Since releasing 2019’s Anak Ko, Melina Duterte (aka Jay Som) has spent five years letting life and work reshape her music and process. Her new album, Belong, is a vivid, 11-track exploration of self and belonging, blending power-pop, ballads, and electronic textures inspired by the alt-rock and pop-punk she grew up with near San Francisco.
For the first time, Jay Som features guest vocalists—Jimmy Eat World’s Jim Adkins, Hayley Williams, and Mini Trees’ Lexi Vega—reflecting Duterte’s openness to collaboration. During her hiatus, she deepened her craft as a producer and engineer, buying a vintage Neve console and building an impressive résumé with credits for Lucy Dacus, Troye Sivan, No Rome, and beabadoobee, plus a Grammy for boygenius’ The Record, which she later toured with.
