Jardel’s story

“It’s thanks to The Music Works I am on the straight and narrow with my music now.”

Jardel is an artist on UPSURGE who raps, is a singer songwriter and producer. We caught up with him to talk about music, being creative and his experience at The Music Works.

“Music and creativity is very important to me. I will be at work and know that I will be able to come here (The Music Works) and do whatever I’m doing and I am able to express myself creatively and let out angers, stress throughout the day in my music”

Jardel heard about the UPSURGE programme through our Creative Director Malaki. “They were having a meeting to choose the UPSURGE artists, Malaki sent me a message to tell me to send in my music, so I sent in my best track and I got chosen to go on the programme. My journey from then to now, I have changed a lot, my style has changed a lot, I have found my sound more. That first track was an experimental one, from there I have found my own path and groove now and musically I am getting onto the straight and narrow.”

“In creating music, writer’s block is my main barrier. Also finishing things I’m really bad at just picking things up and dropping them before they’re finished,” Jardel says. The sessions at The Music Works have helped him to focus on completing tracks and tasks. “For example, in my 1:1 sessions we set goals and targets to accomplish things by a certain date. It’s not necessarily a “have to”, but for your own benefit and your own growth The Music Works helps you to achieve these goals.”

This approach works for Jardel, he says, because it’s on his own terms. “ Like I said about setting the goals earlier, they are not telling me I “have to do it” but it is for me to choose to do to improve myself. A lot of the time we are supported for example with the UPSURGE event coming up, I mentioned the idea to Malaki and now it’s an event. It will be my way of getting up on stage as I’ve never been able to do it before, so for me that’s a big thing.”

Jardel has learned new musical skills and software from his participation in the programme. “I didn’t have a single clue about Logic at all. I heard about it and had learned FL studios by myself. But after a couple of sessions with Shivan (a Music Leader) I was able to improve my skills in this area and build on what I already knew.”

UPSURGE has helped Jardel get the professional support needed to progress as an artist. “I get 1:1s and use the studio spaces which are the main 2 things that I need for my career progression. I can do a lot of stuff at home but if I want professionalism, assistance and good feedback, I come here.”

“Confidence wise, my confidence is so much better overall. When I come here I’m just myself and I’m comfortable. When I go to work I feel like I can take the skills I’ve learnt here and use them there.”

"What I like about UPSURGE is that you are free to do whatever you want, you can try everything and there is no judgment. “

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