Last February 3, a lone eleventh grader took another leap of fate in his young musical career — releasing his latest project after passionately spending months writing, composing, and producing its tunes all by himself. While on the move, Jaden Remulla of 11-Efficiency received the notification that his new musical creations had finally been uploaded to Spotify.
Going by the screen name Jaden Christopher, the bona fide HUMSS student marked his second-ever professional release with an emotional electropop single: without you. The record consists of two segueing tracks that form one interconnected song: “stasis,” the introductory instrumental buildup, and “without you,” the main cathartic showpiece.
A follow-up to his debut track “Forget” which garnered over 1800 plays since its 2021 release, Jaden’s latest opus is a culmination of what he considered to be an experiment that helped him through dark times. Themes of heartbreak, longing, and self-reflection dominate without you, to which he mentions that its lyrics have roots in real-life experiences. As always with his projects, Jaden found joy in exploring memories through songs.
“I think that creating music is fun and I think it’s an interesting experience,” the young songwriter describes. Likening musical composition to experimentation, Jaden finds its versatility appropriate for coping with the troubling moments he has gone through. With the freedom to create something beyond any known formula or format, Jaden personally finds making music his joy during uncertain times. “[Music] helped me move on and helped me realize things,” he says. By writing down his emotions and venting out heavy thoughts from his head, composing serves as Jaden’s greatest pain and stress reliever.
When asked to describe himself as a musician, Jaden describes himself as a “storyteller.” He intends to help people reminisce memories through his songs, saying that he hopes to see others relate to shared experiences. Finding joy in seeing others remember similar events happening to them, he says, “The main point of me as a musician is . . . to make people relive a certain experience in their life.”
Jaden also regards himself as a balanced musician. He shows proficiency in the vocal scene, as demonstrated in his appearances for various school-hosted events such as JS Prom 2023. He also shines on the technical stage through his in-depth knowledge of the guitar and sound mixing, “Forget” being a prime example of it. Despite these self-nurtured aptitudes, he retains his humility, admitting, “I'm still working on my craft. There’s still so much to do.”
His musical influences draw heavily from American electropop icons Lauv and Jeremy Zucker, as well as Irish alternative rock artist EDEN. He listened to them whenever he needed moral support, eventually finding lyrical and melodic inspiration for his songs. Though believing that he may never reach their state of fame, the eleventh grader wishes to make an impact on others the same way they impacted him. He remarks, “They really helped me through hard times, and I just thought that it would be cool to be something like that.”
Lyrically, Jaden’s latest single talks about the melancholy of a breakup, the eventual yearning for love, and the reluctant acceptance of the present. Basing it on a personal experience from a forgone relationship, the singing youth described his past situation as wanting to be in a different place with his special someone. He thought to himself that maybe he was just dreaming and that everything at present wasn’t real — these would go on to form the verses of “without you.”
With this, the eleventh grader reassures his fellow school peers that they are not alone — that their experiences were not just their own sufferings but others’ too. He says that dark times are simply the workings of life, and just like how his idols helped him in troubling moments, he hopes for songs like “without you” to inspire others to keep moving forward. He imparts to other Monarchs, “Everybody has gone through dark times and we’ll all get through it.”
Jaden’s passion for the musical arts is something he desires to carry on into the work world. At present, he aspires to take up a Bachelor of Arts in Music Production to hone his passion for storytelling further. In his message to fellow students who are just as passionate as him, the upcoming singer-songwriter says, “Music is one of those things that until you do it, you'll never gonna know how much you love it.”
“It’s something that can alter the way you think of life . . . that life is more of a story than anything else,” he concludes.
If you want to support a fellow Monarch, listen to “stasis” and “without you” by Jaden Christopher, now streaming on Spotify.
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