Jay Som: Belong [Album Review]

Jay Som
Belong
Polyvinyl Records [2025]

“Belong proves growth doesn’t mean starting over—it means sounding more like yourself than ever.”

Album Overview: Jay Som began as the DIY recording outlet for Melina Duterte, a Bay Area musician and producer whose knack for crafting lush, emotionally charged songs turned her bedroom project into one of indie rock’s defining voices. Early albums like Everybody Works and Anak Ko showcased her balance of introspection and sonic precision. After a needed break and a few years producing and collaborating with others—most notably boygenius, Troye Sivan, and beabadoobee—Duterte returns to her own project with renewed focus and sharper instincts.

Belong is an album about rediscovery. It finds Duterte reconnecting with the essence of Jay Som while embracing the lessons and confidence that came from stepping away. Across its tracks, she wrestles with connection, self-trust, and expectation, offering a portrait of an artist rebuilding from within. It plays like a personal timeline—where youthful curiosity meets the creative calm that comes from experience.

Musical Style: The album blends bright, guitar-driven indie pop with warm electronic layers and rhythmic experiments. “Float,” featuring Jim Adkins of Jimmy Eat World, captures that push and pull perfectly—its buoyant hooks and nostalgic tone nod to early 2000s radio rock while feeling entirely her own. Songs like “Casino Stars” burst with pop energy, while “Appointments” and “A Million Reasons Why” slow the tempo for introspective breathers. Throughout, layered harmonies, textured synths, and subtle tempo shifts give Belong a full, immediate sound that still feels intimate.

Evolution of Sound: Where Jay Som’s earlier albums thrived on self-reliance, Belong opens the door to collaboration. Contributions from Hayley Williams, Lexi Vega, and Joao Gonzalez expand Duterte’s sonic palette, pushing her toward bolder production choices—thick basslines, flickering drum machines, and sky-wide harmonies. The record feels looser and more lived-in, as if she’s learned that perfection isn’t the point. This version of Jay Som is communal, confident, and refreshingly human.

Artists with Similar Fire: Fans of Japanese Breakfast, Alvvays, and Hatchie will find plenty to like here—the same mix of emotional resonance and pop craftsmanship. There’s also the introspective undercurrent of Phoebe Bridgers, Mitski, and Snail Mail, paired with hints of The Sundays or early Death Cab for Cutie. Belong sits comfortably among these artists, blending nostalgia and modernity with natural grace.

Pivotal Tracks:“Cards On The Table” opens the record with a mix of confrontation and self-awareness as Duterte sings, “Say it / You let me down.” “Float,” with Adkins, stands as the record’s centerpiece—its soaring refrain, “Float, don’t fight / I’m not the same,” channels renewal through release. “What You Need” delivers irresistible rhythm with an undercurrent of distance, while “Past Lives,” featuring Hayley Williams, drifts through self-reflection. Closer “Want It All” lands somewhere between ambition and acceptance, leaving the door open for whatever comes next.

Lyrical Strength: Duterte writes with conversational honesty, turning personal reckonings into melodies that linger. Themes of accountability, change, and emotional fatigue recur throughout—“Say it / I let you down” becomes both confession and closure. Her lyrics loop back on themselves, echoing the cycles of doubt and growth that define real progress. Rather than tidy resolutions, she leans into uncertainty, suggesting that self-awareness is more process than prize.

Final Groove: Belong isn’t a grand reinvention—it’s a grounded, honest step forward. The record trades the intimacy of her bedroom beginnings for something wider but no less personal. It’s a reminder that evolution doesn’t have to be loud to be meaningful. Jay Som sounds refreshed, still searching, and fully alive in her element. If this album marks her re-entry, it’s also a promise that the best version of her story might still be ahead.

JAY SOM REVIEW HISTORY
Anak Ko (2019) / Everybody Works (2017) / Turn Into (2016)

JAY SOM LINKS
Website | Instagram | Facebook | Bandcamp | Polyvinyl Records