At the tender age of 19, Jan Dulay has the world at her fingertips. A self-taught singer, songwriter and guitarist, she has covered a broad spectrum of singles, in addition to producing two EPs in two years. Add to that her participation in indie trio the Mildewcaines and you can see why she is what's next.
"Take Five" to tap into the talent beyond the surface.
1.) You are an entirely self-trained guitarist. Did you learn the chords first or go the route of trial and error?
I definitely learned chords first and during that learning process my fingers were callused and hurting and I'm pretty sure my fingerprints are partially deteriorated because of it. It was all probably math to me, since I learned tabs first and they were all numbers, and I loved math in middle school. For me that was the easiest way to learn because once I had them all in my head, I could just think up progressions and write away. I'm pretty sure middle school was my music prime.
2.) How do your culture and your life experiences contribute to your art?
A lot of my songs are fictional and not a lot of my life experiences go into them because I'm a tame and timid kind of person, and if someone looked at the lyrics from Hiraeth and L they'd probably look at me and wonder what kind of person I am. Some of my songs were supposed to be these extremely intricate film scripts I was gonna write. For example, Sorry (Mr. Powell) is about a 19 year old girl falling in love with a 30 something year old man and feeling sorry for him and all the trouble she caused him. I've never been in love with an older man unless you count Robert Downey Jr., and frankly I've never caused him any harm. Cyanide was a take on Frank Ocean, full of falsettos, similes, and metaphors, about falling in love with someone who'll probably never love you. Brave is about a fictional relationship I have with a famous actor that's a recurring storyline in my dreams and an 8th grade crush I had that crashed and burned, while Slow Burn, as "sensual" as it sounds, is actually about me burning my tongue on top ramen. As for my culture, not a lot of Filipino culture goes into my music but elements of romantic bright eyed love from OPM, or Filipino tunes, do go into it.
I also try to enter gender neutral territory when it comes to my lyrics; I don't use male or female pronouns that much because I don't wanna leave anyone out. I want my music to connect to everyone, not just the sad teenage girl, or the angry teenage boy. I wanna be the person someone listens to for anything you know? Sad or happy, angry or excited, I wanna be your gal.
3.) Any plans for The Mildewcaines to put out an album/EP?
There are definitely plans for a small EP brewing. Kurt and Vince, my bandmates, are very busy high school kids like myself, but we manage to squeeze in moments together where we can sit and play music and write lyrics. I've written a whole bunch of material for an album, but we probably will go with a live EP because of our schedules. I'm looking forward to an EP but if we end up with 2 r 3 songs together, I'll just attach it to my hiatus album before I head off to college.
4.) You boast quite a collection of covers, including but not limited to an acoustin rendition of "Ni**gas In Paris." How do you select singles to revamp?
I usually go for artists I'm absolutely in love with or songs that I want to hear from a different ear. I look for songs that would have a different story if I sang it a little slower or faster or rapped it instead. If it was, for example, a Kanye West song I'd try to see how it would sound if I slowed it down a couple of beats and how different the story would sound, then I record it and see how well people take it. I've done a couple of One Direction songs for my friends and I slowed them down a lot to give them a new story from a different voice and then it goes to different ears and people love it a little differently. I try to tell a different story from the original intent of the artist I borrowed the tune from.
5.) You just turned 19. Where do you see yourself a year from now?
That's a pretty loaded question, because I don't even know what I'm gonna wear for the next school day, let alone what I'm gonna a whopping 365 days from this moment. If we were going for a realistic view of a year from now, I see myself in a college classroom prepping for my sociology degree and jotting down notes, scrunching my forehead in confusion. If we were looking at through a dreamy filter, I (would love to) see myself with a bigger following. I have this recurring dream of being on stage and having my songs sung back at me by a thousand voices and I want to see that happen. It's a lot to ask for, to be famous and loved, but there's this voice in my head that nags at me and tells me that I want this to be me. Maybe I'll do The Voice and not win, but get a following from it? Maybe I'll do a youtube video that manages to catch someone's eye and signs me to a small indie label and. It's a lot of maybes. I see myself somewhere in those maybes.
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