By Benjamin Millerman
Jahiem Mendoza ain’t your traditional R&B artist. Built up on nine years of classical training with the violin, the environment of the orchestra is what helped him flourish. Delving into new instruments and genres, it took Jahiem a second to discover what clicked. A short rap stint helped him discover that rapping wasn’t what worked for him, “it felt fake in a sense.” Jahiem then began singing and has continued to do so, finally finding the music that feels real and honest to him.
From the moment Jahiem began playing violin in the orchestra, music felt serious. It was never just a hobby; it always had a purpose. The jazzy chords he performs stem from something deeper than just entertainment, but a feeling of love that has continued to grow from his first interactions with a guitar back in 2019.
It is pure love like this that separates his music from others, “not curated to fit the mainstream or the casual listener. It’s made for those who understand and relate.” His soulful sound with jazzy undertones touches on nostalgia and romance in a unique way. This strong grasp on the outside perspective that his music reaches truly taps into what jazz is, a sense of freedom and connection within a collective.
Making soulful and impactful music comes with a toll. Having to do work outside of music has led to less time for Jahiem to fully dive into his craft, “The biggest hurdle is time, it’s hell sometimes”. Without being able to give all his time to the music itself, he has less time to spread and market it, something that has unfortunately become so crucial in the modern day. Music like Jahiem’s used to spread effortlessly through natural means, but now must be engineered in a way that satisfies an algorithm. With his limited time, he just attempts to do a lot of playlisting, hoping to get lucky with the pages that find and post his music.
The process of how Jahiem makes music is far more interesting and crucial to him as an artist than his marketing tactics. He initially starts at the chord progression that he deems satisfactory, then changes the tones, tempo, and grooves to find the right fit for him. From there, the song writes itself, and the inspirations from some of his favorites like D’Angelo and Dijon are clearly visible in the process.
The two songs that stand out the most when discussing Jahiem Mendoza are his biggest song, Solitude, and his personal favorite, Ms.Sciatica. It is interesting to see that his Solitude and Ms.Sciatica are on opposite sides of the spectrum in regards to streams, but both hold immense value to Jahiem. Jahiem strongly values Ms.Sciatica due to how it impacts him lyrically. He sees this as one of his strongest lyrical performances, which you can feel when you listen to the song, the pure emotion and connection to the lyrics bursting through your headphones.
Solitude, on the other hand, was a last-ditch effort for Jahiem. This was his song when he was ready to quit music, his final message of love to music. But this song showed that Jahiem’s talent can’t be left to waste, elevating him to his first million-streamed song, displaying the potential he has not just to him, but to the whole audience to tune in.
Jahiem is here to make the audience feel heard, to experience music in its truest element. His music isn’t for everyone, he says it himself, “If I’m for you, I’m for you.” Jahiem will continue to make more music, testing out new sounds. Check him out as he goes up the ladder, because if he’s for you, you can say you were one of the first as he collects his Grammy.