Discover...Jen Moon
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Photo Credit: Drew Lee
In recent years, Toronto has emerged as a city at the forefront of musical talent. This year, WFA came across the delicate vocals of Toronto-native: Jen Moon. 2020 saw her release MOONOLOGY, her debut album which is described as an honest reflection of the healing, character, and evolution of Jen herself. Having already received co-signs from Spotify Editors via features on playlists including “Alternative R&B”, there’s no doubt Jen’s music will only continue to reach larger audiences in years to come.
Have a read as we delve more into the creation of her album “Moonology” and life in Toronto as an artist.
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Congrats on the release of your debut album: MOONOLOGY — how did you feel once it was out for people to hear?
Thank you! On the day of the album release, I was feeling a lot of things: excitement, anticipation, and nervousness. But when it finally happened, it felt like a huge weight was lifted, and I was really happy that people could finally listen to all of our hard work.
The term (MOONOLOGY) comes from your last name, how would you define the phrase?
In the context of this album, I would define “MOONOLOGY” as a deeper look into my mind and heart, thoughts and emotions, as well as my perspective towards myself and the people around me.
Before making the album, what themes did you have in mind to explore and did these come to pass in the final project?
I would say the process for this album didn’t really consist of us coming up with a theme first and then creating songs in accordance to that theme, but it was more like we just gradually saw and realised certain themes that naturally came out of the songs. So I guess you could say that every theme we had in mind eventually ended up making it into the album in one way or another.
Is it difficult as an artist today to focus on the impact of your music with your audience as opposed to how many streams a song/project gets?
For the music I’ve released so far, I didn’t have too many expectations or thoughts towards how much impact it would have or how many streams it would get. Not that I didn’t expect or hope for it to do well, of course, but I guess my mind was just clouded by the sheer excitement of being able to put my music out there in the first place. Nonetheless, due to all the great feedback and response, there’s definitely the pressure to do even better the next time, and to fulfil certain expectations. While that stuff is important to a certain extent, I don’t want to let it affect me too much.
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“I know that no matter how personal my song may be, there will always be someone out there who can connect with it in one way or another.”
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As a Toronto native, what has this city taught you about life? And how has this translated into your music?
One of the things I love about Toronto is that it's so multicultural and there’s such a variety of people. But what I’ve come to learn is that although we all come from different backgrounds, cultures, and have our own complex lives as individuals, we’re not that different. We all love, hurt, and experience things in similar ways. That’s how I know that no matter how personal my song may be, there will always be someone out there who can connect with it in one way or another. I think that’s one of the best and most fun things I can do as a songwriter.
Do you listen back to your own music?
Every now and then yeah! Sometimes I can go a long time without listening to it, and then one day I’ll be really feeling it for some reason and just listen nonstop the whole day, so it depends.
Following on from that, what’s your favourite song from the album?
Ahh the most difficult question.
If I had to choose, I would say Dream. Not necessarily because I love it more than the others, but there’s just something about it that I love in a different way.
And finally, what does success mean to you?
To me, success means being able to do the things I love and enjoy while constantly growing. I don’t think success is one destination that I get to and I'm done, but it’s the ability to keep growing and improving in everything that I do.
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Photo Credit: Drew Lee