Last Updated on 2025-10-09 by a-indie
San Francisco-based solo project by Melina Duterte, Jay Som.
After a six-year hiatus, she releases her new album “BELONG.”
If you listen to this work, you’ll immediately understand, but let me state it clearly:
This is undoubtedly one of the greatest indie rock works representing the 2020s and beyond.
During the hiatus, she pursued her production and engineering side, and “BELONG” is a great work that has reintroduced the joy of listening to music as complete albums in the era of streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music.
It’s also unmistakably an important work marking Jay Som’s arrival at the next stage.
This time, we asked Jay Som about the six years of hiatus, her experience in “production and audio engineering,” and her own sense of “belonging,” centered around her latest work “BELONG.”
Jay Som’s Six-Year Journey
Life Outside Music Activities
-Yuuki Takita: We are a media outlet that values artists’ roots, the background from which their music emerges, and the music, culture, and art that influenced them. Since this is our first interview together, I’d like to start by asking about yourself so our readers can get to know your appeal. Since this album is your first release in 6 years since “Anak Ko,” could you first tell us about those 6 years? Outside of music activities, where and how did you spend your time? If that’s difficult to answer, could you tell us about the musical works you were listening to, movies you were watching, or art you were experiencing during that time?
Melina: Thank you so much for taking the time to ask these questions! I appreciate your curiosity and kindness. 🙂
For the past 6 years, I pursued my production and engineering side and worked on many projects with different artists in my home studio/outside studios. I also did a lot of session work as a player and I toured in the live band for boygenius. It was a very transformative and educational period of my life, but it was also a stressful period due to Covid. I still feel the after effects of that experience and am always navigating how to be a stable human being, friend, and partner as I move through the world.
I started baking sourdough around 2022 and I was honestly very good at it.. I would make loaves for my friends every week and the time and effort put into it was so worth it. Unfortunately I am now gluten free so my newer hobby is air dry clay/polymer clay art with my sweet hobby friend Jasmine. I’m obsessed with trinkets and have collected hundreds of them so it naturally made sense to start creating them. I like to make minis of food dishes and animals.
I watched the German show “Dark” twice, the first time in German and the second time in English overdub. Probably the best TV show I’ve ever watched. My partner and I watched “Mare of Easttown” three times. Too many movies to list.
Awakening as a Producer
Transition from Jay Som to Production
-Yuuki Takita: Regarding musical activities, the materials from your label mention that you “continued to deepen your passion for production and audio engineering.” Specifically, you stepped away from Jay Som activities to work as a producer on works like boygenius’ “the record” and Lucy Dacus’ “Forever Is A Feeling,” collaborations with Troye Sivan and beabadoobee, and participation in the “I Saw the TV Glow” movie soundtrack, among other diverse activities. Could you first tell us about what led you to move away from Jay Som activities toward production and audio engineering work?
At an early age, I felt a deep connection to production in music and the never ending well of knowledge you can gain from it. I’m happy I initially went down the classic “start bands in your teens and tour non stop in your early 20’s” route – through that I gained real life experiences and learned about the dynamics of being in a community. I had to face the reality of being a solo artist head on, it was really hard for me to be confident and in the spotlight. After years of that lifestyle being pretty unhealthy and unsustainable + the pandemic starting right around the same time, I took it as a sign to change my path for a bit. In 2020 I used my stimulus check to buy a very expensive console that I did not know how to use, so I annoyingly picked the brains of every audio engineer I knew and checked into YouTube University and gearspace. When I lived in the Bay area I recorded my friend’s bands/artist projects for free or for lunch, sometimes charging $25-$50 for a song, but the intention was to never break through professionally, I just wanted to learn and have fun. 2020-2021 I didn’t have a touring job anymore so through word of mouth and social media, friends of friends and strangers began to reach out and ask me to produce or mix their records. Somehow all that hard work led me to a life changing 2 week session with boygenius in 2022 that immediately inspired me to continue the work I was doing, and to keep trying and never give up. Production/engineering is so emotional and technically layered to me, it allows me to understand music on a deeper level and explore how it coexists with songwriting and performance.
What Was Gained by Producing Others
-Yuuki Takita: What did you gain through those activities? In a sense, Jay Som is self-produced, so I imagine there were differences between that and producing for others.
I realized how athletic and multifaceted it is! One day you’re with a very chill artist that’s very easy to work with and knows what they want, the next day you’re with a band that does not know how to communicate with each other, so you have to be their guiding light and make hard decisions for them. It’s all about anticipating the needs of others before they’re expressed and also managing your expectations of others. Sometimes I think making music is 10% of that, it’s also about knowing and understanding your role. That’s something you never really experience when you produce yourself.
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