XCX record. But I also love how pop music influences indie music. I went back to listen to my favourite artists like Frou Frou, Imogen Heap, Bloc party, Paramore and getting back in touch with my routes.
Yeah, I guess this is where you took the album, looking back introspectively, going back to your youth and reliving that through the album. You can definitely hear that through the album, there is a sense of teen angst and energy and it conjured up a lot of fun images for me of that time.
Haha, thank you! Oh definitely there is teenage angst that I am reliving. But y’know I grew up in California in the land of alternative rock and pop rock and I wanted to see if I could try that this time around.
Tell me about the collaboration, how did you choose who you wanted to work with on the album, was it going back to bands, scenes or genres that you liked in your younger years, or something else?
I think the pandemic kind of jump started the collaborations, it was obviously a traumatic, terrible time, but…I got to rest and have a domestic lifestyle and be a part of a community in LA. Actually hanging out with my friends and not being on tour. I got to make more connections with people without them being involved in Jay Som. So my friend Joao Gonzalez, I was friends for years before we started working together and Mal Hauser too, we just started hanging out in LA until he asked to help. He was like hey do you need help with writing? I’m around. I was shy to reach out as I had so many failed attempts at making the record, but working with them and working with Steph Marziano, (who Hayley Williams introduced me to) was great. Steph and I wrote a bunch of songs together and that was a really fun process because I have never worked with a woman before or a producer or a writer and that was awesome as we connected on such a deeper level and she understood and respected me. There were songs that made it and songs that didn’t make it. Kyle Pulley helped me a lot with the harder songs and guitar tones. He was a huge fan of my music before and he would always tell me that he wanted to hear more of my voice throughout my songs, rather than instrumental passages. So everyone had ideas and they have made up it’s [the album’s] parts.
That’s some great inspiration that you’re drawing from. Was there a sound or an idea that you were afraid to put on the album?
Yes, I was afraid to do alternative rock… I guess what’s popular right now hyper pop and y’know early 2000’s is kinda coming back, but I don’t think anyone is trying to do pop rock and indie so I think that for me was a funny thing to try. But then again, I am influenced by Jimmy Eat World, so it was kind of scary to go from bedroom indie pop to a song like Float, or even Past Lives. There were moments where I was thinking who do I think I am? I am not this punk rock person.
Yeah but this is really quite nice, this album is perhaps about exploring your own needs. Maybe this is less about exploring what other people are expecting from you, or what the wider world wants to hear right now, and more about challenging that slightly. I guess this fits into the title of the album and them of ‘Belonging’. Perhaps a belonging in yourself? Is that what the album is about?
Yeah, I think it is mostly about my proximity to the music world and my place in general. It’s a word that comes up a lot to me and I think everyone can relate. We all have a hard time in certain spaces – we all walk into a room and say “am I supposed to be here, does anyone like me” etc? It’s all about imposter syndrome. You can sit down and think, “wow my life is awesome”, but it still doesn’t take away that natural feeling that you don’t belong in a space, or the questioning of why or what in the world has led us to feel so insecure about ourselves and it’s something that is a universal experience.
I think people definitely feel that from your album, there’s retrospection that can happen and I think that’s kind of interesting I think as you go on an inner journey, so there’s a sense of discovery, perhaps a ‘belonging’ to something. Ok, so moving on slightly, what’s your favourite track on the album? Do you have one?
I used to say Cards on the Table, but I think right now its Drop A because it literally sounds like Backstreet Boys!
We’re bringing it back! Is there anything that you allowed on this album, but you’d have said previously is off limits?
Haha yes, I think having a guy singing on a song, that’s usually something that I wouldn’t usually do, but all bets are off when it comes to Jim Adkins. I am such a fan, so I just had to have him on there, he has such an iconic voice and he was just so nice. I remember thinking years ago that I would never have people singing on my albums. I don’t know why? But maybe I thought it was a cheat move, but now I think its really awesome, like Hayley and Jim are just my heroes. For them to be on my record, its the best thing I could have ever asked for.
What do you think inspired that shift in your outlook, other than the fact that you’re a huge fan of them both? You’d been on tour right with a band right, was there some sense there that your gigs could be slightly different, or you could explore a slightly different energy?
Yeah, I’d say it was definitely about exploring different energy, because on tour, I am playing the same songs with people and I get kind of bored easily, so I like to change arrangements. I don’t like playing live songs exactly the same as the recorded material either. When I am in a live band with other people, they bring something else to the table. It’s the same in the studio, when other people bring these ideas, then I think ‘ah wait, that’s so cool, if we do this, we could do this’ and so it becomes an open door and that’s why the album is just full of all of these ideas and people.
Yeah, that’s great to have been able to draw that inspiration and the experiment with the sounds on the album. Did these starting with melodies, or lyrics, or personal experience?
Yeah sometimes it’s a personal experience. For example with Appointments I just knew what I needed to write about, it was so fast. I had my guitar and I just wrote and arranged the lyrics there and then. Most songs start off by me having a small idea and me singing into voice memos in my iPhone, hoping that I remember what the hell I was talking about! And then I listen back and I am like what the f**k was that ha ha. So mostly I just have the melody and my guitar and then later I revisit it and I start building it on my computer if I think its a good idea.
Sounds like you should never go out without a guitar! Melina, its been a pleasure talking to you, wishing you all the best with the new album.
Ha ha yes the guitar is a must. Thanks, its been great!
Jay Som live:
03.11.25 Berlin, Kantine am Berghain
Wir verlosen 2×2 Gästelistenplätze für die Show von Jay Som in Berlin – ihr wollt hin und gewinnen? Dann schickt uns bis zum 31. Oktober 2025 eine Mail mit dem Betreff „Jay Som Berlin“ und eurem vollständigen Namen an gewinnen@bedroomdisco.de und mit etwas Glück habt ihr Ende nächster Woche schon frohe Gewinnkunde von uns in eurem digitalen Postfach!
