If you think EDM (Electronic Dance Music) is just repetitive groove clothed in 21st-century party outfit, think again, especially if you are dealing with a Filipino artist embracing the genre by being seriously himself.
Frankly, Jace Roque is not your ordinary party-going dude trying to be cool to be in. He is authentic in his craft and the subjects he deals with in his songs.
“It is my advocacy to bring to light the issue of mental health,” said Jace while discussing his songwriting process,” adding, “One of my songs, ‘Sober,’ talks about anxiety and depression.”
Considering his genre of choice, that’s truly interesting to note. Perhaps that undertone paved the way for listeners to stream the song, thought to be Coldplay-influenced, over 300,000 times on Spotify.
Here is a guy who in 2017 began releasing songs in digital format seamlessly injecting some human side to technology-driven material by carefully writing, arranging, and producing his own songs. Listeners dig where he is coming from and it’s really an added value that his sentimentality as a Filipino is felt in his music.
It does help that Jace has more to offer apart from being genuinely retrospective in creating music. This guy had considerable experience acting on both big and small screens prior to focusing himself on music. He appeared in various hit ABS-CBN shows and played supporting roles in movies like Across the Crescent Moon and Tatay Kong Sexy. Matteo Guidicelli fans were first to notice him. Then he quickly developed his own fan base as a musician.
While music logically runs in the blood owing to a celebrity lineage that includes balladeer Gino Padilla for an uncle and ex-South Border frontman Luke Mejares as a distant cousin, it was the help of character actor-stuntman Boy Roque, first cousin of his mom, that really guided his path to where he is. Boy passed away April last year and the shock affected him to the core.
Nonetheless, he knew he had to move on and Boy would have wanted him to. Thus, he is releasing a new single titled “Day and Night” on the 31st, with pre-orders okayed by tomorrow, Jan. 17.
He related, “You can expect me to write songs about grief or ones dedicated to loved ones. It really matters that I write songs based on personal experience.”
The lyric video for Jace’s latest single Love had hit more than 100,000 views, with the track released through the international company Kobalt Music Group subsidiary AWAL, stressing the global level of attention his music gets.
A self-taught musician, Jace has diligently done his homework, mastering the software to deliver elements of EDM tracks, perfecting his melodies and lyrics, and keeping his listening playlist updated and progressing. He added, “I want to help in modernizing the sound of OPM (Original Pilipino Music). EDM is just a millennial term. My idea is to infuse different genres like R&B, rap, and pop with dance music.”
He does it day and night.
