It seems that with Jay Som, you never know what you’re gonna get. Following the half-Cocteau-Twins, half-Alanis Megazord that was “Superbike,” the songwriter is offering up what is in her own words “a feel-good, funky, kind of sexy song” called “Tenderness.” What begins as whispered bedroom pop quickly makes its way to the dance floor for a full-blown, glammy slow jam set to video by Chicago filmmakers Weird Life.
“[It’s] definitely about scrolling on your phone and seeing a person and it just haunts you, you can’t escape it,” Melina Duterte notes of the track’s lyrics. “I have a weird relationship to social media and how people perceive me—as this person that has a platform, as a solo artist, and this marginalized person. That was really getting to me. I wanted to express those emotions, but I felt stifled. I feel like a lot of the themes of the songs stemmed from bottled up emotions, frustration with yourself, and acceptance.”
Anak Ka is out August 23 on Polyvinyl. You can pre-order it here.
